BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Lynn Shane, President, Executive Director
Lynn Shane is the founder and current Acting Executive Director of Boston Singers' Resource. Under her direction, BSR has become one of the leading resources for serious singers and students of singing in the New England region today. Working with a team of dedicated volunteers and board members since 2001, Ms. Shane has created and maintained the BSR website, organized 17 regional auditions for BSR singers and directors and written nearly 40 web article/interviews. Ms. Shane is an active member of the American Choral Director's Association, the Arts Services Coalition, the Music Educators National Association, the National Association of Teachers of Singing, Opera America, and Stagesource. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Crane School of Music in Potsdam, NY, and a Master of Music degree from the University of Colorado. Also an active music teacher and chorus conductor, Lynn Shane has worked with all ages of students from Kindergarden through adult. She currently is on the faculty at Salem State College in Salem, MA where she teaches private voice lessons as well as Women's Chorale, History of Music, and Voice Class. As an active singer, Ms. Shane has appeared with several regional symphonic, music theater and opera companies as soloist. She is also a 15 year veteran of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus with whom she has recorded several CD's, toured the Far East and Europe.

Karen Gahagan, Treasurer/Clerk
Karen Gahagan is a free-lance musician in the Boston area. She is a founding Board Member of Boston Singers’ Resource and serves as BSR Audition Coordinator. She has worked as musical director and/or pianist with various groups, including: The Boston Pops, Shakespeare and Company, The Huntington Theatre, The Lyric Stage of Boston, Reagle Players, Salem State College, Emerson College, New England Light Opera, The New Opera and Musical Theatre Initiative, Boston Conservatory of Music, and Suffolk University. When not involved in theatrical pursuits she is an active vocal and instrumental accompanist. Ms. Gahagan maintains a private piano studio and is the Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Marblehead. Ms. Gahagan holds degrees from the Indiana University School of Music and Simmons College Graduate School of Library and Information Science. Prior to becoming a fulltime musician she was Assistant Vice President at a non-profit insurance information organization. There she oversaw the information services department, establishing a full service library/research service and corporate web site, as well as producing the corporation’s annual national conference. Ms. Gahagan participated in a number of national research projects and was a contributor to the multi-volume study “An Assessment on Natural Hazards” published by the National Academy Press.

Glenn Billingsley, Director
Before entering the world of academic and arts fund raising, baritone Glenn Billingsley made his debut with the New York City Opera National Company and sang with the Santa Fe, Chatauqua and Lake George Opera companies, appeared in the Spoleto and Madeira Bach Festivals, toured Europe and the Western Hemisphere with the Waverly Consort and the SEM Ensemble, and did significant solo work in New York with Musica Sacra, the Ensemble for Early Music, the Bach Aria Group, Johannes somary's Amor Artis Chorale, and others, and with numerous choral organizations in Boston. A longtime member of the Choir of the Church of the Advent, he has been a part of Blue Heron since its inception. Glenn and his wife Monique Phinney, who is on the voice faculty of The Boston Conservatory, have two adult children - guitarist, drummer and songwriter Ken, and dancer and singer Lisa.

Betty Blanchard Blume, Director
Betty Blume has been a singer, teacher, and contributing board member of various Massachusetts vocal organizations for the past 20 years. An English major from Wheaton College, Ill, she has served on the boards of the All Newton Music School, Youth Pro Musica, Choral Arts New England, Brown Bag Opera, and the Boston Cecilia. Her music experience includes years of dedicated singing with the Boston Cecilia and the prestigious Tanglewood Festival Chorus as well as various solo experiences with the Newton Community Chorus and in churches around Boston and Montreal.

Leslie M. Holmes, Director
Leslie Holmes is a graduate of Wellesley College, well-known in the Boston area for her solo appearances, lectures, radio program on WCRB and studio teaching. She has been a featured performer with the Boston Symphony, Chorus Pro Musica, MIT Choral Society, Wellesley Choral Society, Hammond Castle and Amazing Things Arts Center, to name a few. A champion of women's music, cabaret and French Art song, Ms. Holmes gives lecture/recitals on these subjects troughout the country. Ms. Holmes is a regular interview columnist with the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS) - Journal of Singing; her interviewees include most of today's leading Opera nd Oratorio stars. She is a former NATS Massachusetts and New England Regional Governor and maintains an active voice studio in Wellesley, MA.

Murray Kidd, Director
Murray Kidd has been a singer and educator in the Boston area for the past 20 years. He is the Director of Choirs at UMASS/Lowell as well as the conductor of the Polymnia Society in Melrose. Mr. Kidd's private voice students have performed in venues throughout New England as well as in top music schools throughout the US. He is the founder of New Engand Conservatory's Song Recital Series, now in its 8th year. As a performer, Murray Kidd has has performed extensively with Handel and Haydn Society. He has also appeared with Boston Baroque, Opera Boston, Chorus Pro Musica, Pro Arte Chamber Orchestra, and, most recently, the Boston Pops. He is a member of NATS, ACDA, Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia and is a graduate of the New England Conservatory of Music. Murray Kidd is the founder and manager of BSR's newest program for singers-in-need called the Boston Singers' Relief Fund.

