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Our Staff
Marcia Hendricks
executive director
she/her
Marcia has served the organization for 37 years, first as a volunteer and board member, and then as a paid staff member. Under her leadership the Children’s Chorale has realized nationwide and international recognition. Along with the talented Children’s Chorale music staff, Marcia has created and produced many of the Children's Chorale’s popular programs such as the All-City Boychoir Festival; In Harmony International Music Festivals; and Pikes Peak Center concerts each year. The Children's Chorale outreach programs including the Adopt-a-District; Satellite Choir; Generations Initiative; and School Blitz days were a brainchild of Marcia's desire to position the Children’s Chorale to better serve the wider community. Prior to her involvement with the CSCC, she owned and operated a successful event planning and floral design business. Her work with children includes spearheading reading programs for elementary school children; and serving as a Head Start and Get Set volunteer. Marcia has served on many community non-profit boards including the Pikes Peak Arts Council; Arts, Business, and Education Consortium, Taylor Elementary School Advisory Council; Colorado Vocal Arts Board of Directors; City of Colorado Springs Sister City Committee; Leadership Council of the Imagination Celebration; and has served as coordinator for the Southern Colorado Children’s Arts Festival and the CHORALaborative. Her memberships in professional organizations include the American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, and the Colorado Music Educators Association. Marcia was the 2014 recipient of the Pikes Peak Arts Council’s Arts Leadership Award. Children’s Chorale has been a part of the Hendricks family since 1987 when daughter, Sarah, joined the organization, closely followed by son, Luke’s membership. The family is grateful for the life-changing opportunities Chorale has given them.
Jake Donald Brumley
Crescendo and Pinnacle Conductor
he/him
Jake is the director of vocal music at Challenger Middle School in Colorado Springs. He has been active in the Colorado Springs choral community for over 15 years. Jake received an Associate of Arts at Pikes Peak State College, a Bachelor of Music Education at The University of Northern Colorado, and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at Messiah University (PA). He currently sings with The Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble and has performed in multiple community theatre productions with Village Arts of Colorado Springs. Jake is an alumnus of the Colorado Springs Children's Chorale and believes in their mission of using music and singing to build leadership skills and foster kindness.
Carie Hagen
Bookkeeper
she/her
Carie is a native of Colorado. She graduated from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln with a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Before joining the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale staff, Carie worked seventeen years for the same corporation writing contracts and performing accounting and back office administration work. Her daughter sang with CSCC for many years. Carie served on the Parent Council as the Social Committee Chairperson and was a parent member since 2014. In their spare time she and her husband love traveling back and forth from Boulder to Long Island to visit and watch her daughters perform!
Donna Gillespie
Program Assistant
she/her
Donna has been a parent member of the Children’s Chorale for many years. Her three children sang with the Chorale and through their years she has had many opportunities as a Chorale volunteer.She has served on the Parent Council as a Parent Representative as well as Co-Chairman. Donna loves attending CSCC
music camps first as a counselor and now as co-director. She has, particularly, enjoyed having the opportunity to travel with the Chorale. Donna’s background is in children. She graduated from Brigham Young University with a Master’s of Science in Speech Therapy and Elementary Education. She taught reading and speech skills to children with special needs up until the time her children were born. Since then Donna has tutored, taught after school classes, and volunteered at church, school and in the community. She’s thrilled to be helping in the office and getting to know your children. She has most recently enjoyed working in the graphic side of her Chorale work.
Melissa O'Rear
Drama Coach
she/her
Melissa O’Rear is thrilled to be back working with the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale. She is an alum of the CSCC and considers her experience pivotal in shaping her work in the arts. She has taught drama for over 20 years in many different capacities. She is currently the Program Manager of Education at the Cultural Office of the Pikes Peak Region, where she strives to strengthen arts education programs throughout the community. She is also the Executive Director for Theatre Across Borders, creating arts integrated programs for schools, toddler shows and interactive shows for families. Melissa is a mom of two and wants to thank her husband, Stephen, for all of his support.
Darla Mote
Crescendo & Pinnacle Collaborative Pianist
she/her
Darla Mote is a Colorado native. Her grandparents settled in eastern Colorado in the early 1900’s. She grew up accompanying for her father who loved to sing and who taught her some basics of music theory so that she could play by ear even before she began formal piano lessons as a seven-year-old. Teaching piano lessons and accompanying for choirs and church groups throughout high school, she went on to earn her master’s degree in piano performance. It was her first teacher at college, Dr. Larry Kauffman, who gave her the vision for the impact a teacher can have on a one-on-one basis. Teaching private piano lessons is her passion because it combines music with personal interaction with students. Her attention to detail and effectiveness with students was recognized early on in her teaching career as she was the youngest ever to be named Certified Teacher of the Year by the Colorado State Music Teachers Association. Her students compete well locally, and some have gone on to earn bachelors, masters, and even doctorates in music. In addition to her role as a pianist, she has had the privilege of sitting in on private lessons with a number of fine musicians who have worked with her own children in their studies of violin, viola, cello, piano, and trumpet. This in-depth exposure to a variety of musical educators has created a broad base of ideas as a teacher and as a musician. As an adult she has accompanied adult and children’s choirs in Colorado Springs and Denver.
