Dr. Ronald Staheli – Conductor/Composer/Arranger

Dr. Ronald Staheli, conductor of the Brigham Young University’s Singers, has been with HolySheetMusic.com since it’s beginning in November 2013.  His choral arrangements are beautifully and skillfully composed.  I (Dave Zabriskie) first met Dr. Staheli at BYU.  A champion of student composers, Dr. Staheli conducted two of my oratorios my Senior year.  By far, he has been one of the most influential teachers in my music career.  He is also a very dear friend.   Here’s more about Dr. Staheli:

Dr. Ronald Staheli has traveled widely as a lecturer, clinician, and guest conductor, and has become known for what a colleague calls “a profound sense of phrasing and articulation, which informs all his work.” He is Director of Choral Activities at Brigham Young University, where he conducts the Brigham Young University Singers.  This choir has performed throughout the United States and in many countries abroad, including England, Russia, Israel, Australia, New Zealand,  and most of the countries of Europe and Africa. A recent review of a BYU Singers performance described the choir as “stunning in the accuracy of its intonation, its enormous dynamic flexibility, and its beautiful phrasing.” On a concert tour to Israel with

BYU Singers, a critic for Ha’aretz wrote about Dr. Staheli’s work with the choir: “This is a disciplined choir that is precise, clean, and cohesive, but never mechanical; and the spiritual elements are an integral part of each piece the choir sings.  The performance was polished, with clear pronunciation and rich, dynamic, colorful sounds and nuances.”

Dr. Staheli was a guest lecturer at the International Choral Symposium in Sydney, Australia, where the BYU Singers, representing the United States, sang two concerts in the Sydney Opera House and Town Hall.  Dr. Staheli has been guest lecturer and conductor with the choirs and orchestra of the Zimriya International Festival in Jerusalem.  In the summer of 2013 Dr. Staheli spent a month lecturing and working with choirs and choir conductors in seven different cities in China.  He readily admits that one of life’s greatest joys for him is  rehearsing with a choir that loves to sing and make beautiful music together.  Dr. Staheli has composed/arranged many pieces performed by the BYU Singers and the combined choirs at BYU.

Here’s a link to his current list of music at HolySheetMusic.   We have more in the cue:   “Music of Ronald Staheli”

Tammy Simister Robinson Composer/Arranger/Vocal Artist

TAMMY SIMISTER ROBINSON won her first talent contest at the age of two and a half years. As a teen, her exercises in arranging music developed into a gift for writing her own songs. She graduated from Weber State University with a degree in Music Education and with a few years of teaching in the public schools behind her, Tammy branched out on her own to become a private voice teacher. For over twenty five years she has enjoyed teaching hundreds of talented singers. In 2012, she joined the Adjunct Voice Faculty at Snow College in Ephraim, UT.

Dean Hamill – Composer/Arranger

Please welcome Dean Hamill, Oregon Composer, to HolySheetMusic.com  Dean’s inspiring piece “A Place of Prayer” is now part of the HolySheetMusic library.   Here’s more about Dean and his music:

A thrilling choral anthem suitable for building dedications or other worship services. Scored for SATB (with some divisi in S & A) and piano accompaniment. This composition was written for and performed at the rededication of the Orange Avenue Building, Cypress California Stake of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

BIO:

Dean Hamill’s formal music studies started at the age of nine with piano. Eventually, he became enamored with classical guitar resulting in his attending three years of Christopher Parkening master classes and graduating with a Bachelor of Music degree in Classical Guitar Performance from University of Southern California (USC). Other disciplines studied there included composition and orchestration. After graduation, he continued classical guitar studies taking private lessons from Pepe Romero.

While on the faculty at USC and several community colleges in southern California, the USC Guitar Department Chair, Duke Miller, recommended that he write new course materials for the guitar classes. The result was Adult Group Guitar One and Adult Group Guitar Two. Eventually, Dean adapted these courses into one of the first and most popular video guitar instructional courses commercially available to the public. Guitar Now! with Dean Hamill volumes one and two enjoyed combined nationwide sales of over 100,000 copies.

While working toward his masters degree in music from California State University at Long Beach, Dean studied choral arranging with nationally renowned Professor Frank Pooler. This experience brought to him a whole new excitement and he started devoting more energy to composition and arranging. During this period he composed, arranged music and directed the nationally recognized Grand Land Singers.

He has served in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in many callings including Stake high councilor, Stake music chairman and choir director, Stake mission president, ward choir director and among others. While residing in the Cypress California Stake, Dean was called upon to both write and direct musical programs for youth and adult conferences. Dean’s cantata, What Think Ye of Christ, has been performed in stakes in both Southern California and Oregon as well as a featured work at the Los Angeles Temple Visitors Center during two Christmas seasons. One of his most memorable occasions was when he was called upon to direct a 300 plus voice choir for a regional conference in Anaheim, California.

Dean loves setting scripture based texts to music that might help lift and encourage people to grow in faith and testimony of our Savior.

Here’s a link to Dean’s piece:  A Place of Prayer

David Batchelor – Composer/Arranger

HolySheetMusic welcomes composer, David Batchelor.  When David sent over his arrangement of “The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare”, I knew immediately that this would be a wonderful addition to the HolySheetMusic library.  David and his family currently reside in Columbia, South Carolina.

Here’s more about David:

David William Batchelor is set to graduate from the University of South Carolina in May 2015 with a DMA in music composition and a minor in music theory. He holds previous degrees in music composition from Brigham Young University (MM 2010) and the University of Houston (BM 2006). His principle teachers have been John Fitz Rogers (USC), Neil Thornock (BYU), and Robert Nelson (UH).

While much of his professional effort aims toward a contemporary classical audience, David’s greatest pleasure as a composer comes from his efforts toward his brothers and sisters in Christ. In 2014, he began concerts called Schubertiads, named after the gatherings for the music of 19th-century composer Franz Schubert, that bring live classical music into the homes of his friends. Most of all, the concerts aim to educate the youth of his community in the beauty of live classical music. Children are especially welcome to attend.

Here is a link to David’s arrangement:  “The Lord My Pasture Will Prepare”

Kathleen Holyoak – Composer/Arranger

Kathleen playing the bandura in Kiev, Ukraine

Kathleen Holyoak, award-winning composer, pianist, and organist was born in Hawaii, raised in Idaho, and currently resides in Arizona.

Music became her passion when she began taking piano lessons at age 5.  She received a Bachelor of Music from BYU with an organ emphasis but it wasn’t until her four daughters were raised that she began composing, less than 20 years ago.   During that time she has written more than 200 songs and instrumental arrangements.

Her music has been performed around the globe, including the White House for Pres. and Mrs. Bush and the private residence of Vice-Pres. and Mrs. Cheney for Christmas gatherings, in Russia, Ukraine, England, South America, and Africa.

She and her husband have participated in many humanitarian trips and most recently returned from Uganda where Kathleen performed, gave firesides, and music workshops.

Here are two wonderful and distinct pieces composed by Kathleen.  She is diverse in her styles.  Her music is always a pleasure to perform and enjoy.

“Angels on Tiptoe”:  http://holysheetmusic.com/?p=1098

“A Place of Peace:  http://holysheetmusic.com/?p=902