Jesse Parker

Jesse Parker, D.M.A., is returning for his seventh season as the Artistic Director of the Chesapeake Chorale. He is also the founder and Music Director of Voices XXI and Director of Music at Chevy Chase United Methodist Church. Before creating Voices XXI and joining the Chesapeake Chorale, he was the Associate Conductor of the Maryland Handel Festival, and he has served on the faculties of the University of Maryland and Sweet Briar College. He studied conducting with Paul Traver at the University of Maryland, where he earned a doctorate in music, and for more than ten years assisted Dr. Traver in preparing the Maryland Chorus for performances in the U.S. and Europe, with many renowned conductors including Leonard Slatkin, Lorin Maazel, Georg Solti, Zubin Mehta, Antal Dorati, and John Nelson.  Dr. Parker has conducted on tour abroad with performances in Austria, France, Italy and Ireland. In July 2000, he was one of eight regional conductors to be selected by the National Symphony Orchestra to prepare choirs for the premier of Maury Yeston’s “An American Cantata”, conducted by Leonard Slatkin. Dr. Parker has been active in the Washington area for over 20 years holding conducting positions in churches and with a number of community groups including serving as the conductor of the Preparatory Orchestra at the Washington Conservatory of Music and more recently as the Principal Conductor of the NIH Chamber Orchestra.  In the fall of 2006, Dr. Parker began an association with Chevy Chase Chamber Music as the Resident Conductor in a performance of Stravinsky's "L'Histoire du Soldat."

Susan Ricci Rogel

Accompanist for The Chesapeake Chorale since 1997, Susan Ricci Rogel is widely known throughout the Washington Metropolitan area as an excellent collaborative pianist. Ms. Ricci Rogel earned her Master of Music in Vocal Accompanying and Instrumental Chamber Music and her Bachelor of Music (Summa Cum Laude) in Piano Performance, both from the University of Maryland. Her teachers included Andor Kiszely, Bradford Gowen, Evelyn Garvey, and Robert McCoy.  Ms. Ricci Rogel has acted as coach/accompanist for opera programs at George Mason University, Catholic University, and the University of Maryland, as well as Des Moines Metro Opera, and has collaborated in concerts held at the Kennedy Center, Barns of Wolf Trap, the Lyceum in Alexandria, and the Arts Club of Washington. Currently Director of Music at Christian Community Presbyterian Church in Bowie, she is also a member of the music faculty at Prince George's Community College.  In 2006, she was inducted into the Theta Chapter of Delta Kappa Gamma Society International for Key Women Educators.

Dianne Webster

Assistant Conductor of The Chesapeake Chorale for the past 19 seasons, Dianne Webster is also a founding member of the Chorale and sits on the Chorale's Board of Directors. A graduate of Dickinson State University in North Dakota with a degree in Music, Ms. Webster has been the Choir Director at Village Baptist Church for 25 years.  Dianne has taught in St. Paul, Minnesota, for the Department of Defense, at St. Matthew's Early Education Center and she presently teaches at Holy Trinity Episcopal Day School  in Bowie, Maryland. Ms. Webster has worked with conductors Robert Shaw, Sir David Willcocks, Weston Noble, Paul Salmonovich and John Rutter.  Dianne has studied voice under Edwards Crafts, and has attended Westminster Choir College.

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