Grand Rapids Symphony Youth Choruses

Sean Ivory

Sean Ivory is a choral conductor, pianist and composer living in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Since 1992, Mr. Ivory has been a vocal music instructor at Forest Hills Central High School. He has held positions at St. Cecilia Music Society, the North American Choral Company, and Calvin College, where he currently conducts the Campus Choir.

Mr. Ivory attended Northwestern University, Calvin College and Michigan State University. His choirs have won consistent praise for their sound and for the quality of their repertoire. They have performed at both state and regional conventions for the American Choral Directors Association, and have toured Ireland, the Netherlands, Finland, Estonia, and Ghana.

Mr. Ivory has arranged and composed several published works including Go Where I Send Thee, Ani Ma'Amin, John the Revelator, and Ain't No Grave Can Hold My Body Down. Hope for Resolution: A Song for Mandela and DeKlerk (an arrangement done in collaboration with Chicago composer Paul Caldwell) continues to be a staple of choirs all over the world, and was recently recorded on the CD/DVD A St. Olaf Christmas in Norway. In the summer of 2007, a new piece by Caldwell and Ivory, entitled Soweto: June, 1976, was premiered in South Africa by the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church Senior Choir under the direction of Jeffrey Brillhart. The piece, a commemoration of the unique relationship between the American Civil Rights movement and the South African anti-Apartheid movement, met with enthusiastic praise. Mr. Ivory's music is published by Earthsongs, GIA and Alliance.

Mr. Ivory began conducting the Grand Rapids Youth Chorus in its inaugural season, 2007-2008. This years season will include an appearance with the Grand Rapids Symphony in a performance of Benjamin Britten's War Requiem. Mr. Ivory's family is also involved in GRYC. Leah, his wife, is the choir's accompanist, and Emma, his daughter, sings with the Grand Rapids Junior Youth Chorus under the direction of Jackie Sonderfan Schoon.

Jackie Sonderfan Schoon

Jackie Sonderfan Schoon divides her time between teaching music at Meadow Brook Elementary in the Forest Hills Public Schools where she has taught for 15 years, and directing children's choirs, both for the Grand Rapids Junior Youth Chorus and for Westminster Presbyterian Church. She holds degrees from Calvin College and Michigan State University, as well as a Level I Mastership Certification in Music Learning Theory in Elementary General Music through the Gordon Institute for Music Learning. She has presented at several state music conferences and has served on the state board of the American Choral Director's Association as Repertoire and Standards Chair for Children's and Boy's Choirs. In 2004, her choir was invited participate in a performance of I Dream of Peace at Carnegie Hall. When she is not working, she enjoys being home with her husband Steve and two daughters, Maria and Nadia.