Newton Community Chorus

We, the Newton Community Chorus, are a warm and welcoming group of singers who are as ardent about improving our musical ability as we are about having fun doing it. We create an atmosphere of conviviality and acceptance that allows several generations of music lovers, with various levels of experience, to share the challenge of learning and performing classical choral works. Our many dedicated member volunteers make possible an ongoing commitment to professionalism and high-quality live performance. It is the capacity of this music to connect us to each other as well as to our community's soul that inspires us to sing, making our joyful noise.

Richard Travers, Music Director

Richard Travers, now in his eighth concert season with the Newton Community Chorus, holds a Master's degree in Choral Conducting from the Boston Conservatory of Music as a student of Allen Lannom and an undergraduate degree from Berklee College of Music.

A music educator in the Newton Public Schools for 31 years, Mr. Travers is the director of four choirs at Newton North High School: Vocal Ensemble, Concert Choir, Family Singers, and Jubilee Singers (co-director with Sheldon Reid).

Mr. Travers is the inaugural recipient of the Paul Elicker Award for Excellence in Teaching. He recently served as Director of the New England Conservatory Youth Chorale, which he led in concerts at Jordan Hall and the Hatch Shell. He has also served as the Assistant Music Director of the Masterworks Chorale and as the Choral Director at Fitchburg State College. Mr. Travers is also currently serving as Director of the Westwood Youth Chorale.

Under his dynamic leadership, Mr. Travers has led the award-winning a cappella Family Singers of Newton North in performances throughout the eastern United States, Canada and Mexico. They also have been part of six tours of Europe with performances in Notre Dame de Paris, Manchester Cathedral, Kylemore Abbey, and St. Peter's. The Family Singers have twice appeared at the Music Educators National Conference Eastern Convention and were the featured choir on Massachusetts Night in 1993. A performance of Duke Ellington's Sacred Concert with the Foxboro High School Jazz Band was repeated at Emmanuel Church in Boston, where they joined forces with the Kenny Hadley Band under the direction of Herb Pomeroy in a concert selected by The Boston Globe as one of the "Top Ten Jazz Concerts of 1998." The Family Singers have premiered works by composers Rodney Lister, A.J. McCaffrey, Richard Lowell, Jeff Louie, and Thomas C. Duffy. In addition to the Family Singers, the Newton North Concert Choir has performed a major choral work with orchestra for the past 18 years, ranging from Handel's Messiah to Poulenc's Gloria.

Mr. Travers also has conducted more than 20 musicals in Newton, ranging from Guys and Dolls and Les Misérables to My Fair Lady, and this year's production of Bye, Bye Birdie. He has served as guest conductor of the four Massachusetts Music Educators Junior District Choirs and as guest conductor of the Melbourne Youth Chorale in Australia in 1998 and 1999. In April 2005, Newton North presented a combined concert with Halleybury College from Australia. Active in state music educators' events, he has led many workshops for the Massachusetts and New Hampshire Music Educators

Associations. He has served as Manager, Assistant Manager, and Adjudicator for the Northeast District Jazz Band and Choir, and has served as Manager of the 1999 Massachusetts All-State Choir.

Monique Weiss Byrnes, Organ, Accompanist
Monique Weiss Byrnes began playing organ in churches at the age of eleven. She is a graduate of Oberlin Conservatory of Music, where she studied organ with Haskell Thompson while earning a Master's degree in Teaching with a Choral Emphasis and a Bachelor's in Organ Performance. Ms. Weiss Byrnes has performed music of Vivaldi, Bach, Buxtehude, Franck, Widor, Vierne, Mendelssohn, Mozart, and Messiaen on organs throughout the Northeast, and spent two years playing organs in England, the Netherlands, Germany, France, and Austria.

Ms. Weiss Byrnes has been a freelance accompanist, solo pianist and singer in the Boston area since 1988. She is the Choral Director and organist at St. Paul's Episcopal Church in Natick, the pianist of the Leggiero Piano Trio, pianist and singer of the Monique Weiss Jazz Quartet, and a member of the Sharon Chamber Ensemble. Ms. Weiss Byrnes is Director and teacher at Mosaic Modes Music Studio and has been an accompanist for choral groups on tour in England, Wales, Poland, France, Germany, and Canada, including an international choral festival in Krakow, Poland. She is accompanist for music groups at Newton Country Day School. She is a member of the American Choral Society, the American Guild of Organists, and the New England Piano Teachers Association. Ms. Weiss Byrnes is in her sixth season as the rehearsal accompanist for the Newton Community Chorus and has performed often on organ and piano at Chorus concerts.