Faculty & Partners

Our inspiring faculty are specialists in writing, performing, and researching contemporary music for the voice. They regularly present cutting-edge research at conferences, perform internationally, and write music for ensembles around the world.

You will work directly with expert performers, conductors, and composers of adventurous new music who will bring new and exciting ideas to the table and mentor you in trying them out in your own creative practice.

David Harris, Ensemble Director

David Harris (D.M.A.) specializes in new music, American music, and the intricacies of communication in choral singing and conducting. Living in Los Angeles, David is the co-founder and director of VoiceScienceWorks. Together with his partner, Laurel Irene, he helps vocalists learn to translate complex voice science into immediately applicable tools. He is the Director of Music at the First Congregational Church in Los Angeles where he leads the Cathedral Choir, Laude (a professional ensemble), and the Commonwealth Community Chorus (a community-based choir for children and teens). David also sings, conducts, and composes with C3LA: The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles. David earned degrees from the University of Alabama, Oklahoma, and Colorado.

Prior to moving to Los Angeles, he conducted the choirs at College of the Holy Cross in Massachusetts and was a founding member of Triad, a professional choral collective. In New York he held several positions, including the conductor of the Young Men’s Ensemble of the Grammy Award-winning Brooklyn Youth Chorus, and leader of C4: The Choral Composer Conductor Collective. While living in Boulder, CO, David began Jubilate, a touring a cappella choir and conducted for the Boulder Bach Festival and Denver Bach Society. He is also a composer and arranger published with See-A-Dot Music Publishing, Inc. David is an active member of PAVA, and ACDA, and will be published in the Choral Journal in March, 2019.

Laurel Irene, Voice Director

Laurel Irene (M.M.) Los Angeles-based "downright superhuman" (LA Times) vocal artist and voice researcher, specializes in bringing new compositional works to life with vocal repertoire ranging from Monteverdi to Mozart to the wacky, wild, and extreme sounds of the 21st century. With incredible vocal range, agile flexibility, and "resigned, compassionate, forbearing, affectionate, sympathetic, absolving" (LA Times) emotional connection that stretches from playful to unhinged in the span of a page, she draws on her expertise in vocal research to heighten unique timbres, textures, and vocal expressions. In 2019 she performed the role of Countess Almaviva in REDCAT's 12 hour endurance art piece, earning Mark Swed's acclaim as "one of the most astonishing performances, vocally and interpretively, I have ever encountered".

As an avid voice educator and founder of the educational organization, VoiceScienceWorks, she gives voice workshops at conferences and collegiate settings across the United States and Europe including the Pan-American Vocology Association, American Choral Directors Association, Acoustical Society of America, Harvard University, York University, College of the Holy Cross, California Institute for the Arts, University of California Los Angeles, and Cornish College of the Arts.

Fahad Siadat, Composition Director

Fahad Siadat (D.M.A.) sings with C3LA: The Contemporary Choral Collective of Los Angeles and HEX, of which he also serves as artistic director. He is also co-artistic director of The Resonance Collective in New York, an interdisciplinary music/dance ensemble with collaborator Andre Megerdichian. He has previously been a conductor of the CalArts Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, C4: The Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, and assistant conductor of The Industry. Fahad is regularly commissioned to compose and music directs for concert music ensembles, dance companies, theater troupes, and film studios. He has worked as a composer and music director for Theater Dybbuk, Rosanna Gamson Dance, Monmouth University, Seton Hill College, C4, the award winning Armada Films, Jacksonville Dance Theater, the California EAR Unit, and the TOCCATA Orchestra.

In 2012, he founded See-A-Dot Music Publishing, Inc., a company devoted to the advocacy of new choral works and emerging composers. He is currently a faculty member at Chaffey College where he teaches composition and is the assistant conductor of choirs.

Abraham Ross, Organ Specialist

Abe draws inspiration both from the rich organ repertoire and the range of instruments required to perform it, seeking out intersections between artists, philosophies, and societies of the past and those of today. He holds a Master of Music in Historical Performance at Oberlin Conservatory and will enter into the D.Mus. program at McGill University in the coming autumn. Abe has performed on organs around the world. His compositions and improvisations feature contemporary approaches to the sonic possibilities of the organ. He takes particular interest in music of living composers and recently played the U.S. premieres of several works, including harpsichord music of Ere Lievonen and organ works of Christopher Willcock. Based in a firm commitment to the expansion and development of the organ repertoire, Abe prioritizes dialogue between performers and composers that enables effective, idiomatic writing for the instrument.

