 |
 |
|
BCE’s Staff  Miguel Felipe, Music Director
A native of Ann Arbor, Michigan, Miguel currently lives in Boston, Massachusetts. In addition to his duties with the Boston Choral Ensemble, Miguel is a member of the faculty of The Boston Conservatory where he is the conductor of the Women's Choir and instructor of ear training and graduate studies. In 2005, he was a guest faculty member at Brown University. Since 1994, Miguel has served in various positions as a church music in Cincinnati and in Boston, including seven years as a director of music in downtown Boston. Most recently, Miguel travelled to Bandung, Indonesia where he was as guest speaker and instructor for the Bandung School of Church Music and 3rd Symposium on Church Choral Music hosted by the Bandung Choral Society. Miguel performs similiar work as clinician around New England. From 2000 to 2004, Miguel was artistic director of The Maine Gay Men's Chorus. Immediately prior, Miguel was also a student at the Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians in Hancock, Maine, Michael Jinbo, director. In the summer of 2008, Miguel will serve as an adjudicator at the North Sulawesi International Choral Competition in Manado, Indonesia. While there he will serve as a teacher-mentor in the first annual International Conductors Institute of Indonesia. Later in the summer he will participate in “Aswatuna,” the Arab Choral Festival in Petra, Jordan, presented by the International Federation of Choral Music (IFCM) and Rikskonserter of Sweden. Before moving to Boston, Miguel lived in Cincinnati, Ohio, where he completed a degree in Music Theory and Conducting at The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, summa cum laude where he studied with John Leman and Christopher Zimmerman. While in Cincinnati, he worked as a church musician for several area churches including The Cathedral of St. Peter in Chains, home of the archbishop of Ohio. A consistent promoter of new music, Miguel was involved in several concerts in Cincinnati that combined new commissions with standard repertoire including concertos, symphonies, and choral works. Having worked with composers on numerous commissions, Miguel has conducted over 15 premieres in the recent years. Among them is at least remain silent, a concert-length piece by composer Corey Dargel, combining newly-composed music with baroque and popular music in a hybrid work dealing with issues of queer alienation in today’s society. Currently, Miguel is pursing a doctoral degree at Boston University (BU) under the guidance of Dr. Ann Howard Jones and Prof. David Hoose. In 2005, he completed a master of music degree in conducting, also at BU. While a student, Miguel is assistant to Prof. André de Quadros, director of the School of Music and board member, International Federation for Choral Music. In conjunction with Prof. de Quadros, Miguel's editorial work is published by Earthsongs of Covallis, Washington, and Hinshaw Music, Inc. of Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Miguel also attended the Interlochen Arts Academy where he received a diploma in Piano Performance. In addition to his piano studies, he studied conducting and led the chamber choir, Beau Chant, in many concerts, children’s events and a recording project for WIAA, a National Public Radio affiliate. Miguel is a proud member of the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, the International Federation for Choral Music, and Pi Kappa Lambda, the national music honor society.
Katherine Foley is an accomplished vocalist, conductor, and teacher. A graduate of Westminster Choir College, Ms. Foley has appeared with the Westminster Symphonic Choir with such orchestras as the New York Philharmonic, the Philadelphia Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony. Locally, Ms. Foley has appeared as a soloist with numerous Boston area choruses including the Neponset Choral Society and the Masterworks Chorale. Ms. Foley sings with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus and the Boston Symphony Orchestra. She teaches voice lessons out of her home and has also taught at Philips Exeter Academy. As the assistant conductor of the Newton Community Chorus, Ms. Foley prepared the chorus for performances of the Bach Magnificat and the Mozart Requiem, as well as John Corgliano’s Fern Hill. Ms. Foley was the founding conductor of the Babson/Olin Community Choir and is also the choir director at Christ Church United Methodist in Wellesly. She is extremely excited about working with the Boston Choral Ensemble this year, her first as assistant to the director. Branden Grimmett is the organist at Sacred Heart Church in Lexington, Massachusetts. Branden came to Sacred Heart after serving as organist at Arlington Street Church, Unitarian Universalist, in Boston’s historic Back Bay. He previously served as the director of music and organist at First Congregational Church in Davis Square. Previously, he was the assistant music director and organist at Topsfield Congregational Church, under the direction of Mark Morgan, the artistic director of New England Light Opera. Branden received his Bachelor’s degree in organ from St. Olaf College in Minnesota, and his Master’s degree in theology from Harvard University. He has studied organ with John Ferguson, Cathy Rodland, Shirley King and Ken Rodgers; piano with Karen Schlabaugh, Scott Donald and Rosella Mason; and voice with Robert Scholz and Anton Armstrong, conductor of the St. Olaf Choir and artistic director of the Oregon Bach Festival Youth Choral Academy. As an organist, Branden has been featured on the choral album Rise Up, O Men of God, performing Jean Langlais’ Missa Salve Regina and Antonio Vivaldi’s Crucifixus. In 2007, he was the guest accompanist for the Boston Gay Men’s Chorus, under the direction of Reuben Reynolds, performing the Boston premiere of When We No Longer Touch: A Cycle of Songs for Survival by Kristopher Jon Anthony. He was also the organist for a rare Boston performance of Arvo Pärt’s Passio with BCE in 2007. From 2000 to 2003 he was heard on National Public Radio as the chapel organist at St. Olaf College, and in 2003 served as the organist for the Amistad Celebration at the Bank of America Pavilion (formerly Fleet Boston Pavilion). As a singer, Branden performed Arthur Bliss’ oratorio Morning Heroes with the Saint Olaf Cantorei at Orchestra Hall in Minneapolis, alongside James Earl Jones as narrator. He was also seen on the PBS televised St. Olaf Christmas Festival from 2000 to 2004. Branden is an active member of the American Guild of Organists, the American Academy of Religion and the Hymn Society in the United States and Canada. He also serves as a consultant to several religious denominations and individual congregations, advising them on how to enhance worship and increase membership through music. He is a board member of the United Church of Christ Musicians National Network (UCCMNN) and currently sits on the Praise Song Advisory Team for the upcoming United Church of Christ (UCC) hymnal supplement, to be released in 2009. In June 2007, Branden served as the organist for the UCC's 26th General Synod and 50th Anniversary Celebration of the United Church of Christ in Hartford, Connecticut, where Bill Moyers and Senator Barack Obama were the featured presenters. |
||||||||