Alissa Brooks
Fountain Creek Neighborhood & Honor Choir Conductor
she/her
Alissa has been teaching music to children for over 20 years. After graduating from Bethel University in Mishawaka, Indiana, she began her career as a Peace Corps Volunteer in Los Chiles, Costa Rica. While serving the developing community, she was able to establish a music club and children’s choir. It was here that she realized that helping children discover their voice and develop musical talents is her passion in life. Upon returning to the United States, Alissa taught in Holdredge, Nebraska for five years before making her way to Colorado Springs. She has been the general music teacher at Venetucci Elementary for the past twelve years. She is very proud to work for the Widefield School District and enjoys making her students shine through quality musical performances. She coordinates the Widefield District Elementary Honor choir and advocates for opportunities for her students and colleagues within the community. Her Venetucci Choir has participated in the CSCC’s InHarmony festivals since the beginning. She has had several students become members of the Children’s Chorale and strongly values their partnership with her school and district. When Alissa is not making music you can find her spending time outside hiking, paddle boarding, or just enjoying time with her husband and two sons.
Jen Lennon
Drama & Choreography Consultant
she/her
Jen was a member of the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale from 1982-1985 and was honored to be invited back as a staff member in 2003. During those intervening years, Jen earned her BS in Performance Studies and her MS in Education and Social Policy at Northwestern University. She began her arts teaching career in a suburb of Chicago and continued after immigrating to Canada. Jen has a passion for guiding young people to find their voice and tell their stories through the arts. She has taught students at all grade levels from preschool to college over the course of her 30-year career most recently focusing on arts integration—arts for all—in the classroom. Jen has had the opportunity to work as a coach, specialist, consultant or clinician with District 2, District 3, District 8, District 11, District 12, District 14, District 20 and District 49 as well as Woodland Park and other schools and arts organizations along the Front Range. Jen continues to work with theater and children in Wisconsin.
Debi Krause-Reinsch
Development Coordinator
she/her
Debi has been enthralled with and volunteering in many capacities for the Children’s Chorale since the early 90s. She enjoys being able to support them now. Her background includes working for several non-profits in the region and she has been recognized for that by the CS Business Journal and Pikes Peak Arts Council. Debi has two children who are alums of the Children’s Chorale.
Lori Bammesberger
Vocal Coach
she/her
Lori Bammesberger’s celebrated career conducting choirs, teaching voice lessons and leading workshops, as well as performing in operas, choirs and classical concert works, spans 30 years and several states, including Colorado, California and Texas. Originally from Colorado Springs, Lori earned a bachelor’s degree in music education from Angelo State University in San Angelo, Texas and a Master’s in Voice Performance and Opera from the University of North Texas in Denton, Texas. Returning to her hometown after graduate school, Lori operated a thriving private voice studio, performed regularly with the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble and many other local community music groups, and served on the staff of the Colorado Springs Children’s Chorale as conductor of various ensembles and vocal coach for the entire organization for nearly 20 years. Under her direction, the Pikes Peak Singers became known not only for their musical excellence, but also for their warm, clear vocal tone and visual expression of the text, along with a deep, sincere connection with audiences. Lori served two terms as the Children’s Choir Repertoire & Standards Chair for the Colorado chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). From 2017 to 2020, Lori worked with the Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley in Los Altos, California as Associate Conductor and Musicianship Curriculum Director. Under her guidance, Lori’s ensembles travelled to New York City and Hawaii for choral festivals, and many of her singers were accepted into honor choirs at state, regional and national ACDA conferences. At home in Briargate, Lori and her partner, Carol, love spending time with their three fur-babies, Sophie, Nugget and Noodle, and are thrilled to have welcomed two beautiful granddaughters into their family this year.
Katy Mariotti
Prelude Conductor
she/her
Katy Mariotti is a choir director and soprano from Palmer Lake, Colorado. She has been heavily involved in music her entire life. She grew up in Colorado Springs and was a member of CSCC herself! Katy has a bachelor’s in music education from the University of Northern Colorado, and a Master of Arts in Creative Writing from Regis University. She taught middle school choir for nine years, which included directing several choirs, music directing musicals, taking choirs to festivals in which they consistently received superior scores, and directing the variety show. Since then, she has kept busy with her two beautiful kids, as well as doing church music, including directing an adult choir and several children’s music programs. She has also worked as a music director for local middle school and high school musicals. Katy also sings and is a proud member of the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble. In her spare time Katy enjoys spending time with her kids and her high-school-sweetheart turned husband, as well as reading, writing, going to movies, and traveling whenever possible.
Jolene Edwards
Prelude & Fountain Creek Collaborative Pianist
she/her
Jolene is delighted to accompany the Fountain Creek Neighborhood Honor Choir and Prelude. After twenty-one years, she has recently retired from Widefield School District 3. During her years in D3, she accompanied at both the junior high and high school levels before shifting to music administrative assistant. She has been honored to accompany five CMEA performance ensembles from Widefield, the Colorado Elementary All State Choir on two occasions and numerous Colorado Springs area choir festival events. Primarily self-taught, Jolene brings with her fifty years of experience in school and church performance environments. She has been a private teacher for thirty years and especially feels called to teach students with learning challenges as well as those who are economically unable to afford lessons. It has been her pleasure to share her knowledge with hundreds of students over those decades! Jolene is a proud mom of two married daughters and “Mimi” to one granddaughter and two grandsons. Retirement leaves time to enjoy family, hike, garden and crafts.