Summer Music Institute Instructors
Conductors
John Michael Boyer
John Michael Boyer is Protopsáltis (First Cantor) of the Greek Orthodox Metropolis of San Francisco, director of the Saint John Koukouzelis Institute of Liturgical Arts (koukouzelis.net), founder and artistic director of Próto, and associate music director of Cappella Romana (cappellaromana.org). He began studies of Byzantine Chant at age 14 under musicologist Alexander Lingas and went on to study under the late Archon Protopsáltis Lycourgos Angelopoulos and with renowned cantor, composer, and musicologist Ioannis Arvanitis. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Music from the University of California, Berkeley, and a Master of Divinity from Holy Cross Greek Orthodox School of Theology in Brookline, MA. As a teacher, John helps students of all levels achieve facility and proficiency in the Byzantine musical tradition through a pædagogical approach synthesizing advanced ear training and vocal technique with Byzantine notation, modal theory, and ornamental expression. This approach is laid out in detail in his forthcoming book, Byzantine Chant: The Received Tradition – A Lesson Book, slated for publication in 2022.
Juliana Woodill
Juliana Woodill is a choral director and National Board Certified Teacher at Fairfax High School in northern Virginia. She is an active musician, conductor and clinician both for the Orthodox Church and professionally. She conducts at the St. John mission in Fairfax, and has recently founded the Archdiocesan Choir of Washington, D.C., a liturgical ensemble comprised of Orthodox singers from Virgina, Maryland, and D.C. She was a featured conductor at the International Symposium of Orthodox Church Musicians Conference in 2016 and 2018 and has taught as a guest lecturer and conductor at both St. Tikhon’s and St. Vladimir’s Seminaries. Woodill grew up singing in the Orthodox Church and has participated in choirs since the age of 8, going on to receive a Bachelor of Music in Music Education and Musical Theater from Westminster Choir College. She studied conducting with Dr. Joe Miller and sang with the Westminster Symphonic Choir under the baton of many conducting greats, including Christoph Eschenbach, Neeme Jarvi, Pierre Boulez, and Kurt Masur. Woodill loves the opportunity to bring the musicianship and skills of the choral world into the church setting.
Workshop Leaders
Benedict Sheehan
Two-time GRAMMY® nominee Benedict Sheehan has been called “a choral conductor and composer to watch in the twenty-first century” (ConcertoNet) and “one of the most important voices in American Orthodox choral music” (Choral Journal). He is artistic director and co-founder of The Saint Tikhon Choir and Artefact Ensemble, and director of music at St. Tikhon’s Seminary and Monastery in Pennsylvania. His works have been variously described as “brilliant” (Choir & Organ), “otherworldly” (Boston Musical Intelligencer), “evocative” (Gramophone), “extraordinary” (Limelight), and “simply beyond praise for excellence” (Fanfare). His music is published by Oxford University Press and Artefact Publications and has been performed by Skylark Vocal Ensemble, Conspirare, the Houston Chamber Choir, Cappella Romana, the Kansas City Chorale, and many others.
Talia Maria Sheehan
Talia Maria Sheehan has been a professional vocalist and music instructor for over twenty years. Her musical background and performance experience is broad, including rock lead vocals, jazz and classical piano, operatic soprano, and folk and classical ensemble singing. She received her musical education at Westminster Choir College, where she sang in the Westminster Choir under the direction of Joseph Flummerfelt, and appeared with them on many of the great American stages. As a professional ensemble singer she has performed with Cappella Romana, the Grammy-nominated Saint Tikhon Choir, and the Grammy-nominated PaTRAM Institute Singers. She was recently a featured soloist with Bach in Baltimore concert series. Sheehan works at St. Tikhon’s Monastery and Seminary in South Canaan, PA, and teaches voice, music theory, and liturgical music, and directs a children’s choir and a women’s choir. Talia and her husband, composer and conductor Benedict Sheehan, live on the grounds of St. Tikhon's with their seven daughters.
