• Click on names to view photos •
Doug Benton has been directing handbell choirs since 1973. He is a published composer/arranger of handbell, choral, organ, brass and orchestral music. Doug is a frequent contributor to Overtones, the official journal of the Handbell Musicians of America (HMA), formerly known as American Guild of English Handbell Ringers (AGEHR), writing articles on various ringing techniques specific to Bass Bells and Multiple Bells, plus conducting, rhythm/counting systems, and the first major research on Carpal Tunnel Syndrome/Repetitive Strain Injury and Handbell Ringing (1986). He is an internationally respected Clinician and has conducted Massed Handbell Choirs of National, Area and State Handbell Festivals and Conferences. He has served the HMA/AGEHR as Arizona State Chair, and Area XI Chair. In addition, he served on the National Board of Directors of AGEHR as Area XI Chair and National Chair of the Director Education Department.
Doug was appointed Bellmaster at Northern Arizona University, Flagstaff, in 1989 where he founded the NAU Harter Memorial Handbell Choir and directed this group plus the NAU Summer Music Camp Handbell Choirs until 2000. He has continued to work with the NAU Harter Handbell Program every year since during the annual NAU Choral Union Retreat in September.
In addition to handbells, Doug has held several offices in the Central Arizona Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Currently, he is serving the American Choral Directors Association as Repertoire and Resource Chair for Music in Worship for the Arizona State Chapter, and is full-time Director of Music Ministries at Gold Canyon United Methodist Church, Gold Canyon, Arizona. He is also the Arizona and Southern Nevada Representative for Malmark Handbells.
Roy Blomquist has been ringing, directing and teaching handbells for 40 years, with ringers of all ages and at all levels. In 2000 he and his wife Jennie founded Campanillas del Sol Handbell Ensemble, an auditioned handbell group, members of which have performed Internationally in Australia, Europe, Japan, and Israel. Roy has served as an officer in AGEHR/HMA at local, state, regional and on the National Board of Directors.
He has been a church musician for 60 years, playing organ and directing vocal and handbell choirs with musicians of all ages and at all levels. Roy is currently on the staff of Second Church of Christ, Scientist, in Scottsdale, a position he has held for ten years. He has also accompanied community choruses in Illinois and Arizona. He has studied organ performance at Bachelors and Masters levels at North Central College, Grand Canyon University, and ASU. His teachers at ASU include the late Dr. David N. Johnson and Professor Emeritus Robert Clark.
Roy retired from his day job last year as a project manager for IBM. He studied at MIT, IIT, and NIU. His work experience includes working for large companies like Motorola, American Express, and IBM.
Roy is happily married to wife Jennie, and between them they have four very successful children and fourteen wonderful grandchildren.
James Gerber holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance from Arizona State University where he studied with Dr. Kimberly Marshall. His Master of Arts degree in Liturgical Music is from St. John’s University in Collegeville, Minnesota where he studied with Dr. Kim Kasling, and his Bachelor of Music degree in Organ Performance is from the University of Wisconsin–Stevens Point where he studied with Mr. John Thomas. Prior to taking up his duties at All Saints’, Dr. Gerber was the Music Director for Saint Christopher’s Episcopal Parish, and Organ Scholar at Trinity Cathedral.
Sharon A. Hansen is Professor Emerita of Conducting and Choral Studies at the University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee. Hansen is also Founder and Music Director Emerita of the Milwaukee Choral Artists, one of just a handful of professional women’s vocal ensembles in the country comprised of professional female singers. During the Milwaukee Choral Artists’ fifteen-year history, Hansen commissioned some fifty new works for women’s voices, and championed music in twenty-nine languages from more than forty world cultures.
Widely known as a conductor and master teacher, Dr. Hansen has conducted the Romanian National Radio Choir; the Gächinger Kantorei and Bach Collegium–Stuttgart; the Stockholm Conservatory Chamber Choir; the Moldavian and Oltenian Philharmonic Choirs in Romania, and the University of Regensburg Symphony Orchestra (Germany). In the United States, ensembles under Hansen’s direction have appeared at state, regional, and national ACDA and NAfME Conferences. She has been privileged to serve as guest conductor and clinician with all-state choirs, music festivals, and honor choirs in more than twenty-six states.
Hansen is a twenty-two-year member of the American Choral Directors Association Choral Journal Editorial Board, where she is founder and editor of the article series On the Voice. She is also author of the book Helmuth Rilling: Conductor Teacher (Roger Dean, 1996). Her chapter Women, Conductors, and the Tenure Process: What’s Up in the Academy is found in Wisdom, Wit, and Will: Women Choral Conductors on their Art (GIA Press, 2009). Hansen was the recipient of the 2010 Alumni Achievement Award from the Hixson–Lied College of Fine and Performing Arts at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, and received both the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and the Milwaukee Civic Music Association’s 2003 Award of Excellence in Choral Music. In 2014, the Wisconsin Choral Directors’ Association awarded her its highest meritorious honor, the Morris D. Hayes Award. Presently, Hansen serves as Interim Director of Music and Arts at Pinnacle Presbyterian Church in Scottsdale, AZ, and as Membership Chair for the Arizona Chapter of ACDA.
