Music Staff

Jason Moore Staff PhotoJason Moore, Director of Music
A native of Pennsylvania, Jason Moore has studied piano, organ, voice and conducting and holds degrees from Indiana University of Pennsylvania in Organ Performance and from the University of Arizona in Choral Conducting. He has held conducting appointments with the Mendelssohn Club Chorus of Philadelphia and the MasterSingers Chorale of Tucson, AZ. He has also lead choirs at the University of Arizona as well as served as a rehearsal conductor for the Providence Singers and the Jr. Providence Singers in Providence, RI. In addition to his service at Newtown Presbyterian Church, Jason leads vocal and instrumental ensembles at Philadelphia University.

 Hehsun Chun-Smith, Organist

Hehsun Chun-Smith joined us as our organist in May 2012.  Prior to this position, she served as the organist at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Trenton, NJ, and music director and organist at All Saints Episcopal Church in San Francisco, CA and First Congregational Church in Madison, CT.  She has also worked on the faculty teaching organ and piano at the University of San Francisco. She is working toward finishing up her doctorate degree in Organ Performance with choral conducting and theory as minor fields at Indiana University.  She also holds degrees in Organ Performance from Yale University and the University of Toronto.   Her main teachers include Douglas Bodle, Thomas Murray, and Marilyn Keiser.

MarissaChalkerHeadshot
Marissa Chalker, Soprano Section Leader/Soloist

Soprano Marissa Chalker recently relocated from Cleveland, Ohio where she finished her B.M. Voice Performance degree at Baldwin-Wallace College to Princeton, New Jersey where she is working toward a M.M. Voice Performance and Pedagogy degree at Westminster Choir College. Marissa enjoys all types of music with a particular interest in Bel Canto, German lieder, and 20th Century compositions. A native of Lowville, a small town in northern New York, Marissa was raised singing in a church where her father was the organist and music director and is therefore looking forward to getting involved in the music making at Newtown Presbyterian Church. For more information, feel free to visit Marissa’s website, marissamaechalker.com.

karina02BWKarina Sweeney, Alto Section Leader/Soloist

KarinaSweeney is a lyric mezzo-soprano who hails from Annapolis, Maryland.  Her recent opera roles include Cherubino (Le nozze di Figaro), Marcellina (Le nozze di Figaro), Mother (Hansel and Gretel), Rosemary (Summer and Smoke) and Drei Knabe (Die Zauberflöte).  Ms. Sweeney graduated from Towson University with a Bachelor of Science in Music and received her Masters in Vocal Performance with honors from West Virginia University.  Equally comfortable on the concert stage, Ms. Sweeney has been a featured soloist with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, as well as a soloist in Britten’s “Rejoice in the Lamb” with the Napier University Chamber Choir in Edinburgh, Scotland.  She was a resident artist at the CoOPERAtive Program of Westminster Choir College and the American Institute for Musical Studies in Graz, Austria, where she performed in Lieder recitals as part of Graz’s summer music festival.  Ms. Sweeney was a first place winner at the Tri State NATS competition in Pittsburgh in the fall of 2009, and a regional finalist in the Classical Singer Magazine competition in 2010.

photoWilliam Davenport, Tenor Section Leader/Soloist
William Davenport, tenor, from Rockville, Maryland, holds a Bachelor of Music from the Peabody Conservatory of Music, where he has sung the roles of Des Grieux in Manon, Alfred in Die Fledermaus, Tamino in Die Zauberflöte, and Alfred in La traviata. He performed as a tenor soloist in Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Concert Artists of Baltimore, Dvořák’s Mass in D major with Columbia Pro Cantare, Handel’s Messiah with the Frederick Chamber Singers, and Mozart’s Coronation Mass with the Montgomery College Symphony Orchestra and Chorus. Mr. Davenport has completed young artist programs with Chautauqua Opera, Glimmerglass Opera, and Songfest.  This coming year he will begin a four year Resident Artist program with the Academy of Vocal Arts.

Scott Johnson, Baritone Section Leader/Soloist
A native of Madison, Wisconsin, baritone Scott Johnson has been a frequent performer at opera houses and festivals around the country and the world.  Mr. Johnson recently completed a 2 year apprenticeship with the Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he performed the roles of Haly in Rossini’s L’italiana in Algieri, Marullo in Verdi’s Rigoletto, and Sciarrone in Puccini’s Tosca, among others.   He is a three time apprentice artist at the Central City Opera Festival where he took part in many festival extras and mainstage productions, receiving both the Young Artist Award and the Richard F. Gold Career Grant from the Shoshanna Foundation.  Mr. Johnson holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California and a Master of Music degree from the University of Wisconsin – Madison.

 

Jordan Saul/Youth Music Associate

Jordan Saul is pleased to join the musical world of Newtown Presbyterian Church. She is currently in her first year of graduate study at Westminster Choir College, where she is studying choral conducting.  Before moving to New Jersey, Jordan taught high school choir and music theory at Flowing Wells High School in Tucson, Arizona from 2007-2011. She received her Bachelors from the University of Arizona.  Jordan enjoys playing the piano and various percussion instruments, but it is the communal musical experience that is her deepest joy.