CHARLES B. EMERICH, Artistic Director

Graduate of West Chester University in Pennsylvania; M.ED from Penn State University - Cum Laude Society; recognized in Who's Who in American Education; Chairman of the Music Department at Kent School, Kent, CT; conductor of the Elderhostel Orchestra on the Housatonic and the Danbury Music Centre Chamber Orchestra.

JOANNA ALBRECHT , Voice Instructor

Ms. Albrecht received a B.A. in music and M.F.A. in theatre from Smith College.  She has, in addition, studied music and voice with David Blair McCloskey (Boston Conservatory), Franz Kelch (Leopold Mozart Konservatorium, Augsburg, Germany), and Julia Drobner (New York City).  Her career has embraced opera, operetta, oratorio and musical theater in the United States, Germany and Austria.  Her U.S. appearances have included solo performances at the Kennedy Center, Emmanuel Church (NYC) Weill Recital Hall, Town Hall, Avery Fisher Hall, and the New York State Theatre.  She has performed as a singer –actress in off-Broadway musical theatre and has performed the role of the Mother Abbess in six U.S. productions of The Sound of Music.  Ms. Albrecht was soprano soloist with the Martha Graham Dance Company at the Met, Covent Garden, on Broadway, and in the PBS “Dance in America” TV series.  She is a member of the National Association of Teachers and Singing and the Music Teachers’ National Association, and performs with Columbia County’s (NY) Lively Arts and Trio da Cameera Chamber Concerts

MARTHA HOLCOMBE,  Assistant Director of the Elderhostel Choir

Mrs. Holcombe has a B.A. degree from Oberlin College and has done graduate studies at the Hartt School of Music and Westminster Choir College.  She was youth choir director at several churches in New Hampshire and New York, is currently Music Director at St. Andrew’s Church in Kent, and is a member of the Kent Singers.

THOMAS HOLCOMBE, Director of the Elderhostel Choir

Mr. Holcombe has received a B.A. from Harvard University, a Master of Sacred Music from Union Theological Seminary.  He has served as the Chapel Center Music Director at Ft. Dix, N.J. and has also bee an organ recitalist in Massachusetts and New Hampshire.

JENNIFER HOBBS, String Instructor and String Ensemble Conductor

Mrs. Hobbs holds an A.B. from Bowdoin College in music and history, and a M.Ed. in music from the University of Connecticut.  She studied violin with Stephen Kecskemethy (Bowdoin College), Paul Kantor (Yale University), Thomas Moore (University of Miami School of Music).  Mrs. Hobbs studied quartet performance with members of the Portland String Quartet.  Currently, Mrs. Hobbs is a member of the Ridgefield Symphony Orchestra.  She performs as a soloist and with other ensembles throughout Connecticut.