Our Leaders

Mary Alice Amidon
Ali Burns
Larry Gordon
Evelyn Harris
John Harrison
Val Mindel
Fred Onovwerosuoke
Moira Smiley
Brendan Taaffe

Mary Alice Amidon is a renowned folksinger from southern Vermont. As a duo, Mary Alice and her husband Peter have released some classic albums over the last 25 years, are regulars at summer folk camps, and lead harmony singing.

One of twenty-five composers commissioned to compose an original choral piece ('Sweet is the Day') for the Social Band's Vermont Composer's Project, Mary Alice recently released Keys to the Kingdom, her solo cd, and has performed in hundreds of schools, libraries, churches, museums, and festivals. And she's one of the sweetest people you'll ever meet. For more information, please visit www.amidonmusic.com.

From Galloway in South West Scotland, Ali Burns is a songwriter, researcher and workshop facilitator, known for her original compositions, her research into British traditions, and her passion about building community through song. Her inspirational teaching led one participant to say, "A workshop with Ali Burns is like coming home – the words and harmonies reach deep into your soul – I feel I could fly." You can hear her songs in settings as diverse as public art installations; theatre; mainstream and special needs education and in the repertoire of many community choirs around Britain. She also spends much of her time researching traditional song archives and her workshops often draw on that repertoire. Her attention to simple, profound text is the hallmark of her music which "shivers and crackles with delicious harmonies."

Village Harmony founder and director Larry Gordon has been making community music in Vermont since the early 1970s. He founded Village Harmony in 1988. Though his first love was medieval and renaissance music, he is a vital figure in New England shape-note singing.

His patient and relaxed, yet demanding, teaching style and collaborative approach have shaped the welcoming atmosphere of the Village Harmony community since the beginning. Larry has led Onion River Chorus in Montpelier since the late 1970s, and is well known across the US and internationally for leading stunning periodic ad hoc incarnations of Northern Harmony, a semi-professional tour group made up largely of veteran Village Harmony singers.

Evelyn Harris sang with Sweet Honey in the Rock for 18 years, touring the world and receiving a Grammy nomination in 1988 for her song, State of Emergency. Sweet Honey is justly famous for singing with amazing musicality, deep social conviction and powerful presence. Evelyn is all of that, and brings those years of experience to her teaching.

Evelyn relocated to the Pioneer Valley in the fall of 2002. Since then, she has directed the choir at the North Hadley Congregational Church, taught at the Pioneer Valley Performing Arts High School and served as vocal instructor during the Rock 'n' Roll Girls' Camp at the Institute for the Musical Arts in Goshen, MA. Evelyn currently directs “The Kuumba Women's Chorus” at the Northampton Community Music Center and workshops with teenage mothers in Holyoke, Massachusetts. Activists, grandmothers, teachers, and young people alike have raised their voices with Evelyn's at workshops and concerts.

Evelyn tells a story of the struggle for peace and justice through songs that confess the reveries and fears of a people intimately affected by violence and hatred. She is widely respected for the mastery of her craft and her mentorship of young musical talent. “My life is full with abundant manifestations of good. Singing is my giving back with thanks and praise.”

John Harrison was born into a musical family, and grew up influenced by the sounds of his father’s stride piano, his mother’s classical piano, and family sings. Trained in the Anglican men and boys tradition, John was a professional chorister under Richard Connelly and James Litton, and had the good fortune to record with Leonard Bernstein.

Chucking it all for rock and roll (well, his voice changed), he moved to New York City after high school and performed there for many years as a singer and saxophonist, working with, among others, Buster Poindexter, The Uptown Horns, and blues legend Otis Rush. He also co-wrote and performed in a long running downtown revue, The Blue Light Club, with Denis Leary and Eddie Brill.

After moving to Vermont, John became associated with the Montpelier Community Gospel Choir, which he has directed for the last eleven years. He is particularly interested in the continuum of American popular music and how all the different traditions relate to each other, especially in the rich world of gospel.

Val Mindel is a versatile teacher, singer and instrumentalist with a focus on Appalachian and gospel music. She emphasizes the mechanics of creating harmonies and arrangements as well as singing in small groups, using early American country and traditional repertory. Val is also an expert in old-time and bluegrass vocals, especially the styles of harmony greats such as the Carters, the Louvins and the Stanleys. She works closely with students to develop their listening abilities, performance styles and singing techniques.

Val is an engaging teacher who entices and inspires her students. Participants in her workshops and classes have been known to sing into the wee hours of the morning, relishing the finer points of her instruction. She is a long-time teacher for Village Harmony, Chicago's Old Town School of Folk Music, and the Augusta Heritage Center.

Fred Onovwerosuoke's vast knowledge of many African singing traditions makes him one of the world's most consulted authorities on African choral music. FredO, as he is affectionately known to students and friends, was born in Ghana to Nigerian parents. Now director of the St. Louis African Chorus, FredO maintains an active schedule as conductor, lecturer, and presenter of African choral music, and has been featured at World Choral Symposium events, the American Choral Directors Association, the Toronto International Choral Festival, and the Coro Municipal Juiz de Fora in Brazil.

He is loved by all who come in contact with him for his generous nature, zest for life and art, and deep appreciation for the musics of the world. Equally erudite in Western and Classical music traditions, FredO’s teaching style weaves technical details about singing style together with stories and a philosophy that is both inspirational and accessible. Fluent in French and several African languages, FredO travels extensively in Africa and around the world.

Growing up in Vermont, Moira Smiley's earliest musical loves were Bela Bartok, Debussy and Shostakovich—right next to Fats Waller and early American shape-note hymns.

Described, by Larry Gordon himself, as "Village Harmony's best soprano ever," Moira has gone on to build a ridiculously impressive resumé—she has been a member of Kitka, Vida and other fine vocal groups; winner of a Meet the Composer Grant and an American Composers "Subito" grant; musical director for Shakespeare Santa Cruz; and has recorded with the Theater of Voices, Vida, Fretwork Consort of Viols, The Dufay Collective in addition to her own recordings.

All of which testifies to a life utterly devoted to, and steeped in, song—Moira combines breadth and depth in an exciting way, and teaches a wide range of traditional vocal repertoire—focusing on early American, Irish, and Balkan vocal styles.

Brendan Taaffe is a composer and arranger who has toured with Northern Harmony, taught with Village Harmony, and given vocal workshops around Ireland. He is a member of numerous dance bands, holds a Master's degree in Traditional Music from the University of Limerick, and is the author of Handy with the Stick, a book about Irish fiddling. Brendan is known for his dynamic conducting, and his gift for bringing out everyone's talents.

© Brendan Taaffe, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009.