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BCE’s Board of Directors
The Board of Directors for the Boston Choral Ensemble is a small committee of people charged with the management and operations of the ensemble, all with an eye toward the organization’s mission. The group consists of 9–11 members plus the Artistic Director (ex officio). The Board currently consists of the following people:
 Joanna Hamilton, Marketing
Joanna began singing in the alto section of the Boston Choral Ensemble in the fall of 2007, and joined the board in the summer of 2008. She is a 2007 graduate of Denison University, where she studied English, vocal performance, and Spanish. Joanna started her choral career at an early age, singing and touring with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir. At Denison she spent most of her free time singing with Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, and other ensembles; some of her favorite performances as an undergrad were madrigal dinners, traditional lessons and carols services, and singing on the roof of the Duomo in Milan.
A native Hoosier, Joanna moved to Boston after graduation to serve as an AmeriCorps for the Urban Ecology Institute, and then worked as the faculty assistant to Marshall Ganz at the Harvard Kennedy School. Currently she is pursuing a dual-degree at Tufts University in Agriculture, Food and Environment (MS) and Urban and Environmental Planning and Policy (MA).
term: 2008—
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 Diana Hubbard, Member at Large
Diana Hubbard started singing as a soprano with the Boston Choral Ensemble in 2009, and joined the Board in summer 2010. Her love of music started from a very young age playing piano and violin, but she only started singing in high school. She had the great opportunity to grow up half-time in upstate New York and half-time in France, so she had the pleasure of studying at the Conservatoire de Marseille for piano, voice, and music theory.
She graduated from the University of Chicago in 2009 with a double major in mathematics and biology, and while in Chicago she spent a large part of her free time singing in the Motet Choir, a small choir that specializes in singing extremely diverse repertoire (from motets to Swedish minimalism). She worked from 2009–2010 as a computational biologist at the Broad Institute's Cancer Program, and in September 2010 started a PhD program in Mathematics at Boston College. She likes to spend her free time outside of school and choir reading, playing with her cats, biking, cooking, and best of all, eating.
term: 2010—
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Sarah Kelts, Development
Sarah, who sings soprano with the Boston Choral Ensemble, joined the group in Fall 2010 and joined the board in Summer 2011. Sarah studied piano and violin as a child, but found her true musical love in singing after enrolling in musical theatre camp in middle school. At Vassar College, from which she graduated in 2009, Sarah sang with the College Choir, Women’s Chorus, and Madrigal Singers, and studied voice under Christine Howlett. She also performed in Vassar’s Opera Workshop under the direction of countertenor Drew Minter, and sang in a master class with Broadway star Kelli O’Hara. During college, Sarah performed as a soloist for two years at the Hudson Valley Society for Music’s BachFest, was selected to be a choral scholar with the Berkshire Choral Festival, and sang in the New Brunswick Early Music Festival’s production of Dido and Aeneas as Belinda.
A native of San Francisco, Sarah moved to New York City after graduating from college, then moved to Boston in the Summer of 2010 to begin graduate school. She currently attends the Massachusetts General Hospital Institute of Health Professions, where she is working towards dual certification as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Reading Specialist. Outside of BCE and grad school, she enjoys going to vinyasa yoga classes, running (slowly), reading, cooking, being a San Francisco Giants and 49ers fan, and pretending that she’s a contestant on Jeopardy! while watching it on TV.
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Robert McGilvray, Clerk
Robert started his music career in high school performing in multiple choirs and bands and studying voice, theory, and keyboard, as well as other aspects of music. He has also performed with the Off-Broadway group The Reagle Players of Waltham, Massachusetts, and the Sounds of Concord Chapter of the Society for the Preservation and Education of Barbershop Quartet Singing of America.
Robert studied sound recording technology, music education, and musical performance in voice at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell while singing in several university choirs. In college his focus shifted from vocal music to percussion when he joined the UMass Marching Band. He has explored many genres as percussionist and shared the stage with such notables as Kenny Rogers and Sarah Brightman. Robert still has room to grow in music, and he works consistently to better himself in his daily practice. Robert joined BCE in 2005 and is proud to be an integral part of its success in the future.
term: 2006—
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 Lauren Roller, President
Lauren joined the Boston Choral Ensemble as an alto in December of 2008 and became Board President in 2010 after serving for one year as Marketing Co-Chair. A native of Manchester-by-the-Sea, Lauren’s early love of music was cultivated through choir, piano lessons, and musical theatre. Her devotion to choral music in particular was cemented by four years of singing with the Cape Ann Symphony Youth Chorus.
Lauren graduated from Harvard College in 2007 with a degree in biology, but the majority of her time and energy were devoted to the Radcliffe Choral Society, Harvard’s select women’s chorus under the direction of Dr. Jameson Marvin. In her five years with the Choral Society, Lauren served as both Manager and President of the group, toured to South Africa and numerous domestic locations, and was featured several times as a soloist. In addition to her work with the Choral Society, Lauren also served as the conductor of the Harvard Catholic Student Association Choir.