Matt Larson, Director
Matthew Larson received his Doctorate in Collaborative Piano from Arizona State University. An accomplished accompanist, Dr. Larson has played over 500 recitals in the United States and Austria. He has worked with many of the country's leading opera stars such as Carol Vaness, Maria Spacagna, Jennifer Larimore and Sherrill Milnes. He has also worked under the direction of Christopher Hogwood, Richard Miller, and Dalton Baldwn. Currently, Dr. Larson is Music Director for UCONN Opera Program, Vocal Coach for Tanglewood Institute's Young Artist Vocal Program and Director of Music at First Congregational Church in Milton, MA

Martha Peabody, Director
Martha Peabody, soprano, has been an active singer, educator, and lecturer in the New England area for the past 25 years. She is currently on the faculty of Northeastern University where she teaches courses on Sound Health, Music and Relaxation, as well as private lessons. Ms. Peabody is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing where she served as the President of the Boston Chapter as well as the District of Massachusetts Governor. She has a Masters of Arts in Wholistic Studies from Lesley University as well as a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of New Hampshire. Ms. Peabody is co-author of the 1988 handbook entitled 'Singers in Boston' by Presto Press from which Boston Singers' Resource drew it's initial inspiration

Beverly Soll, Director
Beverly Soll holds degrees in piano from the University of Illinois and a Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of Maryland. She has served on the faculty at the State University of New York-Geneseo, George Mason University, and Wayne State College and has presented performances throughout the United States and in Germany. She is the author of I Dream a World: The Operas of William Grant Still, and Arias, Duets and Scenes from the Operas of William Grant Still Vols 1-3. Following nine years coordinating arts and special events at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, Ms. Soll is currently a free-lance pianist and adjunct music faculty member at Salem State College.

Peter Smith, Director
Peter is a graduate of Columbia, with an MA and PhD in French from the University of Wisconsin. He taught at both the undergraduate and graduate level at Northwestern University prior to entering the information technology field at the former Bank Boston. His area of expertise was database design and data warehousing architecture, which he applied in both the retail banking and insurance industries. His musical background includes choral singing and piano. He has performed locally in productions with Actors Collaborative and Neponset Choral Society, including 1776, HMS Pinafore, Iolanthe, Guys and Dolls, and Music Man. He is currently a member of the Tanglewood Festival Chorus.

Brenna Wells, Director
Brenna Wells, soprano, is orginally from Washington State but is quickly establishing herself as a singer on demand in the Boston area as well as abroad. She received her Masters degree from Longy School of Music where she studied with Anna Gabrieli and has since gone on to perform locally as soloist with Boston Secession, Musica Sacra, The Masterworks Chorale, Chorus Pro Musica, Chagall String Quartet, Longitude New Music Ensemble, Belmont Open Sings, Paul Madore Chorale, Marsh Chapel Choir and Lowell House Opera as well as internationally in the Boston Early Music Festival, at the Cambridge (London) Music School, and with the Handel and Haydn Society in the BBC Proms Music Festival.

Jacque Wilson, Director
Jacque Wilson, mezzo soprano, is a frequent soloist in the New England area. She received her Masters Degree in Opera Performance from the Boston Conservatory. Opera roles she has gone on to perform with much acclaim include 'Cherubino' in Nozze di Figaro, 'Lola' in Cavalleria Rusticana, 'Meg" in Falstaff, 'Second Knitter' in Game of Chance, 'Mother' in Amahl and the Night Visitors and 'Prince Orlafsky' in Die Fledermaus. She also enjoys a career as a concert soloist and music theatre performer and has performed with the Newton Choral Society, Assabet Valley Masterworks Singers, The Masterworks Chorale, and the Tanglewood Festival Chorus to name a few. Ms. Wilson teaches voice privately in the area and was also a Co-Founder of the Boston Opera Project.

John Whittlesey, Director
John Whittlesy, baritone, is Founder and Director of Intermezzo: The New England Chamber Opera Series. Now in it's 5th year, Intermezzo has produced 18 chamber operas including 7 world premiers. The Intermezzo board is dedicated to the mission of bringing new and exciting works to the musical life in New England and their artist roster features top-notch local talent. In addition to his busy life as an impresario, Mr. Whittlesey is also an active concert soloist in the area as well as a member of the Boston Lyric Opera chorus where he has enjoyed numerous comprimario roles. He has performed at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, with New England Light Opera, Cape Cod Opera, Longwood Opera, Hackmatack Playhouse, Center for the Arts in Natick, The Masterworks Chorale, Salisbury Singers, and Chorus North Shore.

Joseph Stroup, News Editor
Joseph Stroup is on the faculty of the Performing Arts Department at the Landmark School in Prides Crossing, teaches piano privately, and is a Board Member and contributing editor to the Boston Singers Resource website. He has been the organist at the First Church in Wenham, MA, since 1986. Prior to this full-time career in music, he was a software engineer in Boston and Portsmouth, NH, holding various positions in the Financial, Insurance and Engineering industries from 1984 through 2002. Joe is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music.