Middle school Treble
Jeanne Wohlgamuth
Throughout a four-decade-long career, Jeanne Wohlgamuth has exhibited unwavering dedication as an advocate for children, spanning all educational levels from kindergarten through college. Recently retiring from her role as the Director of Choirs and Performing Arts Chair at Dublin Jerome High School, she now assumes the position of Artistic Director of the Columbus Children’s Choir. In this capacity, she shapes the organization’s artistic direction while leading the award-winning New World Singers, the organization's premier ensemble.
In the realm of public education, Jeanne’s middle school and high school choirs have achieved an unparalleled record of twenty-four consecutive years of superior performances in both the main stage and sight-reading evaluations at the Ohio Music Educator’s Large Group Adjudicated Events.
Under her direction, the New World Singers have been honored to perform at prestigious events such as the Ohio Music Educator’s State Conference, the Organization of American Kodály Educator’s National Conference, and the Ohio Choral Director’s Summer Conference. Notably, they have taken their talents abroad, captivating audiences in Austria, Germany, Spain, and Hungary. They have even shared their voices alongside the Vienna Boy’s Choir, headlined at the Granada International Music and Dance Festival in Spain, and served as the demonstration/performance choir for the International Kodály Seminar in Kecskemét, Hungary. In 2023 they were awarded the Diamond Prize in the Royale Music Competition. July 2022 found them competing in the International Choral Competition in Provence, France earning second place. They achieved the Grand Prize in the Youth International Choral Competition in both 2022 and 2023. Additionally, they secured the Grand Prize at the Rimini International Choral Festival Competition, as well as first place in both the equal voices and children’s choir divisions of the latter competition. Furthermore, they demonstrated their excellence by capturing first-place honors in the youth choir division of The American Prize n Choral Performance In 2010, 2019, and 2021.
Remaining dynamically engaged in her professional journey, Jeanne currently holds the position of President of the Ohio Choral Director’s Association and serves as the Vocal Affairs Chair for the Ohio Music Education Association. In addition to her professional roles, Jeanne has shared her expertise as a guest clinician for the Organization of American Kodály Educator’s National Women’s Concert Choir, Indiana Elementary All-State Honor Choir, as well as various district high school and middle school honor choirs across Ohio. In June 2023 she led her inaugural choral residency at Carnegie Hall. She frequently presents workshops on developing sight-reading in the choral rehearsal and middle school choral techniques and repertoire.
Recognized for her exceptional contributions, Jeanne’s accolades include the 2021 Professor Veneta Vicheva International Conductor’s Mastery Award from the XXVI Dobri Voinikov International Children and Youth Choral Gala in Shumen, Bulgaria, the 2021 Best Conductor award from the Rimini International Choral Competition, Rimini, Italy, and the 2023 Outstanding Music Educator Award from the Royale Music Competition. Further recognition encompasses the 2020 National Teacher of the Year award by the American Kodály Educator’s Association, and the Teacher of the Year award from Dublin Jerome High School, Karrer Middle School, Wright Elementary, and Bowen Elementary Schools. She has also received the distinguished Golden Shamrock Award for Educational Excellence from Dublin City Schools and the Community Champion Award presented by the Dublin Chamber of Commerce. In 2021, her contributions led to her induction into the Dublin Jerome High School Hall of Fame.
Middle school Mixed
Sophia MILLER
Sophia Miller is a conductor, clinician, singer, and music educator based in New York City. An expert in children’s voices, she seeks to empower the voices of young artists in her work, offering leadership with a combination of artistic skill, and a fully present heart.
Currently the Artistic Director for the Fieldston Choral Society in New York City, Sophia finds great joy in working with young people and adults alike. From 2007-2023, she served as the Senior Associate Conductor for the award-winning Young People’s Chorus of New York City, where she conducted young people ages 8-18 in YPC’s Performance Choruses and Schools Choruses Programs. Last season, she conducted YPC in Brundibár, a powerful and historical children’s opera written by Hans Krása and Adolf Hoffmeister before the start of World War II.
Sophia has furthered her impact as a widely sought-after guest conductor and choral clinician, bringing her expertise to choristers and choral conductors around the US and the world. Internationally, she most recently spent her time making music with children at La Escuela Municipal de Música y Danza de Cabanillas del Campo in Guadalajara, Spain, and young people from over 50 countries around the world at the Ingenium Music Academy in Winchester, England.
Sophia studied music education, voice, and conducting at the Ithaca College School of Music, where she studied conducting with Dr. Janet Galván and was recognized as an esteemed alumna for her work conducting young people and celebrating the voices of children. A performer as well, Sophia continues to sing regularly throughout New York City.
