Daniel Hughes is in constant demand as a conductor, accompanist, coach and choral clinician. He serves as the Artistic Director & Conductor of The Choral Project. Celebrating 12 years of musical excellence, the ensemble has been hailed by the San José Mercury News as “a Bay Area jewel," and "...there is nothing subtle about why this is one of the best choirs you will ever hear." The Choral Project has released six albums on the Clarion label. Additionally, Hughes serves as the Artistic Director of the Silicon Valley Gay Men’s Chorus, an acclaimed organization committed to inspiring our diverse community through musical excellence and collective pride. He has extensive training in piano and voice, and holds a Master of Arts degree in Conducting from San José State University. Awards include: 4th place in the 35th International Choral Competition in Gorizia, Italy; the second place award in the ACDA National Student Conducting Competition; the Christina Cadena Memorial Accompanying Scholarship; and the California Arts Scholar Awards for piano and composition. Collaborations include work with Costa Rica’s Café Chorale, the San José Chamber Orchestra and creative work with award-winning Broadway composer & lyricist Stephen Schwartz. Hughes recently served three terms as the Repertoire & Standards Chair for Community Choirs for the Western Division of the ACDA, and is currently serving as Bay Area Representative for the California ACDA Board. He is an accomplished composer & arranger, and has his own choral series through Santa Barbara Music Publishing. Mr. Hughes’s biography is featured in the 62nd edition of "Who’s Who in America."
For the past 15 years Craig Knudsen has been a performer / composer / arranger with the EDLOS (the 1989 Harmony Sweepstakes National Champions). In 2001 Craig expanded his horizons to include representation of other performing artists and opened his own talent agency, Knudsen Productions. He is currently the exclusive North American Artist Representative for the multi grammy award winning a cappella sensation, the Swingle Singers. For the past 10 years Craig has also served as the music director for the Kaiser Permanente Educational Theatre Project. Craig's performance credits span a wide variety of musical styles and performance mediums. As an opera and classical singer, he has performed leading roles with Pocket Opera, Mendocino Music Festival Opera, West Bay Opera, Berkeley Opera, Las Vegas Opera, Pacific Repertory Opera and the Austin Opera in Austin, TX. and has been the tenor soloist in numerous oratorios, performing with the Santa Clara Chorale, the U.C. Symphony, the Mendocino Music Festival, The Bronx Arts Ensemble, the Prometheus Symphony, the Valley Chorale Society and the Berkeley Community Chorus and Orchestra. He also toured to the East Coast as a tenor soloist with George Coates Performance Works, performing at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.. Craig originally came to the SF Bay Area in 1982 to join the San Francisco Mime Troupe as a saxophone player/actor/music director, and he toured extensively with the Troupe in the U.S. and Canada and, before that, he was the sax player with the Marcia Ball Band out of Austin, TX. Just to make sure he is always busy, Craig continues to teach private voice lessons out of his studio in Berkeley, CA. And lastly - no, he is not (and never has been) one of the Knudsen Brothers.
Ken Malucelli, award-winning composer and native San Franciscan, is a charter member of San Francisco Boys Chorus, 18-yr. veteran of San Francisco Opera, 9-yr. veteran of Lamplighters Music Theatre, and Founder/CEO of Prince/SF Productions artist management and representation, now in its 30th year. Establishing A Cappella Central (div. of Prince/SF) some years ago, he has helped coordinate bookings for most of the international celebrity artists on that roster: Take 6; the Nylons; Rajaton; the Persuasions; Rockapella, plus many of its fine national artists; and later this year brings Denmark's stellar group, Basix, over for its U.S. debut. He also has been manager or exclusive agent for the EDLOS, the House Jacks, m-pact, Talk of da Town, the Mighty Prince Singers and the Merrie Olde Christmas Carolers (world’s largest costumed caroling org.: tmocc.com). He has executive produced CD’s for Kai, m-pact, the House Jacks, the Gospel Girls, the Mighty Prince Singers and MOCC; and has had works commissioned and/or performed by both San Francisco Opera and Symphony Choruses, Symphony Silicon Valley Chorus, San Francisco Boys and Girls Choruses, Pacific Mozart Ensemble, San Francisco Choral Artists and others, and recorded, amongst others, by Chanticleer, including that group’s internationally acclaimed theme song, “King Chanticleer.” His latest project, “Oh Mr. Sousa!”, an original musical biography on "The March King," tours the national fine arts market...and of course contains an a cappella number.
Dean Suzuki earned his Ph. D. in Historical Musicology from the University of Southern California. Now an Associate Professor in the Music Department at San Francisco State University , he specializes in Twentieth Century music, as well as teaching Rock History and Music Appreciation. At KPFA, 94.1 FM in Berkeley, he produces and hosts “Discreet Music” (every other Sunday at 10 p.m), an eclectic offering of contemporary, experimental music, with periodic programs devoted to a cappella, progressive rock, sound poetry, sound sculpture and other musical genres and styles. Past in-studio guests and performers include the Bobs, the Housejacks, Naturally Seven, the Accidentals, m-pact, +4db, Gunner Madsen, members of SoVoSo, F’loom and others. As a music critic and journalist, he writes for Goldmine, Musicworks, and other periodicals. Dr. Suzuki’s essay “The Art of the Voice: Trends in American Text-Sound Composition” was published in Homo Sonorus, an international anthology of sound poetry.
Linda Tillery is a veteran vocalist, percussionist, producer and cultural historian whose career has spanned 34 years. Since the 1960's, Tillery has been regarded as one of the San Francisco Bay Area's most versatile singers. Her powerful, shimmering alto voice has been showcased in such groups as the Loading Zone, Zasu Pitts Memorial Orchestra, the Solid Sender's and Bobby McFerrin's Voicestra. A native San Franciscan, Linda has Texas soul, rooted in her mother's stories and food, and her uncle Tom Anderson's deft blues whistle. These Texas expatriates anchored her earliest memories in an older musical tradition when the contemporary sound pronounced it old-fashioned. The sound of artists such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, Bill Doggett, Dinah Washington, Clyde McPhatter, Faye Adams and Ruth Brown were all a part of Linda's early music education. An articulate and provocative speaker, Linda is in demand both as vocal coach and lecturer. She has conducted workshops for St. Mary's College (Moraga, Ca.) , the Center for Christian Studies (Toronto), The Muse Choir of Cincinnati, The Oakland Symphony Chorus, The Universal Gospel Choir of Vancouver, Mutama , Silicon Valley Gay Men's Chorus, The Oakland Youth Chorus, Copper Wimmin', and the MIT Concert Choir.
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