STAFF AND BOARD MEMBERS
Director: Michele Zuckman
Michele Zuckman joined the Hopewell Valley Chorus as artistic director in June 2010 and led the group through the last months of its 50th anniversary celebration. Michele, a resident of Narberth, PA, brings to the table experience as a teacher/music director at the Downtown Performing Arts Center, with other local conducting and teaching credits at the Lambertville Music School and Bucks County Playhouse.
Michele holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Vocal Performance and Music Education, with a Conducting Minor, from Carnegie Mellon University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting and Music Education from Westminster Choir College of Rider University. A founding faculty member of the Lehigh Valley Charter High School for the Performing Arts in Bethlehem, PA, Michele led choirs that performed at the United Nations and the National Shrine. Michele was a soprano with The Princeton Singers for five seasons. In September 2011, Michele joined the faculty of Friends' Central School in Wynnewood, PA, where she leads four choirs and teaches music theory, music history, and 8th grade music.
Pianist/Accompanist: Nicole Cochran
Nicole earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance from Juilliard and just completed a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance at Westminster Choir College. She is currently the accompanist for the middle school choirs and high school musical theater class in the Princeton Regional Schools, where she resides. She is also the organist and director of music at Annunciation of the Blessed Virgin Mary Parish in South Philadelphia, and maintains a private piano studio.
BOARD MEMBERS 2012-2013
President: Judith LeMassena
Judith, a long-time resident of Hopewell Township, says music has always been a part of her life. She joined HVC because she missed singing in a chorus and she chose HVC because of its involvement in the community and its varied musical programs under the outstanding leadership of its director.
Vice President/Membership: Inger Magnusson
Inger is a soprano who joined the chorus in 2009. She is born in Sweden and has been singing in choruses since she was a child. Choral singing is extremely poplar in Sweden, and it has been said that the success of many Swedish choirs can be attributed to the Swedish language, which has a singing quality. Before her move to the US in 2005, she lived in Switzerland, where she enjoyed singing in the Cantus Basel. Inger works in the pharmaceutical industry, and lives in Pennington with her husband and two teenage sons.
Treasurer: Chuck Denk
Chuck is a lifelong music fan who became a chorister in middle age. (Come on men, nothing wrong with a late start!) He is a statistician with the NJ Department of Health. Chuck's past volunteer service includes Little League coordinator, youth chess club director, a youth barbershop festival and homeowners association. He lives in Plainsboro, NJ.
Public Relations: Terry Trubiano
Terry works as a special education high school teacher, specializing in English and Algebra. She has been married for 33 years and has one adult daughter and an adult son. Terry grew up in Massachusetts within an Irish American family that sang in harmony around the piano at every family function, but didn't join a choral group until her children were small. She found HVC through an ad in the newspaper and has been a member for five years. She has throughly enjoyed the friendship, the community service, the exposure to great choral music, and of course the singing!
Librarian: Carole Woodford
Carole Woodford has been singing with vocal groups most of her adult life. Prior to joining the Hopewell Valley Chorus in 1983, she was part of a madrigal group and has been active with her church choir for more than 20 years. Carole has served as HVC librarian since 2000.
Finance Director: Ben Primer
Ben lives in Hopewell and has sung with the chorus since the mid-1990s.
Secretary: Julie Amaral
Concertmaster: Jordan Ullman