Partners & Sponsors

VoiceScienceWorks

VoiceScienceWorks is a revolutionary educational organization committed to taking contemporary research on the voice and translating it into directly applicable information so that all voice users can immediately apply it in practice. Through our free and accessible website, learning resources, and workshops, information becomes accessible and friendly to all voice users who wish to deepen their understanding and empower their learning process. Co-founders and authors Laurel Irene and David Harris have presented at universities and institutions across the United States and Europe including Harvard, Curry, USC, CalArts, Duke, OSU, CU Boulder, BIMM Dublin, and many more, bringing playful, interactive, and transformative sessions to vocalists across professions and genres. Brilliant minds have been working through the complex bio-mechanics, physics, acoustics and neurology of phonation for decades, helping us to better understand what actually happens when we speak and sing.

VoiceScienceWorks provides access to that complex information through straight-forward explanations and methods. Each person’s unique voice holds deep elements of their identity. VoiceScienceWorks strives to help everyone unlock the hidden potential of their voice in whichever ways they choose to use it, thereby strengthening their artistry, identity, and individuality. Through cutting edge programs like the online “Voice Science Crash Course” and the 2-week intensive “Listen Up” individualized voice packages, VoiceScienceWorks reaches people around the world, providing profound opportunities for individual growth and exploration.

Website

The Resonance Collective

The Resonance Collective is a spiritual community of artists, or perhaps an artistic group of seekers. Wherever you find yourself on that spectrum, you are welcome to explore with us as we aim to intertwine our artistic and spiritual practice while considering the question, "what is sacred music?" The Resonance Collective aims to inspire and nurture the collective spirit of Los Angeles and beyond by expanding our understanding of the arts as a sacred and mystical experience, through the creation and performance of innovative and adventurous music. We further this mission through three methods: creation, curation, and education. We create interdisciplinary, theatrical narratives based on spiritual transformation as part of our Original Works program. We curate exceptional music from traditions around the world through the Golden Thread concert series; each event extends on the ritual of the traditional concert experience and offers a different perspective on the possibilities of sacred music. We educate creative musicians during the annual NEO Voice Festival, a week long celebration of the human voice with a focus on redefining the oratorio as a modern sacred storytelling form, holistic contemporary vocal performance, and compositional techniques.

When you attend a Resonance Collective event you are not just an audience member but an active participant, and we welcome your involvement as a member of this artistic community.

Website

First Congregational Church of LA

First Congregational Church of Los Angeles is a progressive, positive, and open church with a strong arts and music culture. We welcome and celebrate those of different faith traditions, cultural backgrounds, and sexual orientations. The Sunday morning worship service at First Church is a richly textured experience. Our service is traditional in structure, but we bring together the arts – music, literature, poetry, painting – as well as science and religious texts – to create a joyful experience of community. Each Sunday we engage the heart and mind, believing that faith and reason are essential to the spiritual journey. First Church is a vital, diverse and multi-generational community of faith. People of all ages – children, families of all configurations, young professionals, seniors, and everyone in between, come together in an authentic experience of Christian community. As an urban church in the heart of the city, we celebrate compassion, diversity and inclusivity, respecting people wherever they may be on the journey.

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See-A-Dot Music Publishing

See-A-Dot Music Publishing, Inc. was founded by composer and conductor Fahad Siadat in 2013 with the intent of curating and publishing innovative choral music. Through these curation efforts, See-A-Dot aspires to realize an inclusive, exciting future for choral music. Created by choral conductors for choral conductors, the catalog is highly curated and focuses on music for adult choirs, especially colleges and universities, though there are gems for community choirs, professionals, and strong high school ensembles.

See-A-Dot Music Publishing also aims to help new, up and coming composers gain the exposure they need to get the recognition they deserve. Our belief is that there are too many wonderful pieces that will never see life after a first performance, and we think that’s a tragedy. Our goal is to help get this music and these composers out into the world for the enjoyment of all.

Website