Skye Hart – an avid musician with an equal love for solo performance and church music – has been privileged to perform on notable instruments in the US, Europe, and Mexico. He works as director of music and liturgy at St. Maria Goretti Roman Catholic Church in Scottsdale, and director of the Newman Schola at All Saints‘ Newman Center at ASU in Tempe. He holds a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in organ performance from Arizona State University, and undergraduate degrees in music and French from Lyon College. Past teachers include Kimberly Marshall, Stephen Shebenik, Russell Stinson, Siegbert Rampe, and additional studies with Serge Schoonbroodt. He has performed with the ASU Baroque Ensemble, the Symphonic Chorale, The Phoenix Symphony, and has served as accompanist for international choir tours. Skye is also a lyric tenor and was recently featured on The First Printed Organ Music on the Gothic label. Skye is currently serving a term as Dean of the Central Arizona Chapter of the American Guild of Organists this year, and enjoys teaching a large studio of talented young organists.
Gary Quamme is a life-long Sun Devil and Phoenix native, who completed a Master of Music in Organ Performance at ASU. While there, he studied at the organ with Robert Clark and Kimberly Marshall, and at the harpsichord with John Metz.
In the summer of 2001, Gary traveled to Naumburg, Germany, to be a part of several gatherings dedicated to studying the recently restored Hildebrandt organ of St. Wenzel’s Church. This organ provides great insight into the design of organs of the mid-18th century, and a rare opportunity to walk up the same steps and play the same keys Johann Sebastian Bach did when examining that instrument just over 250 years ago. In 2008, he traveled to Costa Rica to perform as part of the 18th Festival de Music Credomatic, an annual statewide celebration of music, bringing musicians from Europe, Central America, and the United States.
Gary is currently an administrator for Development and Community Relations at Paradise Valley Community College. In the past, he has been Organist & Bell Choir Director at La Casa de Cristo Lutheran Church in Scottsdale, and has served as Director of Music at Faith Lutheran Church in Phoenix, as Music Associate at All Saints’ Episcopal Church in Phoenix, and as Director of Music at St. Christopher's Episcopal Church in Sun City.
Herbert Washington serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Gilbert Christian Schools and recently completed his tenure as Cadet Choir Director of the Phoenix Children’s Choir. A frequent guest clinician and adjudicator for choral festivals, he is a graduate from St. Olaf College in Minnesota with a B.A in Music and Fine Arts and a Masters of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona where he founded Cat-Call A Cappella. While receiving his B.A. he sang in the St. Olaf Choir, conducted by Dr. Anton Armstrong and directed Voices of Praise, the St. Olaf Gospel Choir. During his five-year tenure with the Phoenix Boys Choir, he served as Director of the Cadet and Town Choirs. Washington is an active member of Arizona Music Educators Association (AMEA), and serves on the board of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) as the Western Division Repertoire and Resources Chair for Children’s Choirs.
• Retired vocal music teacher, Pennsylvania and Arizona
(36 years)
• Director of Music at St. John’s Lutheran Church, Warren, PA. (3 years)
• Choir Director at Mount of Olives Lutheran Church, Phoenix (20 years)
• Choir Director at Gloria Dei Lutheran Church, Paradise Valley (12 years)
• Currently Choir Director at Our Saviour‘s Lutheran Church, Phoenix (2 years)
Terry grew up in western Pennsylvania. After high school and college, he married Dianne, his wife of now 53 years. After four years of teaching vocal music in his home state, his family (wife and son) moved to Arizona. From 1967 through 1984 he was employed as a music instructor in the Glendale Elementary School District. In 1984 he left the education profession and worked for a business. In 1994 he returned to the classroom in the Madison School District from which he retired in 2006.
He had one church anthem and an original music setting to the Lutheran Church liturgy published in the early 1970’s. His teaching career in Glendale earned him the honor of Man of the Year (an award given by vote of his colleagues for outstanding contribution to the education of Glendale children.)
Terry was asked by the central cluster of Arizona Lutheran Churches to prepare and conduct a combined Lutheran Choir in celebration of the birthday anniversary of J.S. Bach. This choral program of Bach’s music featured an 85-voice choir of singers from 14 different Lutheran congregations. The Phoenix Symphony String Ensemble was also part of the event. The program was hosted by Faith Lutheran Church in central Phoenix.
Terry and his wife have two grandchildren in Colorado, and five granddaughters and two great-grandchildren in New Hampshire. (Third great-grandchild due in February.) Terry and Dianne spend lots of time traveling to see the family. In June of 2017, they will be traveling with church members from a Lutheran Church in San Diego, to Germany, and tour the area where Martin Luther lived and worked.
Scott Alan Youngs is the Artistic Director of the Arizona Bach Festival, the Director of Music for All Saints’ Episcopal Church and Day School, and adjunct faculty at Arizona State University. He was the founder and director of American Bach which, after its planned seven-year run, became the Arizona Bach Festival. In its earlier version the series presented more than fifty of Bach’s sacred cantatas, as well as the St. John Passion, the St. Matthew Passion, the Easter Oratorio, and the Christmas Oratorio. In its newer incarnation as the Bach Festival, it has become an international festival inviting musicians to the Southwest from Germany, Australia, and the Netherlands.
As Director of Music for All Saints’ Episcopal Church, he conducts the Chamber Choir, the Senior Choir, the Women’s Chant Choir, and the Boy and Girl Choristers of the Day School, as well as being the principal organist. As a pianist and organist, he has appeared in recital throughout Western Europe, the United States, and South America. As choral conductor, he has toured with his choirs in England, Wales, Ireland, Italy, Poland, the Czech Republic, Germany, and Russia. His choirs have recorded nine CDs and his Choristers have completed 5 CDs. Scott can be found on YouTube playing Bach both as organist and pianist. His recording of Bach’s Goldberg Variations is also available.Scott is a past Dean of the American Guild of Organists.
