PEOPLE
ABOUT THE DIRECTOR
K.C. Conlan received a Bachelor of Music from the Boston Conservatory of Music and a Master of Music from the University of Massachusetts. She taught vocal music at The Common School in Amherst for 20 years and has also taught in the Brookline, Amherst, and Northampton public schools and at UMass. She has advanced training in the Orff and Kodály approaches, and has directed the children’s program at the Western Wind Ensemble Singing Workshops at Smith College. K.C. has also served on the board of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
ABOUT THE ASSISTANT DIRECTOR
Assistant Director Réka Peterson has been supporting organizations in the Boston area and Western Massachusetts as a music educator and arts administrator for 25 years. Prior to moving to the Five College area, Réka was the music teacher at the Sage School in Foxboro. In the Pioneer Valley, she taught at The Common School and Hilltown Cooperative Public Charter School, conducted the choirs at SING, a summer vocal intensive for kids, and worked at the music department at Smith College as an administrator, coordinating the activities of the choral ensembles and orchestra. She is the administrator of the Boston-based Metropolitan Chorale. She received her Kodály Training at the New England Conservatory, and grew up in Hungary where she was a student of the Kodály method.
ABOUT THE ACCOMPANIST
Triin Vallaste holds a PhD in Ethnomusicology from Brown University and a BA in musicology from the Estonian Academy of Music and Theatre. She has been active as a chamber musician and accompanist in the Pioneer Valley since 2006. She works as the Senior Coordinator for Academic Department Support at Amherst College. Triin lives in Pelham with her husband and two daughters.