Kate Macdonald, CCM Program Assistant, is a singer, learning track producer, and arts administrator in Baltimore, MD. She earned a Bachelors of Science in Music with a Business Minor from Towson University. She’s spent her life singing in musical theater, jazz choirs, rock bands, and operas. She managed and sang bass in the world renowned a cappella and barbershop quartet, GQ, the 2022 4th Place Quartet Medalists of the Barbershop Harmony Society. GQ has three studio albums and is an inspiration for young treble singers all over the world.
She recently served as a staff member in fundraising and youth activities at the Barbershop Harmony Society. She’s served various arts administrative roles for Baltimore Center Stage, Children’s Chorus of Maryland, ChoralOrg, and York County Honors Choirs.
She is the co-founder of True North Chorus, an all-voices chorus in the Mid-Atlantic District in the Barbershop Harmony Society (BHS) with a radical mission of inclusion. She produces learning tracks and is a freelance arts administrator under her own business, Kate Macdonald Voice.
David Bielenberg’s commitment to music and the arts has inspired his career as an arts administrator and advocate for the power of the arts to transform individuals and communities. He is especially passionate about and has worked to support choral music and singing throughout his life and career.
Before coming to CCM in July 2022, David was Executive Director of the Philadelphia Gay Men’s Chorus (PGMC), where he was responsible for all of the administrative operations of the 100+ member community chorus. During his tenure, which coincided with the COVID pandemic, he grew the organization’s net assets by more than 300%.
David previously served as Executive Director of the Gay Men's Chorus of Washington, DC. Under his leadership, the Chorus also experienced a marked enhancement of its administrative operations including increased fundraising support from individuals and corporate sponsors and improved marketing and communications initiatives. Following his 4-year tenure, the Chorus recognized his contributions to the organization with a Circle of Excellence award.
From 2007-2011, David also served as Executive Director of the Station North Arts & Entertainment District in the heart of Baltimore City. During his tenure there, Station North was recognized by the State of Maryland’s Department of Business and Economic Development with an Arts & Entertainment District Outstanding Achievement Award.
A native of Baltimore, David began his musical training as a boy chorister at St. David’s Episcopal church in Baltimore, under the direction of Randy Mullin, and has sung in a number of different choirs since. He currently lives in Baltimore City and sings in the choir at Brown Memorial Presbyterian church.
David earned a Bachelor of Music degree with a business minor from New York University, and a Master of Arts in Arts Administration degree from Goucher College. His Master’s ‘Major Paper’ titled “Changing Hearts: How Gay and Lesbian Choruses Transform Lives and Communities,” was nominated for a Jean Wilhelm Award and received a Julia Rogers Research Prize.
Lyndsay Davies teaches Crickets, a music and movement class for children ages 4-6, at CCM. She began her career as a K-5 vocal music teacher in the Harford County Public School system. During that time, she welcomed her first piano students. She also had the privilege of teaching ear training, sight singing and music theory classes for the Children’s Chorus of Maryland. Most recently, she taught vocal music to K-2 students at Redeemer Classical Christian School in Kingsville, MD and for a local homeschool co-op, Crossroads. She continues to teach piano lessons from her home in Timonium.
Lyndsay is a certified Kodály music educator, having received her Master of Education in Kodály Music from the American Kodály Institute at Loyola University of Maryland. She earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Grove City College where she also studied Trombone. She continues to play trombone with the Hunt Valley Wind Ensemble.
Patricia McKewen Amato’s extensive operatic experience includes duties as conductor, coach, and accompanist at the AIMS Institute in Graz, Austria, Brevard Music Festival, Aspen Music Festival, Peabody Opera Studio, and the Young Victorian Theatre. She served as assistant music director of the Baltimore Opera Company; music director/conductor for Annapolis Opera, Maryland Lyric Opera, Brevard Music Festival, Opera Americana, Washington Summer Opera, and Washington Savoyards. A versatile collaborative pianist, Patricia frequently performs with Annapolis Opera, Annapolis Chorale, Baltimore Choral Arts, Baltimore Musicales, Baltimore Symphony, and Maryland Symphony. She is a first-place winner in the Houston Chamber Music Society Competition. She made her Lincoln Center conducting debut in an all-Charles Loeffler program, subsequently recorded on Koch International. Patricia is music director of Music for the Stage, Opera in a Can, and coach/accompanist for the voice division at Towson University. She is on the faculty of the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria and Summer Music in Tuscany. She is the accompanist for the Annapolis Opera and Children’s Chorus of Maryland. She holds a BM from the Catholic University of America, a MM from the University of Houston, both Magna cum Laude, and certificates in lieder, opera, and chamber music from The American Institute of Musical Studies, in Graz, Austria.
Lauren Crocker has taught musicianship classes for Children's Chorus of Maryland since 2009. She teaches pre-kindergarten to fifth grade general music and chorus in the public schools. Lauren received her Level I Orff-Schulwerk Certification from the Eastman School of Music and graduated from Bowling Green State University in Ohio with a Bachelor's in Music Education. Lauren has a Master's of Education in Kodály Music Education and Kodály certification from the American Kodály Institute at Loyola University Maryland. She teaches graduate level Materials classes and has served as the Program Director of the American Kodály Institute since 2015. Lauren is a frequent presenter at workshops and professional development sessions.
