January Jumpstart – AGO Regional Event

Henry Bauer, DMA, is the director of music at The Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes, Spokane, where he conducts the Schola Cantorum, Cathedral Choir, and Diocesan Choir as well as being artistic director of the Sacred Music Series. He has served as director of music and liturgy in parishes in the Archdiocese of Washington. He holds a doctorate in sacred music and choral conducting along with a masters degree in liturgical music and organ from The Catholic University of America. His doctoral dissertation is on choral literature for the liturgical year. Dr. Bauer has held several leadership positions for the National Association of Catholic Church Musicians (formerly National Association of Pastoral Musicians).

Dr. Bauer is the current chair of the Director of Music Ministries Forum, was a member of the board of the Director of Music Ministries Division, and chair of the Partner Certification Review Committee for Ecclesial Lay Ministry. He continues to coordinate the Choral Anthem Project and leads choral music reading sessions. He has presented workshops for cantors and organists, lectures on the role of music and musicians in the liturgy, and choral rehearsal techniques. He has served as a Core Committee member for two national conventions and been chapter director and treasurer for the AGO Washington DC chapter. He has led several European choir tours. Dr. Bauer serves on the Board of Officers for the AGO Spokane chapter in the role of sub-dean with focus in areas of program and professional concerns.

John Benham

William Conable, DMA, enjoys worldwide renown as a teacher of the Alexander Technique, a method for improving freedom and ease of movement and physical coordination which is of special interest to musicians and other performing artists. In 1973, he initiated the first class in the Alexander Technique offered at an American university. In the mid-1970’s, he began developing the concept of Body-mapping, which is widely recognized as a major contribution to the theory and pedagogy of the Alexander Technique. He has presented papers and workshops on this development at Alexander teacher training courses in the US, Japan, and England, and at conventions of both Alexander teachers and music teachers. Body-mapping is at the core of the book, How to Learn the Alexander Technique, which he co-authored with Barbara Conable.

Dr. Conable is Professor Emeritus of Cello at the Ohio State University, where he taught from 1972 to 2008. He has appeared as soloist with the Columbus, Youngstown, Springfield, Knox County, and Welsh Hills Symphonies and with the Ohio State University Symphony and Chamber Orchestras. For eleven years he was Principal Cellist of the Columbus Symphony and has served in the same position for the Youngstown and Springfield Symphonies and the Dayton Opera. He is a member of the Cipriani Trio and was for 11 years Principal Cellist and Chamber Music coordinator at the Classical Music Festival in Eisenstadt, Austria. He has conducted at Youngstown State and the Ohio State Universities, the Knox County Symphony, and the Ohio Light Opera. He has been teaching cello and chamber music at the college level since 1968 and has students in orchestras, universities, and chamber groups all over the country. His teaching draws not only on training with a series of extraordinary musicians, but also on his extensive study of the Alexander Technique. He lives in Spokane where he teaches privately and at Holy Names Music Center, and still travels all over the world teaching.

Edward Hurd holds a bachelor of music education degree from Central Washington University, Ellensburg, where he spent four years as organist and assistant music director at First Presbyterian Church. While teaching at East Valley High School in Spokane Valley, he served as director of music ministries for Opportunity Presbyterian Church. He was full-time director of music ministries (organist/choirmaster) for First Presbyterian Church in Mesa, Ariz. while completing his graduate studies in choral conducting at Arizona State University. For ten years, he served as associate director of music and organist for All Saints’ Episcopal Church, Phoenix. He has conducted choral ensembles twice at the St. Moritz Festival (Switzerland), and numerous tours and festivals throughout England, Ireland, France, Belgium, Italy, Germany, Austria, and Russia. Hurd’s principal conducting teachers include the late B. Fred Hammack, G. Gordon Leavitt, and Douglas McEwen.

While in Nebraska, Hurd served as director of traditional worship (organist/ choirmaster) for the 2,500-member congregation of Beautiful Savior Lutheran Church, La Vista, for nine years. He was artistic director for the 200-voice community chorus, Voices of Omaha, for eight years. He was performance rentals director for Omaha Performing Arts which operates the historic Orpheum Theater and renowned Holland Performing Arts Center, joining the organization as general manager in 2003.

Since returning to Spokane, Hurd has served as organist/bellmaster for Opportunity Presbyterian Church in Spokane Valley, organist for Central Lutheran Church and the Cathedral of St. John the Evangelist. He is a busy substitute music teacher for Spokane Public Schools and maintains a private piano and voice teaching studio. Hurd is a frequent adjudicator for area solo/ensemble contests. Hurd is a member of the National Association for Music Education and American Choral Directors Association. He serves on the Board of Officers for the AGO Spokane Chapter in the role of dean.

Joseph Schubert, PhD, retired from teaching in 2020, after 36 years of teaching choral music in public schools at the junior high, senior high, and university levels. From 2009 through 2023, Dr. Schubert also taught music theory, choral literature, and academic research and writing in the Three-Summer Master of Music in Choral Conducting program at California State University, Los Angeles.

Dr. Schubert’s dissertation dealt with twentieth-century French organist Jean-Jacques Grünewald, providing an extensive biography and a comprehensive analysis of Grünewald’s solo organ works in the context of the twentieth-century French organ school. As a composer, his works have been given world-premieres at the prestigious London Festival of Contemporary Church Music in 2025 and 2026. He has been a church organist since he was 18 years old and is currently organist at Saint Augustine Catholic Church, and he is organ instructor at Gonzaga University in Spokane. Dr. Schubert serves on the Board of Officers for the AGO Spokane chapter as secretary with focus in the area of program.

Nicole Sonbert, DMA, is a mezzo-soprano and recognized for work as a performer, clinician, guest presenter, adjudicator, and guest conductor. She has performed roles including Aunt Lou in Still’s Highway One, USA, Madame Flora in Menotti’s The Medium, Suzuki in Puccini’s Madama Butterfly, the Mother in Menotti’s The Consul, the ghost mother in Offenbach’s Les contes d’Hoffmann, Buttercup in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, and Bloody Mary in Rodger and Hammerstein’s South Pacific. She has also performed as the alto soloist in Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem in D minor, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 in D minor.

Dr. Sonbert is a graduate of University of Kentucky with a Doctorate of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance. Sonbert was previously the Youth & Family Programs Manager for Seattle Opera and Director of the Community Music School at Appalachian State University, as well as a part of the voice faculty at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, Appalachian State University, and Lees-McRae College. She has also taught in several other training programs, with many of her students winning first place awards for NATS and concerto competitions. In 2006, she was the recipient of the “My Teacher, My Hero” award, honoring her as a teacher and mentor for young voices while teaching choir at E.B. Aycock Middle School. Her research area encompasses Evaluating Appropriate Repertoire for Developing Singers: An African-American Art Song Anthology. Sonbert is passionate about music by black composers, currently compiling an anthology of music for the developing solo voice. She is honored to join the African Diaspora Music Project this year as Assistant Editor in youth vocal repertoire. Dr. Sonbert is currently the Director of MusicFest Northwest and the Director of Voice at Eastern Washington University.

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Registration

The $75 registration fee includes catered breakfast and lunch, and recital ticket. On the registration page, let us know which workshops during the four sessions you are interested in. Thank you!

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