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Lynnel Joy Jenkins
Artistic Director
Conductor, Concert Choir
Lynnel Joy Jenkins is in her third season as Artistic Director of the
Princeton Girlchoir as well as the choral teacher at the Timberlane Middle
School of the Hopewell Valley Regional School District in Pennington, New
Jersey. Prior to these appointments, Ms. Jenkins served as graduate
assistant for the music education department at the University of Arizona in
Tucson. In this capacity she conducted the University of Arizona's High
School Outreach Choir, supervised student teachers, taught undergraduate
music education courses including choral, secondary, and elementary methods.
Ms. Jenkins's varied conducting and teaching experience ranges from the
elementary to collegiate level. She has served as Assistant Professor of
Music Education at the Westminster Choir College of Rider University and
Conductor of the Resident Training Choir at the American Boychoir School in
Princeton, New Jersey. She was on the conducting staff of the Temple
University Children's Choir where she served for three seasons. In her last
year at Temple, she was the Associate Music Director of that ensemble. A
former music specialist at the Haverford School in Haverford, Pennsylvania,
she developed and implemented a general music program for elementary school
children based on the pedagogy of Zoltán Kodály.
Ms. Jenkins is a choral conductor and music educator of international
stature, having lectured and conducted in China, Hong Kong, Iceland, and
South Africa. She has served as guest conductor for numerous Honor Choirs,
All-States, and Choral Festivals in the United States and a clinician for
several professional music conferences. She serves on the conducting faculty
for the Virginia Organization of Kodály Educator's Vocal Arts Camp.
Ms. Jenkins has earned degrees from Westminster Choir College of Rider
University and Temple University, and at both institutions was awarded the
Elaine Brown Conducting Award. She holds a certificate in Kodály
pedagogy from Westminster Choir College of Rider University and level two
Orff-Schulwerk certification. She is a candidate for a doctor of musical arts
degree in choral conducting at the University of Arizona in Tucson.
Melissa Malvar-Keylock
Associate Director
Conductor, Grace Notes and Semi-Tones
Melissa Malvar-Keylock conducts the Semi-Tones and Grace Notes of the
Princeton Girlchoir. She is also the Director of Choral Music at Moorestown
Friends School, where she conducts five upper and middle school choirs, and
teaches Advanced Placement Music Theory. She serves on the board of the New
Jersey Choral Director's Association as the R&S Chair for Children's
Choirs. Previously, Mrs. Malvar worked with the Indianapolis Children's
Choir as the Director of Satellite Programs/Assistant Education Director.
She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Wheaton College, and a
Master of Music in conducting degree from Butler University, where she
conducted the collegiate Women's Glee Club. She completed her coursework for
Kodály certification from Capital University, and is a member of the
American Choral Directors Association, The Association for Music Education
(formerly MENC), Organization of Kodály Educators, and Pi Kappa
Lambda. She is listed in "Who's Who in American Women," and her conducting
can be seen in the PBS documentary In Endless Song, and the
educational video Creating Artistry through Movement: Dalcroze Eurythmics
in a Choral Classroom. Mrs. Malvar-Keylock is an active choral
clinician for festival and state choirs, and enjoyed her first bilingual
conducting recently with a children's choir in Las Palmas of the Canary
Islands. This year, her choirs will perform at the Eastern Division
Kodály conference in New York, and the New Jersey Music Educator's
convention. Her compositions/arrangements with Colla Voce and Hal Leonard
Publishing have sold over 18,000 copies, and are performed by children's
choirs throughout the country, including numerous festivals and state honor
choirs. Quiet Sea was featured at the 2011 National ACDA convention's
children's choir reading session. Her husband, Fernando Malvar-Ruiz,
conducts The American Boychoir, and the couple resides in Lawrenceville, NJ.
Raegan M. Ruiz
Associate Director
Conductor, Cantores
Raegan M. Ruiz is the conductor of the Cantores choir of the Princeton
Girlchoir, and she is in her eleventh year as the Director of Choral Music at
Bensalem High School in Bensalem, PA. Raegan holds the Master of Arts in
Music and Music Education from Columbia University's Teachers College and
earned her Bachelor of Music in Music Education with honors from The College
of New Jersey, where she studied choral music with noted composer/conductor
Michael D. Mendoza. An experienced professional singer, Raegan has appeared
as Susanna in Mozart's Marriage of Figaro and as Adele in Strauss's
Die Fledermaus. For the past ten years, Raegan has been a
continuing member of the Philadelphia Singers, the group of professional
singers comprising the core of the Philadelphia Orchestra's resident chorus,
The Philadelphia Singers Chorale. With the Philadelphia Singers Chorale,
Raegan has sung under the direction of some of the most widely recognized
conductors in the classical music world: Simon Rattle, Charles Dutoit,
Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Christoph Eschenbach, just to name a few. She is an
active member of MENC: The National Association for Music Education as well
as its local affiliates the Pennsylvania Music Educators Association and the
Bucks County Music Educators Association. She also maintains active
membership in the American Choral Directors Association and Chorus America.
Raegan is a proud union member of both the National Education Association and
the American Guild of Musical Artists.
Fred Meads
Associate Director
Conductor, Quarter Notes
Fred Meads is Director of Vocal Studies at the American Boychoir School in
Princeton, NJ. His responsibilities there include teaching private voice
lessons, music theory instruction and conducting the training choir.
