2022 Honor Choir Announcement

ELEMENTARY FESTIVAL CHOIR
Sophia Papoulis, conductor

ELEMENTARY FESTIVAL CHOIR POSTPONED UNTIL 2024

A treble choir of singers who will be in grades 4, 5, or 6 in February 2022

Sophia Papoulis is the Associate Conductor of the award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City. At YPC, an organization renowned for its diversity and artistic excellence, she directs children ranging in age from 8 to 18 in rehearsals, performances, and tours in the U.S. and abroad. Each year 2,000 children benefit musically, academically, and socially through their participation in YPC’s after-school and in-school programs. 

Previously, Sophia was the  Assistant Director of Choirs with the award-winning Boston Children’s Chorus.  In that role, she conducted beginning and intermediate level ensembles and oversaw the eight choirs of the lower division out of BCC’s 13 total choirs and served as a liaison to the Boston Public Schools.

A sought-after choral clinician, Sophia is invited by choral organizations around the country to appear as a guest conductor, presenting choral and music education workshops, and conducting All-State Honor Choirs. Sophia is a graduate of the Ithaca College School of Music, where she studied Music Education and Conducting under the mentorship of Dr. Janet Galván.

JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR CHOIR
Jessica Nápoles, conductor

An SATB choir of singers who will be in grades 6, 7, 8, or 9 in February 2022

Jessica Nápoles is Interim Chair of Music Education and Associate Professor of Choral Music Education at the University of North Texas. She teaches undergraduate coursework in choral methods, conducts the Concert Choir, and mentors graduate students in research. A native of Florida with a Cuban-American background, Dr. Napoles taught middle school chorus in the public schools of Miami and Orlando, FL. She received her Bachelor of Music Education, Master of Music Education, and PhD in Music Education from the Florida State University. Prior to her appointment at UNT, she taught at the University of Utah for 11 years. 

Dr. Nápoles is an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, frequently engaging in guest conducting opportunities locally, regionally, and nationally. She has conducted All State and honor choirs in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Utah. She has conducted the Southern, North Central/Central, and Western division honor choirs for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). In 2019, Dr. Nápoles made her Carnegie Hall debut as choral conductor for the WorldStrides OnStage Honors Performance Series. She was asked to return in 2020 and again in 2021.

GOSPEL HONOR CHOIR
Raymond Wise, conductor

An SSAATTBB choir of singers who will be in grades 10, 11, or 12 in February 2022.

Raymond Wise, Ph.D., a native of Baltimore, Md., began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group “The Wise Singers.”  Dr. Wise currently serves on the faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he serves as Professor of Practice in the African American African Diaspora Studies department and instructs courses in African American music.  He serves as the Associate Director of the African American Arts Institute, an IU division devoted to the perpetuation and performance of African American music and art.  

Dr. Wise served as the Co-Director and Director of the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild and Academy that provides intensive training in African American sacred music for church musicians.  He has also served as a member of the academic faculty for the Gospel Music Workshop of America for 33 years.  Wise is the founder and President of Raise Productions’ Center for the Gospel Arts, a gospel music production and publishing company in Columbus, Ohio established to provide educational training and resources for gospel artists and the community.  Wise has served as the artistic director of the various Raise performing ensembles since 1986 .Wise is known for helping choirs perform gospel music authentically.  Dr. Wise served as the Ethnic and American music Repertoire and Standards Chair for the American Choral Director’s Association Central Division (ACDA).

Dr. Wise earned a B.F.A. in Music (Piano and Voice) from Denison University (Granville, Ohio).  He did additional studies in Opera, Art, and German at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria, and in African-American History, Music, and Dance at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California.

HIGH SCHOOL HONOR CHOIR
Eugene Rogers, conductor

An SSAATTBB choir of singers who will be in grades 10, 11, or 12 in February 2022

A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMY® Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE, Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMY® Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.).

At the University, Rogers leads the graduate choral conducting program, conducts the chamber choir, and administers the program of over eight choral ensembles. His choirs have toured throughout China, South Africa, the United States, and have appeared at national and regional conferences. His past appointments include being the director of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota), the Boys Choir of Harlem, Waubonsie Valley High School (Aurora, Illinois), and Anima Young Singers of Greater Chicago (formerly the Glen Ellyn Children’s Choir). In 2016, Rogers’ passion for issues of social justice and music was featured in the award-winning documentary Love, Life and Loss which highlights Joel Thompson’s powerful Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.

Rogers holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in choral music education from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in choral conducting from U-M. He currently serves on the board of Chorus America and is the former national chair of the Diversity Initiatives Committee for the American Choral Directors Association.