Middle School Tenor/Bass
Daniel Gutierrez
Daniel Gutierrez is the head choir director at Nixa secondary schools. Daniel is an active conductor, clinician and presenter throughout the country. Daniel has received accolades for his work as a teacher, being named Teacher of the Year for Springfield Public Schools and Southwest Missouri (also a finalist for the state TOTY award), Springfield Rotary Award for Outstanding Community Service, honoree for Springfield Business Journal’s 40 Under 40, quarterfinalist for the GRAMMY National Music Educator Award, and the recipient of the Missouri Choral Directors Association Podium Award.
Daniel’s speaking engagements include presenting for TEDx, presenting for Regional and National ACDA conference, and other choral workshops nationally. Daniel's Choral Ensembles have won music festivals and have received numerous invitations to perform at the Missouri Music Educator Association Conference, Southwest American Choral Directors Association Conference, the National Conference for MS/JH Choral Music, and the National American Choral Directors Association Conference.
9th & 10th grade Mixed
Dr. Christopher Aspaas
Christopher Aspaas serves as Director of Choral Activities and Associate Professor of Music at TCU. Christopher received his Ph.D. in Choral Music Education at The Florida State University in Tallahassee, his M.M. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in East Lansing, his B.M. in Voice Performance from St. Olaf. Christopher has served on the faculties of St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, Central Washington University in Ellensburg, Washington and Mount Holyoke College in South Hadley, Massachusetts.
At TCU, Christopher leads the Concert Chorale, TCU’s flagship mixed ensemble as well as the Frog Corps, TCU’s premier male vocal ensemble. He also teaches coursework in basic conducting, choral conducting, choral literature, advanced choral conducting and oversees the graduate choral conducting program. Under his leadership, the Concert Chorale has represented TCU at the 2023 ACDA National Conference, the 2023 TMEA Annual Convention, the 2022 NCCO Conference (virtual), the 2020 SWACDA Regional Conference, and the 2018 TMEA Annual Convention.
His travels as a guest conductor, clinician, adjudicator and lecturer have taken Christopher to Alabama, Alaska, Alberta, British Columbia, California, Colorado, Florida, Iowa, Illinois, Kentucky, Massachusetts, Minnesota, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Carolina, North Dakota, Ontario, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas, Virginia, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming, and three times to the Sultanate of Oman. He has conducted All-State Choruses in Alabama, Colorado, Florida, Kentucky, Montana, Minnesota, Mississippi, North Carolina, North Dakota, Oregon, South Carolina, South Dakota, Virginia and Wisconsin as well as the British Columbia and Manitoba All-Province Honour Choirs. Additionally, Christopher led the All-Northwest Mixed Choir in 2015 and ACDA Southern Division Men’s Honor Choir in 2016. Christopher recently led the 2018 AMIS Men’s Honor Choir in Berlin, Germany and the 2019 APAC Honor Choir in Shanghai, P.R.C.
Christopher has produced more than forty compositions and arrangements for mixed, tenor-bass, and treble choirs. His works are published by Augsburg Fortress, earthsongs, Genry, Hal Leonard, and Aspen Hill Music, a publishing house founded in 2013 that now distributed exclusively through ECS Publishing Group. His works have been featured on numerous All-State Choir performances at National, Regional Conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, and TMEA.
Senior Treble
Dr. Sharon Paul
Sharon J. Paul holds the Robert M. Trotter Chair of Music at the University of Oregon, where she currently serves as the Department Head of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities. Her teaching includes graduate courses in choral conducting, repertoire, and pedagogy, along with conducting the internationally award-winning Chamber Choir.
The University of Oregon Chamber Choir has placed first or second in four international choral competitions, most recently winning first prize in the Chamber Choir category at the Grand Prix of Nations Competition in Gothenburg, Sweden in August, 2019.
In May 2022, at the invitation of the Order of Saint James, the Chamber Choir performed Joby Talbot’s Path of Miracles in Santiago de Compostela, the culminating concert of a nine-day concert tour of Spain which included performances in Madrid, Burgos, and Oviedo. Other international appearances have included performing as part of Dr. Paul’s lecture demo “Conducting with the Brain in Mind: Techniques to Increase Singer Engagement in Rehearsal” at the World Symposium on Choral Music in Barcelona, Spain in 2017.
