Philip Silvey, Director
Philip Silvey is Assistant Professor of Music Education at the Eastman School of Music where he directs the Women’s Chorus and teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education. Previously, he served as Assistant Professor of Choral Music Education at the University of Maryland where he directed the Women’s Chorus, the Maryland Boy Choir, and the College Park Youth Choir. He also taught at Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory where he directed the Women’s Choir. He holds degrees in composition from Houghton College and the Pennsylvania State University, and a doctorate in music education from the University of Illinois. He taught secondary vocal music in Michigan where his choral ensembles were honored with invitations to perform at state conferences for three successive years. He has been invited to serve as guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator in numerous states and directed all-state choruses in Maryland and Virginia. He has served as president of the Maryland-DC chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association and currently holds the position of Repertoire and Standards Chair for Women’s Choirs for the New York state chapter of ACDA. He has presented interest sessions at state and regional ACDA conventions. He has contributed to two textbook series, Experiencing Choral Music and Teaching Music through Performance in Choir, Volumes II and III. His scholarly writings have appeared in the Journal of Research in Music Education, Music Educators Journal, Choral Journal, and the Arts and Learning Research Journal. His original choral compositions and arrangements, published by Santa Barbara Music and Carl Fischer, have been performed by all-state and national honors choruses.

David Hahn, Graduate Assistant
David Hahn is a conductor, singer, and worship arts creative, pursuing the Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting at the Eastman School of Music where he is a recipient of the Herman Genhart Choral Conducting Scholarship and studies under the tutelage of Dr. William Weinert. In addition to his conducting responsibilities at Eastman, David serves as Choir Director at Aldersgate United Methodist Church in Rochester, NY.

Prior to his studies at Eastman, David was a conducting intern at The Moody Church in Chicago, where he conducted the Sanctuary Choir and Orchestra and studied conducting technique with Tim Stafford. David has previously studied conducting with Dr. Xiangtang Hong and Jim Mitchell and has received choral, orchestral, and vocal training from conductors and professors at the Interlochen Center for the Arts, Kent State University, and the University of Michigan.

A native of Northeast Ohio, David has continually served the music department at The Chapel in Akron as a conductor for the Akron Campus Festival Chorale (100+), Orchestra (30+) and as a Worship Leader for both the traditional and contemporary services. A recipient of the Symonds Music Scholarship at the Moody Bible Institute, David was the Founder and Artistic Director of the Con Brio Chambers Singers, a highly-selective, auditioned chamber group specializing in a cappella choral repertoire. David was also a Student Conductor of the Moody Chorale, the school’s premier mixed collegiate choir. While at Moody, David focused his training in voice performance, studying primarily with Dr. Terry Strandt and coached by Dr. Jori Jennings, Dr. Desirée Hassler, and Fred Conrad. Additionally, David furthered his piano studies with Dr. Brian Lee and Lydia Kellogg.

Equally at home as a baritone, David has enjoyed singing professionally among several Chicagoland churches and organizations as a section leader and performer, most recently with the Chicago Choral Artists. A fanatic of traveling, David has traveled as a baritone with the Moody Chorale through South America, Brazil, and the United Kingdom and was invited to sing in both the Summer Fest Choir and the Chamber Choir at the 2013 Summer Choral Festival and Competition in Lisbon, Portugal.

David Hahn holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Voice from the Moody Bible Institute in Chicago, IL., and participates as a member of the Chicago Chapter of Student NATS, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, the American Choral Directors Association and Chorus America.

Kari Francis, Graduate Assistant
An avid composer, arranger, vocalist, and vocal percussionist from Los Angeles, Kari Francis has been actively involved in the choral community as a workshop leader and clinician at vocal camps and festivals since 2009. She graduated from the University of California, San Diego with a B.A. in Music Theory & Composition and during that time sang with the UCSD Tritones, shared the stage with Taylor Swift at the American Country Music Awards, collaborated in concert with Imogen Heap as part of her “Earth” project, and in 2011 joined Kinfolk 9 for their run on Season 3 of NBC’s “The Sing-Off."

Kari founded and performed with the powerhouse all-female vocal band Musae, carols professionally with the southern California vocal troupe The Other Reindeer and upstate New York quartet Park & Hark, and her arrangements are sung by high school and collegiate choirs across the US and Europe. Kari is currently pursuing a Master of Arts in Music Education at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, New York.