Rachel Morgan was appointed Artistic Director of CCM in June 2023 and brings a wealth of experience working with children's choruses and in music education at all levels.
Since 2010 she has served as a conductor with the Children's Chorus of Carroll County (CCCC), where she directs both the advanced auditioned ensemble (10th-12th grades) and the early intermediate ensemble (4th-6th grades). She has led CCCC ensembles to win numerous awards at choral festivals and adjudications, and she has co-directed their touring ensembles that have performed in prestigious venues in both the United States and Europe.
In 2022, Rachel also became conductor of the York County Junior Honors Choir, comprised of advanced 7th-9th grade singers from across York County in Pennsylvania. Other organizations with which she has held conducting and teaching contracts include Lamplight Artists, the National Christian Choir, the Maryland Academy of Dance, and Carroll Community College.
Rachel was a school vocal music teacher from 2005-2020, during which time she earned elite recognition as Teacher of the Year 2015 Finalist for Carroll County Public Schools and was honored with the prestigious Outstanding Teacher Award presented by the Carroll County Chamber of Commerce. During her years in the classroom, Rachel taught music at every single grade level and in both public and private school settings. She also served in numerous leadership positions at school and county levels.
Rachel holds a Master of Music degree in Music Education from the Peabody Conservatory at Johns Hopkins University and a Bachelor of Music Education from the Wheaton College Conservatory of Music in Illinois. Additionally, she has completed 40 graduate credits centered on world and folk arts, diversity, and pedagogy at McDaniel College in Maryland. Rachel also began pursuing a Kodaly certification in July 2023 at the American Kodaly Institute at Loyola University.
We celebrated our 46th Annual Spring Concert “Just Sing!” on Sunday, May 1st at the Maryland State Boychoir Center for the Arts in Baltimore. The concert featured an exciting program of pieces from silly to serene, that span centuries and continents, so we could enthusiastically celebrate and illustrate the joys of spring.
“My hope is to feed our singers’ musical souls with exposure to music that awakens something in them and gives them hope. I want them to have a chance to be part of beautiful melodies, harmonies and meaningful texts together with others, experiencing deeply how the whole is greater than the sum of the parts.”
Artistic Director Susan Bialek, on the occasion of "Just Sing!"
"Just Sing!" was also a special farewell to our Executive Director, Andrea Burgoyne, whose distinguished involvement with CCM spans 29 years. As a surprise, we invited alumni from far and wide to join for the finale of the concert, including Andrea's two grown children!
Our Treble and Lyric choirs were thrilled to be the opening act at WTMD's “Frozen” stage show featuring songs from both movies on March 12th, 2022, in the middle of a snowstorm. no less! Our Artistic Director Susan Bialek, students, parents, and volunteers rallied in rare form to "go on with the show"!
The stage show was performed in costume by the classically trained operatic duo, Outcalls, at the B&O Railroad Museum’s picturesque Roundhouse. Tickets were sold out, but the concert was broadcast live on the radio at 10 AM on Saturday, March 12th.
Learn more about WTMD's Saturday Morning Tunes Concert and this event.
Last fall Children’s Chorus of Maryland (CCM) met four times in a parking lot, each student socially-distanced in their own car. With the assistance of headphones, microphones, and long cables connected to a mixing console run by a sound engineer, students rehearsed in real time and heard their collective sound, something greatly missed for far too long.
When the pandemic hit in March 2020, staff quickly mobilized to create a meaningful way for students to continue their classes and choir rehearsals online. After seven months of singing in isolation from home, and to the students’ great surprise and joy, CCM began holding in-person “Car Choir” rehearsals. It took much research and planning on the part of the staff, the unwavering help of volunteers, and generous venues in and near Baltimore to be realized. Maryland Sound provided the engineering staff and audio equipment for each chorus member.
One board member and current parent of CCM reported, “we are here, we have mastered this virtual thing, and we are learning and singing and HAVING FUN!"
Though CCM continues to offer virtual instruction and “Car Choir” rehearsals, and has applied for and received every kind of federal and local relief funding for which they qualified, the drain on their resources has been devastating. They have lost significant income due to canceled concert ticket sales, more nonprofits than ever competing for funding, and a downturn in enrollment (and tuition) from families already maxed out from online learning.
"No matter what’s going on around me, music has always been and always will be a safe place, which is just that much more important during this time.”
CCM student
The pandemic has created the greatest financial challenge in CCM’s 46-year history. In order to ensure that CCM remains in operation into the Fall Semester and beyond, they must raise additional funds in the amount of $50,000 via a GoFundMe campaign, which was launched by the board in February 2021.
Music communicates the essence of the human spirit. What is best about us as a species has been recorded in our musical heritage. In teaching this language to children, CCM is passing on an essential part of who we are to future generations. As one student eloquently said, “No matter what’s going on around me, music has always been and always will be a safe place, which is just that much more important during this time.”
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