Juneteenth Voices Community Choir
Choir Director
Brandon Williams
Brandon Williams is an Assistant Professor of Choral Music and Choral Music Education at Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey. He conducts the Rutgers Voorhees Choir (Carnegie Hall 2019, Eastern ACDA 2020) and teaches a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses related to choral music education. Dr. Williams also appears internationally as a guest conductor, clinician, and presenter.
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Dr. Williams amassed a decade of middle and high school teaching experience in St. Louis, Missouri, where he also served on the voice faculty at Maryville University and as a conductor with the St. Louis Symphony IN UNISON Chorus and the St. Louis Children’s Choirs. His school ensembles received invitations to perform at the 2010 and 2013 Missouri Music Educators Association conventions, and his middle school ensemble was featured on GIA’s DVD entitled “How to Make a Good Choir Sound Great!” Dr. Williams has been awarded the 2009 Missouri Choral Directors Association Prelude Award for excellence in choral music, an Outstanding Teacher Award from the University of Missouri-Columbia Honors College, and the 2020-21 Rutgers Provost’s Award for Excellence in Teaching Innovations.
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Dr. Williams holds degrees from Western Illinois University, the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, and Michigan State University, where he earned the prestigious University Enrichment Graduate Fellowship Award. He also completed an Artist Teacher Diploma from the Choral Music Experience–Institute for Choral Teacher Education. In addition to his articles in the Choral Journal and the Music Educators Journal, Dr. Williams is the editor of Choral Reflections: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teachers. He has numerous choral compositions and arrangements published with Hal Leonard, G. Schirmer, Mark Foster, and Colla Voce. Dr. Williams is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Collegiate Choral Organization, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, and the National Association for Music Education.
Choir Director
Frances Fonza
Frances Fonza is on faculty at Stephen F. Austin University where she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in music education. She also serves as the Director of Worship and Arts at Mt. Ennon Baptist Church in Clinton, Maryland. Fonza earned a bachelor’s degree in music education at the University of Missouri-Columbia, a master’s degree in music education, and a doctorate in music education/choral conducting at Florida State University.
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Dr. Fonza taught choral music at the middle school and high school levels in Kentucky and was the choir director and a sight singing teacher at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington DC. Additionally, Dr. Fonza served as Assistant Professor of Music Education and Director of Choral Activities at Wittenberg University in Springfield, Ohio. Her responsibilities included teaching music education courses, aural skills, choral conducting, supervising music education interns, and directing the Wittenberg choirs. Choirs under her direction have participated in state, regional, and national music festivals.
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Fonza is an active singer, clinician, and adjudicator. A frequent guest conductor, she has conducted all state, honor, public school, and church choirs. Her research interests are community partnerships, healthy singing in Gospel music, and tone building strategies used in the choral classroom. She holds professional memberships in the National Association for Music Educators and the American Choral Directors Association.
Voices of Juneteenth Community Choir Rehearsal:
Thursday June 23rd, 6-8:00pm
Saturday June 25th, 8:00am (9:00am with Full Band)
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Ebony Voices Rehearsal:
Friday June 24th, 10am - 12 noon
With Band 2:30pm - 4:30pm
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Still We Rise Concert
First Baptist Church
739 North 8th Street
Quincy, IL
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Sunday June 26th 2022
2:30pm
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