Artistic Director: Dr. David A. McConnell
Dr. David A. McConnell founded Vox Philia in 2012 as an intergenerational chamber choir comprised of professional and gifted amateur singers. The choir’s performances have garnered considerable acclaim for thematic programming and musical excellence. In the summer of 2014, Dr. McConnell co-founded Berks Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra that also utilizes an intergenerational approach, bringing professional Reading, PA players together with gifted students in both high school and college.
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Dr. McConnell teaches music courses at Pennsylvania State University, Berks Campus and Alvernia University in Reading. As Minister of Music at Immanuel UCC, he plays for weekly liturgies, conducts the Senior Choir and Bell Choir, oversees the training and rehearsing of four other choirs and manages an active concert series at the church.
Dr. McConnell received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in December 2002. |
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A native of Philadelphia, Dr. McConnell also holds degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey and Temple University in Philadelphia. He has attended the prestigious Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians in Hancock, Maine, the South Carolina Conductor's Institute in Columbia, South Carolina, and The Conductors Institute at Bard College.
Dr. McConnell has presented papers at the national American Choral Directors Association in San Antonio, Texas and the College Music Society Northeast Chapter Conference in Lewiston, Maine. Articles by Dr. McConnell have appeared in journals of the International Federation of Choral Music, the American Choral Director’s Association, the Conductors’ Guild and the American Beethoven Society. He has written a chapter on Beethoven’s early Piano Concerto in E-flat for inclusion in a book being published about Beethoven’s time in Bonn.
In recent years, Dr. McConnell has conducted choirs in Portugal, The Netherlands, and Latvia, as well as throughout the northeastern United States.
Dr. McConnell has presented papers at the national American Choral Directors Association in San Antonio, Texas and the College Music Society Northeast Chapter Conference in Lewiston, Maine. Articles by Dr. McConnell have appeared in journals of the International Federation of Choral Music, the American Choral Director’s Association, the Conductors’ Guild and the American Beethoven Society. He has written a chapter on Beethoven’s early Piano Concerto in E-flat for inclusion in a book being published about Beethoven’s time in Bonn.
In recent years, Dr. McConnell has conducted choirs in Portugal, The Netherlands, and Latvia, as well as throughout the northeastern United States.
Assistant Conductor: Laurel Christensen
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Laurel Christensen holds a BM in Choral Music Education from Brigham Young University and will earn her MM from Virginia Commonwealth University this spring. She has spent the last seven years of her career in Virginia as a public school choral director, most recently teaching high school in Williamsburg. Under her leadership, her choirs performed challenging repertoire, premiered new choral works, and performed at a variety of venues in the eastern United States, most notably by audition at Washington National Cathedral in the spring of 2018. Laurel was a member of the professional ensemble The Virginia Chorale, directed and performed in jazz and musical theater performances, and served as a frequent adjudicator and guest conductor in southeastern Virginia. Now a resident of Philadelphia, Laurel has performed with Glassbrook Vocal Ensemble, serves as the children’s service musician at St. Peter’s Church Philadelphia, and sings in the St. Peter’s Choir. She welcomed a new baby boy to the world in August of 2018. She is thrilled to be working with the devoted musicians of Voices Chorale NJ this season.
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