Dr. Paul has presented interest sessions at regional, state, division, national, and international conferences. She appears frequently as adjudicator, clinician, conductor, teacher, and honor choir director throughout the United States and abroad. In 2019 she received Oregon ACDA’s Podium Award for “outstanding contributions to the choral arts,” and in the fall of 2014 she received the University of Oregon’s Fund for Faculty Excellence Award.
In March 2020, Oxford University Press published Dr. Paul’s book, Art & Science in the Choral Rehearsal, which features many of the creative and evidence-based teaching strategies she has cultivated over her career.
Senior Tenor/Bass
Dr. Jeffery Ames
Jeffery L. Ames serves as Director of Choral Activities and Full Professor at Belmont University. As a choral clinician, Dr. Ames has conducted collegiate, senior, and junior high school mixed, and male choirs at national, regional, and state conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education. He has performed and guest conducted internationally in the countries of Australia, Costa Rica, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Estonia, South Korea, the Republic of Ghana, and Austria.
Dr. Ames has collaborated with well-known conductors such as André Thomas, Allen Crowell, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Lynne Gackle, and Anton Armstrong. Additionally, well-known celebrities include Trisha Yearwood, Laura Bell Bundy, CeCe Winans, Connie Smith, Ricky Skaggs and The Whites, Denyce Graves, Michael W. Smith, Kathy Mattea, Sheryl Crow, Kane Brown, Mickey Guyton, Carrie Underwood, and legendary rock band the Rolling Stones.
A published composer and writer, Dr. Ames specializes in composing works that are from the heart. His literary publications focus on choral music in the concert gospel genre, as well as choral music in the Western tradition composed by modern Black composers.
Professor Ames holds the Ph.D. in Choral Conducting/Choral Music Education and a Master of Choral Music Education degree from The Florida State University, and a Bachelor of Music degree, with a double major in Vocal Performance and Piano Accompanying from James Madison University. Dr. Ames’ service to ACDA includes former National R&R Chair for World Musics and Cultures, Past President of the Tennessee chapter, and currently serves as the President-Elect for the Southern Region. He holds the honor of being the first recipient of the prestigious ACDA James Mulholland Choral Music Fellowship (2005), being the first African American ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program Fellow (2016) as well as being the first African American recipient of the Presidential Faculty Achievement Award (2023), the highest honor bestowed to a faculty member at Belmont University.
11th & 12th grade Mixed Chorus
Dr. Jason Max Ferdinand
Jason Max Ferdinand, Professor – Conductor – Composer – Speaker, is the founding artistic director of The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers: An Ensemble of Exceptional Talents, and was the director of choral activities, chair of the music department, and a full professor at Oakwood University, where he conducted the Aeolians of Oakwood University. He is a published author and composer with GIA Publications, featuring the book, Teaching with Heart: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through Music, and The Jason Max Ferdinand Choral Series (Walton Music).
A native of Trinidad & Tobago, Ferdinand received his Bachelor of Arts in Piano Performance from Oakwood College (now Oakwood University), his Master of Arts in Choral Conducting from Morgan State University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from the University of Maryland. He attributes a lot of his success to the many influential people and experiences that helped shape him into who he is today.
In February 2019, the Aeolians performed at the National Conference of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). The performance garnered a lot of attention and some even commented, “They broke the ACDA.” The ensemble was also selected to be the feature choir at the National Collegiate Choral Organization conference, which was held at the University of Maryland, College Park. In 2023, the Jason Max Ferdinand Singers, will perform at the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association.
He maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor and lecturer at schools, universities, churches, and choral festivals and conferences, domestic and international. He is energized when he gets the chance to make music with All-state and festival choirs.
His ensembles have most recently released recordings, The Aeolians (2019) and Solace, The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers (2021). He has enjoyed collaborations with Jacob Collier, Donald Lawrence, Coldplay, Take 6 and others in recent years.
Cultural maladies presented during the year of the pandemic inspired the compilation of Teaching with Heart: Tools for Addressing Societal Challenges Through Music to provide support and encouragement for music educators. The unique circumstances of 2021 also opened a creative opportunity to birth The Jason Max Ferdinand Singers in a virtual concert Live from London - Spring! The ensemble began its unifying journey to breathe life into choral works of underrepresented composers and positively affect the cultural health of our world.
Jason Max Ferdinand is thankful for his parents, Dr. T. Leslie and Mary Ferdinand, who are both retired educators. He and his siblings, Alva Ferdinand, JD, PhD, and Abdelle Ferdinand, MD, attribute any academic accomplishments they have attained to their parents. He is married to Meka, who is a registered nurse, and they are the parents of Caleb, Ava, and baby Jamē.