Summer Music Institute Instructors
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 All Saints of America Mission in Alexandria and founded the Archdiocesan Choir of Washington, D.C., a liturgical ensemble comprised of Orthodox singers from Virginia, 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. Juliana 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. Additionally, she teaches at Fairfax High School where she conducts multiple ensembles and teaches music theory. She is a respected clinician, adjudicator, and guest conductor throughout the state of Virginia. She loves the opportunity to bring the musicianship and skills of the choral world into the church setting.
Benedict Sheehan
Two-time GRAMMY® nominee and American Prize-winner Benedict Sheehan has been called “a choral conductor and composer to watch in the 21st century” (ConcertoNet) and “one of the most important voices in American Orthodox choral music” (Choral Journal). He is artistic director and founder of Artefact Ensemble and the GRAMMY®-nominated Saint Tikhon Choir, and Artist in Residence at St. Tikhon’s 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 many of the world’s leading vocal ensembles, including Skylark, Conspirare, the Houston Chamber Choir, Cappella Romana, the Kansas City Chorale, the BBC Singers, and many others. His new oratorio Akathist will be premiered in New York in November of 2023 by the Choir of Trinity Wall Street, Downtown Voices, Trinity Youth Chorus, and NOVUS NY in collaboration with Artefact Ensemble. Alongside his numerous other commissions, Benedict is currently working on a Ukrainian War Requiem for Axios Men’s Ensemble and Pro Coro Canada, slated to be premiered in Edmonton in April of 2024. He lives and works in Pennsylvania with his wife, vocalist and music educator Talia Maria Sheehan, and together they have seven daughters who range in age from six to twenty-one.
Talia Maria Sheehan
Talia Sheehan is a fourth-generation female music leader. She teaches students of all ages and abilities in many genres, styles, venues, and worship traditions. She has created and implemented music training programs for many different sacred institutions. She is the founding director of the St. Tikhon’s Music Program, an intensive training program for Orthodox Christian sacred musicians. She is a sought-after guest clinician and consultant. She is also the co-founder and Executive Director of Artefact Institute, a collective of “culture creators” who work to build living contexts for the arts and to strengthen community. As a professional ensemble singer, she has performed and recorded with Cappella Romana, the Grammy-nominated Saint Tikhon Choir, the Grammy-nominated PaTRAM Institute Singers, and Artefact Ensemble.
Harrison Russin
Harrison Russin is the Prokofiev Assistant Professor of Liturgical Music at St Vladimir’s Seminary, as well as the Director of Music at the Seminary. Dr Russin has a PhD in historical musicology from Duke University, and has published and lectured internationally on medieval and renaissance music. He is also an active church musician, directing three choirs at St Vladimir’s Seminary, teaching courses in singing, reading, music theory, composition, and conducting, and serving as a consultant to the Orthodox Church in America’s Department of Liturgical Music and Translation. Harrison and his wife met as seminarians at St Vladimir’s Seminary, and they are both honored to be back working and living at their alma mater.
