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Emily Holt Crocker, Founder and Artistic Director. Milwaukee Children's Choir's 2008-2009 season will be its 15th anniversary season. For all of that period Ms. Crocker has served as MCC's Artistic Director. She also directs MCC's Chamber Cantorei.
When Ms. Crocker founded Milwaukee Children's Choir in 1994 she envisioned a choir that would serve Milwaukee youth through quality music education and please Milwaukee audiences through artistic excellence. Under Ms. Crocker's guidance and leadership, MCC has grown from a 35 member choir made up of novices to a choir with hundreds of members, divided into five levels, serving grades 1-12, rehearsing at 12 rehearsal sites throughout the Greater Milwaukee area, and performing continuously throughout the school year.
Ms. Crocker is recognized nationally as a leading expert in children's choirs. In 1989, after a 15- year teaching career in her native Texas, she moved to Milwaukee and joined the music publishing industry. In addition to her responsibilities at MCC, she is currently Vice-President of Choral Publications for Hal Leonard Corporation, the world's largest publishing house of music.
As a composer, Ms. Crocker's works have been performed around the world. The recipient of several ASCAP awards, she is well known for her work in developing choral instructional materials and is an author of Experiencing Choral Music, a choral textbook series for grades 6- 12 published by McGraw-Hill/Glencoe. Ms. Crocker also developed “Essential Musicianship”, a curriculum used throughout the world to teach vocal technique, music theory, and sight singing.
Ms. Crocker is also a frequent guest conductor and clinician at children's choir festivals throughout the United States. She has led children's choir festivals at Carnegie Hall in 1999, 2001 and 2005. Locally she has conducted the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra in performances with Milwaukee Children's Choir. In 2002 she was awarded the Excellence in Youth Music award from the Civic Music Association of Milwaukee.
Sherry Cummisford, Prelude Choir Director, earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Alverno College in Milwaukee and a Master of Education degree from Cardinal Stritch University in Milwaukee. She worked as a liturgical musician for seven years and during that time had the opportunity to work with a variety of children's, youth and adult choirs. Ms. Cummisford taught general music in Milwaukee for 7 years and has been teaching general and choral music in the School District of South Milwaukee for the past 18 years. She is her school's coordinator for the Arts in Community Education (ACE) partnership with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and has been awarded a Herb Kohl fellowship for excellence in teaching.
Charyl Granatella, Concert Choir Director and Coordinator, has been with Milwaukee Children's Choir since 1994 and was MCC's first Concert and Prelude Choir director. Called "Mrs. G" by thousands of children, she is known for her lifelong devotion to elementary music education, teacher training, and choral performance. Ms. Granatella received her bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and her master's degree in Music Education from UW - Whitewater, with specialties in Gifted and Talented and Kodaly certification. She is also a certified Orff music specialist. With 35 years of teaching experience, Mrs. Granatella has taught in both the Milwaukee and the Waukesha public schools, and has served as adjunct professor at Marquette University, Lakeland College, and UW - La Crosse at the graduate level Kodaly Training Institute.
Ms. Granatella currently works as a free-lance musician, is a paid professional singer with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra Chorus, is a Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra ACE (Artists in Community Education) collaborator, and researches, writes and edits for Hal Leonard Corporation. She travels weekly to Appleton, where she has created and teaches "Lap Time-Learning Time," a music class for the very young at the Center for Integrated Arts.
Mariella Guillen, Prelude Choir Director, holds Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from the Philadelphia College of the Performing Arts, and has post-baccalaureate teaching certifications from University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee. Since 2000 Ms. Guillen has taught music and coordinated the music program at Victory K-8 School for the Gifted and Talented in Milwaukee. She has served as the Elementary General Music Chair for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association. An accomplished pianist, Ms. Guillen has extensive piano performance and teaching experience in America and Venezuela.
Raymond Roberts, Milwaukee Youth Chorale Director, graduated from Booker T. Washington High School of the Arts in Dallas, TX and holds a Bachelor of Music degree from Northwestern University. In addition to his role as Milwaukee Youth Chorale Director, Mr. Roberts is the Music Department Chair and Choral Music Director at the Milwaukee High School of the Arts. He is active in the Milwaukee music community, having held the position of Assistant Director of the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, Director of the Plymouth Concert Chorale, Tenor soloist at Immanuel Presbyterian Church, and currently as the Director of the Chancel Choir and Wesley Singers at First United Methodist Church, West Allis. He has been a soloist with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Bel Canto Chorus, and the Bach Chamber Chorus and served as accompanist for the WSMA State Honors Choirs.
Mr. Roberts' choirs have performed at numerous state and regional music conferences as well as with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Roberts received recognition from the Wisconsin Choral Director's Association as an Outstanding Young Conductor, and received the Distinguished Teacher Award from the United States Department of Education for his work with a student who was named a Presidential Scholar in the arts.
Amanda (Mandy) Shoemaker, Prelude Choir Director, is an elementary school music teacher at Lakeview and E.W. Luther Elementary Schools in South Milwaukee. Ms. Shoemaker has a BFA in Music Education from the UW-Milwaukee, where she graduated with honors in 2003. Ms. Shoemaker has experience as a church choir director, and is also a private voice and piano teacher.