Today Lauren works at the Harvard College Fund and devotes most of her free time to the Boston Choral Ensemble and the Radcliffe Choral Society’s Alumni Board. She is honored and excited to be leading BCE as it continues to grow and pursue its mission of expanding the choral art through innovative, diverse, and educational programming.
term: 2009—
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 Deborah Rosenstein, Marketing
Deborah started singing with the Boston Choral Ensemble as a soprano in September of 2011, and joined the BCE Board shortly thereafter. A native of the Boston area, Deborah first discovered her love of performing at the age of seven. Since then, she has been featured in numerous musical theatre productions and choral ensembles throughout the region and studied voice both locally and throughout her studies at Oberlin College.
After graduating from Oberlin with a degree in Economics and Theatre, Deborah moved to New York City where she quickly joined the administrative team at the New York production of Blue Man Group, and eventually moved to the corporate offices of Blue Man Productions as the North American Theatrical Productions Coordinator. From Blue Man Group, Deborah transitioned to the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) as the General Management Fiscal Coordinator and, soon after that, was promoted to the position of Budget Manager for the institution. After BAM, Deborah became the General Manager of Ars Nova, NYC's premier hub for emerging talent. After working with Ars Nova for just over two years, Deborah made the decision to return to her roots in the Boston area, where she has been enjoying her role as the Member Engagement Manager at ArtsBoston, the region’s leading arts service organization, since January of 2011.
It was through her work at ArtsBoston that Deborah discovered the Boston Choral Ensemble, and she is thrilled to be part of such a dynamic, talented, and innovative group.
term: 2011—
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 Jon Swift, Treasurer
Jon Swift has been singing as a baritone and tenor with the Boston Choral Ensemble since the fall of 2007. He decided to join the board of directors as the development chair in the spring of 2008 after having some success tying in the Walk for Music with a corporate grant. Now he serves as the group treasurer. Prior to singing with BCE, Jon was a member of the inaugural season of Emerson College’s a cappella group NoteWorthy, performed in many musical theater productions in Maine, including productions with the community theater company Johnson Hall. Jon was also a trumpet player growing up, participating in band and jazz band, as well as a singer in high school chorus and chamber singers, earning himself four trips to the yearly district honors choir, and was a two-time member of Maine’s All-State Choir. Jon graduated cum laude from Emerson College in 2003 with a B.A. in Theatre Education, and is currently working toward a M.Ed. in Elementary Education at Lesley University. When Jon is not singing, he is a teacher’s apprentice at the Shady Hill School in Cambridge, spends time with his wife Elizabeth, renovates his condo, drinks and brews beers with friends, and rates restaurants and fine foods on www.theconnoisseurs.com.
term: 2008—
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 Lisa Tierney, Special Projects
Lisa Tierney joined the Boston Choral Ensemble in fall 2008 and the Board of Directors in summer 2011. A native of Pittsburgh, PA, Lisa has been singing since she could talk. She graduated from Messiah College in 2006, where she studied Music Education and participated in Concert Choir, Chamber Choir, Jazz Singers, Wind Ensemble, and various musical theater productions. She also spent three summers with New Light, Messiah's traveling music group. In addition to singing with the BCE, Lisa continues to study voice with Carolyn MacGregor.
Lisa is currently a ScrumMaster at Brightcove, which pretty much means that she spends her days helping software engineers to play nice together. When she is not working or singing, Lisa makes her own greeting cards, volunteers at the Wellesley Village Church, and enjoys the company of her hubby, her bunny, and her cat.
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Jenny Wolahan, Membership
Jenny joined the Boston Choral Ensemble as a Soprano in the fall of 2009. She is a 2007 graduate of Harvard, where she studied the Comparative Study of Religion and Psychology and spent the majority of her time with various singing groups. For five years she had the pleasure of singing with the Radcliffe Choral Society under the direction of Jameson Marvin, and in that time she toured with the group to South Africa, England, and Costa Rica. In addition, she spent several years with the Radcliffe Pitches, Harvard's all-female jazz a cappella group, serving one year as its music director. She also moonlighted with the University Choir, the mixed-voice choir of Harvard's Memorial Church. As a child, she studied piano, but she happily transitioned to vocal music in high school when she started studying voice and singing with the high school choir, a cappella group, and Madrigal Singers.
Jenny currently works at the Harvard Development Office and serves on several nonprofit boards, including the Radcliffe Choral Society Foundation, of which she is the president. Her long-term ambitions include becoming a published children's fantasy author and spending many more happy years with the Boston Choral Ensemble.
term: 2009—
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Andrew Shenton, Artistic Director
ex officio member, see staff listings
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