Emily Crocker earned the Master of Arts in Music Theory from Texas Woman’s University and the Bachelor of Music Education from University of North Texas. Further studies have included Conducting and Voice-Building at Westminster Choir College and Kodaly Techniques at Sam Houston State University.

Ms. Crocker taught public school music at all levels for 15 years in Texas. In1989, she joined the music publishing industry and served as Vice President of Choral Publications for Hal Leonard Corporation in Milwaukee. She founded the Milwaukee Children’s Choir in 1994 and served as artistic director until 2009. Under her leadership the choir grew from 35 members to over 400 and received acclaim for performances with the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, the Milwaukee Chamber Orchestra, the Milwaukee Youth Symphony Orchestra, the American Choral Directors Association, Present Music, an MENC national convention and at international festivals around the world. She is a nationally recognized expert in children’s and youth choirs and maintains an active guest conducting schedule.

Ms. Crocker’s compositions have been performed across the globe. She has received ASCAP awards for concert music since 1986. She is well known for her work in developing choral instructional materials and is an author of Experiencing Choral Music, a choral textbook series for grades 6–12 published by McGraw-Hill/Glencoe, and Essential Elements for Choir, a choral textbook series for grades 6–12 published by Hal Leonard.

The Civic Music Association of Milwaukee awarded her the Excellence in Youth Music award in 2002 and, in 2009, the Distinguished Citizen Award—Professional in the Arts. She has been named a Distinguished Alumna by the Texas Woman’s University Department of Music and an Honored Alumnus by the College of Music of the University of North Texas.

She maintains membership in the American Choral Directors Association (Life Member), Wisconsin Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, ASCAP, Chorus America, ΣΑΙ music fraternity, (Iota Omega)—Member Laureate, ΠΚΛ national music honor society.

Rachel Maki has educated students of all levels throughout Michigan, New Jersey, and Wisconsin in both schools and after school choral organizations. As an advocate of music education, Rachel led a Wisconsin school to receive the 2014 GRAMMY Select Schools Enterprise Award, an award given to high schools that are retaining their music programs among continued budgetary limitations.  Ms. Maki served as the Associate Artistic Director of Milwaukee Children’s Choir for three years and is now in her fourth season as Artistic Director.

A native of the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, Ms. Maki has performed with many notable groups including the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New Jersey Symphony, and Vienna Philharmonic while under the direction of internationally renowned conductors Yannick Nézet-Séguin, Daniele Gatti, Jacques Lacombe, Alan Gilbert, and Vladimir Jurowski. While at Westminster Choir College, Ms. Maki twice travelled to Oxford, England as a member of the GRAMMY nominated Westminster Williamson Voices where the choir performed as artists in residents for the Oxford Choral Institute. She has also performed with Arturo O’Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Orchestra at New York’s City’s Apollo Theater, for the visitation of the Archbishop of Loreto at St. John’s Church, Orange, NJ, and Julian Darius Revie’s Mass of the Divine Shepherd at New York City’s Carnegie Hall.

Rachel Maki holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Northern Michigan University, Marquette, Michigan and a Master of Music in Music Education from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. While at Westminster Choir College, she studied conducting with Dr. James Jordan and voice with Robin Leigh Massie.

Corynn Nordstrom received the Bachelor of Music in clarinet performance and music education from the University of Michigan. She also obtained the Master of Music Education from the same institution with a focus on curriculum and choral directing for young voices.

Ms. Nordstrom is a National Board Certified Teacher and has been teaching young children for 17 years. She currently teaches Kindergarten through 2nd grade general music for the School District of Menomonee Falls. She is Level 1 certified in Music Learning Theory and Kodaly.

In 2009, she received the Michigan Music Educators Association Hilda Humphreys Award for service to music education early in her career. Ms. Nordstrom recently finished serving two terms as the Early Childhood Chair for the Wisconsin Music Educators Association and writer for the Wisconsin School Musician magazine.

Jessica Marks recieved her BM Vocal Performance, Millikin University, Decatur, IL and her MM Music Education University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.  Ms. Marks has taught general music and chorus (Pre-K-5th) at the Academy of Accelerated Learning (Milwaukee Public Schools) since 1999. She has served multiple times as a District Elementary Choir Conductor for the MPS Biennial Music Festival (2012, 2014, 2016, 2020, 2022). In addition, Ms. Marks is a private voice instructor, and has directed an advanced Vocal Ensemble for teens. Ms. Marks has extensive experience with Youth Musical Theatre, both as a teaching artist and Vocal Director for multiple productions. As a professional educator, Ms. Marks has led numerous teacher training sessions, presented as a clinician, collaborated with community Arts organizations, and is a mentor to new teachers. Previous awards include General Music Excellence Award (Civic Music 2004, 2016) and WJZI Teacher of the Month (February 2007), Jerry Award Nominee (2018, Peter Pan).

Clare Malinowski earned her Bachelor’s Degree from the University of Wisconsin-La Crosse in choral and general music education. While teaching music and choir in Wisconsin, Clare also sang with the Madison and Milwaukee Symphony Choirs.

After six years, Clare moved to Colorado to pursue her Master’s Degree in Music Education and Choral Conducting at the University of Colorado-Boulder. During her time in Colorado she worked with the CU Men’s Chorus and a community Women’s Chamber Choir.

 In May of 2020 Clare graduated and moved to Rochester, Minnesota. Clare worked as Artistic Director for a 9-12th grade treble choir, Bella Voce, and taught 6-12th choir during her two years in Minnesota.

Clare also participated in The Madison Choral Project, under the direction of Dr. Albert Pinsonneault welcomed Clare as a conducting fellow and singer during a short summer concert series in 2019 and again in 2023 as a singer.

Happy to be back in her home state, Clare loves the time she can spend with her partner and family with special mention of her two incredible nieces. Clare currently works as Artistic Director for the Philharmonic Chorus of Madison, the Intermediate Choir Director with the Milwaukee Children’s Choir and teaches private lessons in Madison and Milwaukee.

Jim started accompanying choirs playing for his school’s full choir programs at the age of ten. He went
to St. Norbert College in De Pere, WI where he studied voice and conducting with Dr. Kevin Baker. He
began working for the Catholic Church at age 14 and has been involved in ministry ever since. Jim has served at some of the largest parishes in the Midwest growing and developing programs for almost 20 years. He is currently the Director of Liturgy and Music at St. Mary Catholic Faith Community in Hales
Corners.

Charmaine Siagian received her BM and MM degrees in piano performance from Youngstown State University (Ohio) and her DMA in piano performance and pedagogy from the University of Oklahoma. Originally from Sabah, Malaysia, Charmaine recently authored and arranged the Malay Folk Songs Collection published by Hal Leonard, where she works as editor of educational piano. 

Brendan Fox is a pianist and composer from Wilton, CT. He received a Bachelor of Music in Composition and in Piano Performance from Wheaton College (IL) and a Master of Music in Composition from Ithaca College. In Milwaukee he has performed with groups including Camerata Milwaukee, DIY Chamber Music, Festival City Symphony, and Milwaukee Chamber Choir. His compositions have been played by the Milwaukee Philharmonic and Tontine Ensemble. Brendan currently works as a classical music editor at Hal Leonard. He occasionally writes classical music reviews for Urban Milwaukee. A frequent side project has been a lecture-recital of Charles Ives’s Concord Sonata, which he has performed in cities including New York, Chicago, Toronto, and Milwaukee.