Previously he served as Artistic Director of the Fort Wayne Children's Choir
from 1999-2009. Under his leadership, the choir of over 300 singers
performed throughout the community, state and at festivals around the world.
Last summer, the choir performed at the renowned Festival 500 in St.
John¿s, Newfoundland, Canada. In 2003 and 2009 the choir sang for the IMEA
State Music Convention. He also serves as Director of Children's Music at
Marble Collegiate Church in New York.
Mr. Meads' range of choral experience includes directing a variety of
choirs in public and private schools, churches and at the college level. He
has presented choral workshops for the American Guild of Organists, IPFW
(Indiana and Purdue University - Fort Wayne), Ball State University and for
the Indiana Music Educators Association. He has been conductor for Circle
the State with Song festivals throughout the state. Mr. Meads served on the
ICDA State Board for six years and is now a member of the New Jersey-ACDA
Board. As a vocalist, he has performed at the Bay View Music Festival (MI),
Brevard Music Center (NC), and in several Carnegie Hall choral performances
led by the late Robert Shaw.
Mr. Meads received the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from
Ithaca College, NY and the Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from
the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Mr. Meads was selected
as a conductor for the Chorus America Master Class in San Francisco and the
International Choral Conductor's Symposium in Toronto. He recently completed
three levels of training at the Kodály Institute of Capital University
in Columbus, OH where he received two scholarships as a top student. He was
the 2005 recipient of the Margaret Keegan Award for Excellence in Arts
Education presented by Arts United of Fort Wayne.
Kieun Steve Kim
Associate Director
Conductor, Ensemble
Kieun Steve Kim is the conductor of the Ensemble of the Princeton Girlchoir.
Mr. Kim returns to the Princeton Girlchoir where he previously served as
an accompanist for Grace Notes and Semi-Tones during the 2009-2010 season. Mr.
Kim also serves as Interim Choral Director at Stuart Country Day School of the
Sacred Heart and as Music Director at Princeton Presbyterian Church. At the
Stuart Country Day School, Steve conducts the Upper School and Middle School
choirs, directs musicals and teaches Advanced Placement Theory. At the
Princeton Presbyterian Church, he directs and oversees music ministries
including the Sanctuary Choir, Praise Team, Laudate Children's Music Education
Program and Arts at Meadow Road Concert Series.
An active composer, Mr. Kim's instrumental and choral works are widely
being performed in schools, concert halls, and sanctuaries. His choral
composition, "A Prayer For This Time," written for the 2011 North Carolina
Honors Chorus of North Carolina Music Educators Association will be performed
this season. His choral piece "The Human Touch" was included in the 2011
Westminster Choir Tour Program which received performances in New Jersey,
Pennsylvania, and Florida. Winner of 2008 Chanticleer Choral Composition
Competition, his work "Sanctus" was performed by the GRAMMY award-winning
ensemble in Minnesota, California, and Connecticut. His orchestral and chamber
works have been performed by the San Francisco New Music Ensemble. His
song-cycle "Three Love Songs by William Butler Yeats" written for
bass-baritone, Kittinant Chinsamran, received numerous performances in San
Francisco, Bangkok (Thailand), and Estoril Festival (Portugal). His musical
analyses appear in the textbook, "Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir,
Volume 3" and choral works are published by GIA Publications, INC.
Kieun Steve Kim earned a Master's degree in Choral Conducting from Westminster
Choir College of Rider University. He holds a Bachelor's degree in Composition
from San Francisco Conservatory of Music. When not conducting or composing, he
enjoys playing baseball and racquetball.
Ryan Brechmacher
Accompanist, Concert Choir, Ensemble, and Quarter Notes
Jack Cleghorn
Accompanist, Grace Notes
Janet A. Westrick
Founder and Artistic Director Emerita
Janet Westrick, founder of the Princeton Girlchoir, retired in 2009 after
twenty years of devoted leadership. An accomplished music educator and
choral director for over forty years, she also was a member of the music
faculty at Princeton Day School for twenty-two years, and for six of those
years, she was Head of Music and Performing Arts before retiring in 2005.
She is an honors graduate of Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, has done
graduate work at Western Michigan University and Westminster Choir College,
and is certified in both Kodály and Orff instruction. A life member
of the American Choral Directors Association, Ms. Westrick has served
that organization in committee and conference work. She has presented
workshops at Westminster Choir College and was a presenter at the American
Boychoir National Choral Conference in 2002 and 2003. Her peers recognize
her as a specialist in drawing out the very best from children's voices. She
was the 1997 recipient of the Women of Distinction Award for the World of the
Arts presented by the Delaware-Raritan Valley Girl Scout Council, and a
recipient of the 2005 Princeton YWCA Tribute to Women Award.
Ms. Westrick currently serves as parish musician at Christ the King
Lutheran Church in Kendall Park, New Jersey and is a member of the Board of
Directors of the Trenton Community Music School.
It has been my joy and privilege to shepherd and watch the Girlchoir grow
into the strong and vibrant organization it is today. I look forward to
watching its continuing evolution, and to listening to much beautiful music
in the future from all our wonderful girls. In addition, I hope to keep in
touch with our many alumnae members.
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