New Artistic Director, Susan Bialek, to start the 2014-2015 Season

Children’s Chorus of Maryland & School of Music is very pleased to announce the appointment of Susan Bialek as our new Artistic Director, starting in August 2014!

Susan Bialek brings to CCM a combination of 22 years of experience as an elementary and middle school choral music teacher and department head. Since 1992 she has served as the Director of Elementary and Middle School Music for the Dutchess Day School in Millbrook, New York. She was trained as an intern conductor with the Toronto Children’s Chorus, and co-founded and directed Cappella Festiva Treble Choir, a community-based treble choral program for singers ages ten to eighteen. Susan has a Master of Arts degree in Teaching, Music Education from Manhattanville College in Purchase, New York and a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, New York. We’re especially excited about Susan’s breadth of experience, as she has worked with students of all ages, from very young children to adults. That skill level will serve CCM well. Susan, whose personal and pedagogical philosophies so closely align with CCM’s, will begin her Kodály certification this summer at the esteemed and OAKE-endorsed Hartt School of Music.

A few words from Susan: “CCM is a very exciting and new path for me. My work with my treble choir is my passion and the area in which I have done the most professional development in the last 10 years. It is my strong desire to focus the next chapter of my career on choral music education in a community-based program. It has proven so very rewarding for my singers, who represent public, private, parochial and home school backgrounds, to work collaboratively on diverse and challenging repertoire. Together we have grown and experienced what is truly possible when we commit to the group, strive for excellence, build music literacy and sing in a multitude of foreign languages. We have rehearsed with great attention to detail, laughing now and then, while truly enjoying the music and feeling of accomplishment.”

We are all very excited to welcome Susan to the CCM family. Her ideas, her energy and vision for making fine music and supporting music literacy, promise great things for CCM this coming year.

FEATURE IMAGE: Susan Bialek prepared nine of our singers to perform three pieces at a wedding in September, 2014. Pictured is Susan with some singers getting ready to go to Corpus Christi Church in Baltimore.