Ellen Shuler, Cantorei Director and Concert Choir Director, holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Montana State University and a Master of Music Education with Choral Emphasis from Florida State University. Mrs. Shuler started working with children's choirs in Montana, where she was the assistant director and accompanist of the Bozeman Children's Choir. She also worked for Bozeman’s Mastodon Productions, singing jingles for area businesses and back-up vocals for local artists, and was a member of the Bozeman Intermountain Opera Company Chorus. Mrs. Shuler taught choral and general music in Idaho, Colorado, New Hampshire, and Wisconsin, as well as pre-primary music and movement classes in Colorado and New Hampshire. Mrs. Shuler worked for several years as a choral music editor at Hal Leonard Corporation, and was a contributing author to the Macmillan McGraw-Hill music education series, “Spotlight on Music” and Music Express magazine. In addition to her position at MCC, Mrs. Shuler works at the University School of Milwaukee, where she directs the Upper School Concert Choir, Swing Choir, and is music director of theatrical productions in both the Middle and Upper Schools. Mrs. Shuler directs two youth choirs at Mequon United Methodist Church. She maintains a voice and piano studio and freelances as a soprano around Milwaukee.
Roxanne Trump-Miles, Prelude Choir Director, holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree (Choral Emphasis) from UW-Eau Claire. She is certified to teach vocal music grades K-12 as well as elementary education grades K-6. During her 20 year teaching career at Lloyd Street School, Ms. Trump-Miles coordinated the school's "Save the Music" program, put on several holiday musicals and numerous other concerts with her students, and took her students on tour to Madison to perform at the State Capitol. She was a conductor at the Milwaukee Public Schools' Forty-First Biennial Music Festival. Ms. Trump-Miles teaches music at Lincoln Middle School in Kenosha. She is active in her church choir, has performed with the Bay View Players, and traveled a year with the internationally acclaimed performance based education group known as "Up with People".
Amanda Carnahan graduated magna cum laude with a bachelor's degree in music from UW-Platteville. She has served as an accompanist at UW-Platteville, UW-Milwaukee, school districts throughout southeast and southwest Wisconsin, the Wisconsin Middle Level Honors Choir as well as the Heartland Festival's Children's Musical. Ms. Carnahan is an active freelance accompanist and private piano teacher in the Milwaukee area.
Maria Koester, Accompanist, received her Bachelor and Master's degrees in piano performance from Indiana University, Bloomington. She has taught piano at Blair School of Music at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee and performed with the Blair Chamber Players. She is the organist at Kingo Lutheran Church in Shorewood, Wisconsin, maintains a private piano studio, and works as a health aide at Lake Bluff Elementary School in Shorewood.
Deborah (Debbie) Patel has been the Executive Director of the Milwaukee Children's Choir since the fall of 2004. Under her stewardship, MCC's contributed revenue, overall budget size, and financial reserve have all more than doubled, MCC's internal operations have improved, and MCC has become more collaborative with better name recognition.
Ms. Patel graduated summa cum laude from Concordia College (Moorhead, MN), and holds a degree from George Washington Law School (D.C.), where she was a member of the Order of the Coif and served as editor-in-chief of The Journal of International Law & Economics. She began her legal career at Foley & Lardner and was “Of Counsel” to the Banta Corporation for many years. She has served on numerous charitable boards, including the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra board. In 2003 Ms. Patel left the MSO board to serve for almost a year as the MSO's Interim Executive Director. She is currently a member of the MSO's Chairman's Council.
Ms. Patel sang with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus for 17 years, where she was a member of its professional core. She has participated in Carnegie Hall's Professional Choral Workshops, and has been a soloist with the Handel & Haydn Society, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Chorus, and Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra.
Paula Bell, Operations Director, graduated from UW-Madison with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree. She is also a qualified substitute teacher, with years of teaching assistant experience. She brings both teaching and business skills to the Milwaukee Children's Choir.
Heidi Hamberger, Recruitment Coordinator, graduated summa cum laude from the University of Minnesota in 2008, with a Bachelor of Music degree with an emphasis on vocal performance, and with related coursework in performing arts management and writing. While in school she had internships with JW Pepper and Son Music, Hal Leonard Corporation, the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, and the Greater Twin Cities Youth Symphonies. Ms. Hamberger is the Charter President and founding member of Sigma Sigma Chapter, Sigma Alpha Iota, an International Women's Music Fraternity. A graduate of Franklin (WI) High School, Heidi is also a graduate of the Milwaukee Children's Choir: she joined MCC as a 5th grader and continued singing with MCC until graduating from high school.
Lorinda Liongson, Office and Volunteer Manager, graduated from Carroll College with a Bachelor of Arts degree in Psychology. She received a Master's Degree in Counseling Psychology from the University of California - Santa Barbara. She practiced as a child and family therapist in Decatur, IL for three years. In 1994, she and her husband decided to move back to Milwaukee. She found a short-term job with The Mark Travel Corporation and ended up staying for 9 years. She moved up the ranks from being a reservation call agent to a contracting coordinator up to a destination product contracting - buyer manager. Her career at The Mark Travel Corporation allowed her to travel to many different destinations in Europe, China, and the Caribbean. She has two daughters who are MCC members.
Charles (Charlie) O'Brien, City Program Director, is a Music Education major at UW-Milwaukee. He is an avid Euphonium player and studies under Tuba virtuoso Martin Erickson. Prior to moving to Milwaukee, Mr. O'Brien played euphonium for the College of Lake County Wind Ensemble. He is an active vocalist and enjoys singing any chance he gets. Mr. O'Brien has served in various different leadership positions with several service organizations. During the summer months, Mr. O'Brien is the Camp Director for a prestigious Boy Scout Camp located in Wisconsin's Northwoods. Other than music, Mr. O'Brien enjoys baseball, camping, teaching, and backpacking. A native of Chicago, Illinois, he is excited to be living in Milwaukee and working with MCC.
