CHARIS Staff
Dr. Stuart Chapman Hill
Artistic Director
Dr. Stuart Chapman Hill is a teacher, composer, conductor, and scholar based in St. Louis, Missouri. He has been the Artistic Director of CHARIS, the St. Louis Women's Chorus, since May of 2017. He is also Associate Professor of Music and Director of Music Education at Webster University, where he recently was awarded the William T. Kemper Award for Excellence in Teaching.
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Stuart is a music educator who enjoys working with musicians of all ages, from his years teaching middle school choral music to his summers working with high school singers at the Governor's School of North Carolina. He also enjoys serving as a guest conductor and clinician with choirs of all kinds, and has had engagements in Batavia, NY; Murfreesboron, TN; Charlottesville, VA; and New Delhi, India.
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Stuart's scholarship focuses on forging stronger connections between the world of popular music and the curricula of K–12 school music programs, with a specific research interest in investigating the learning practices of popular songwriters.
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Stuart earned his Ph.D. in music education and choral conducting from Michigan State University and holds Master of Education and Bachelor of Music degrees from Vanderbilt University.
Susan Young
Accompanist
Susan Young loves playing the piano and being part of this wonderfully supportive organization. She has accompanied the chorus under the direction of Merry Keller, Aric Henson, Claire Minnis, Jeremiah Selvey, and now Dr. Stuart Chapman Hill.
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Some of Susan's favorite musical memories outside of the regular concert venue include playing for both CHARIS and the Gateway Men's Chorus at GALA chorus festivals, rehearsing with Holly Near for the CHARIS 10th anniversary concert, and giving a smashing performance of the Claude Bolling Suite for Flute and Jazz Piano, along with CHARIS member and flutist, Loretta Haggard, at the 2018 CHARIS Showcase.
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Susan has accompanied high school soloists and small ensembles at various state competitions, and reports are that she remained characteristically unflappable when sight-reading the piano part for a flute trio that seemed to have misplaced their own accompanist.
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Susan continues to explore piano music written and performed by women who were as awesome as male composers of the time, but who didn't get nearly as much publicity, such as Irene Giblin, Cecile Chaminade and Alicia de Larrocha.
Becki Gill Rhyne
ASL Interpreter