Leadership

The Artistic Team
Singers in the Greater South Jersey Chorus are proud to be led by Dr. Christopher B. Thomas, Artistic Director and his talented colleagues, including  Art McKenzie, Conductor of the Chamber Singers of GSJC.

Christopher B. Thomas

Artistic Director

Christopher B. Thomas is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Rowan University in Glassboro, NJ, Artistic Director of the Greater South Jersey Chorus in Haddonfield, NJ and past-president of the New Jersey chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association (NJACDA).

At Rowan University, Dr. Thomas oversees curricular choirs of over two-hundred singers. He conducts the Rowan University Concert Choir, the flagship choral ensemble of the department of music, and Voces, a chamber ensemble which performs early, contemporary, and improvisatory projects.  Additionally, Dr. Thomas teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral conducting and choral literature. Under his direction, choirs at Rowan University have performed at regional and state conferences of ACDA and NJMEA and internationally on tours throughout Austria, the Czech Republic, Germany, Hungary, Italy, and Poland.  Recent highlights of the choral program have included a successful Tenor|Bass Festival which hosted over 1400 young tenors and basses, a performance by the Concert Choir for the 2020 Eastern Division ACDA conference in Rochester, NY in the beautiful Hochstein School of Music, performing The Here and Now, a multi-movement setting of texts by Rumi, scored for choir and wind ensemble by American composer Christopher Theofanidis, and serving as the chorus for the Rowan Opera Company’s production of Amahl and the Night Visitors.

Dr. Thomas has twice been invited to serve as assistant conductor and instructor for the Varna International Music Academy, culminating in performances of The Creation by Joseph Haydn and Mozart’s Requiem in opera houses throughout Bulgaria.  Domestically, guest conducting engagements including all-state and regional honor choruses have taken him to Connecticut, Delaware, Illinois, Kentucky, Maryland, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Texas, Vermont, and Washington, D.C. His work as a guest conductor is consistently recognized as energetic, inspiring, and inclusive of all levels of experience and ability.

In addition to his academic positions, Dr. Thomas is in his seventh season as the Artistic Director of the Greater South Jersey Chorus, which collaborates with regional orchestras such as the Bay Atlantic Symphony and the Philharmonic of Southern New Jersey in addition to stand-alone performances with the regions finest professional musicians.  Recent performances have included Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Puccini Messa di Gloria, McCullough Let My People Go!, James Whitbourn Annelies, Handel Messiah, Haydn Creation, Mozart Solemn Vespers, Respighi Laud to the Nativity, Vivaldi Gloria, and Conrad Susa Carols and Lullabies.

Dr. Thomas studied music education at Millikin University with Dr. Brad Holmes and earned his graduate degrees in Choral Conducting at the University of Arizona under the direction of Dr. Bruce Chamberlain. Before coming to Rowan, he served as director of music at several churches, as well as a music educator in Illinois and at a Waldorf school in Arizona. He is an active member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO) and the National Association for Music Education (NAfME).

Art McKenzie

Conductor of Chamber Singers

Art McKenzie is Conductor of Chamber Singers at Greater South Jersey Chorus as well as a recently retired conductor and voice instructor at Rowan University. He has a Bachelor of Music Education and Voice Performance from Westminster Choir College, and a Master of Music in Voice Performance, magna cum laude, from Indiana University—Bloomington. Mr. McKenzie has had a long and varied career as a music educator, minister of music, voice teacher, performer, and musical theatre director.

Prior to his appointment as director of the Statesmen Men’s Choir and voice instructor of classical and musical theatre students at Rowan, Mr. McKenzie served as Director of Choral Activities at Overbrook High School in Pine Hill, New Jersey. Mr. McKenzie conducted the 2009 New Jersey All-State Women’s Chorus, the 2009 New Jersey Region III Mixed Chorus, and the 2013 New Jersey All-State Mixed Chorus.

Mr. McKenzie studied choral conducting with Robert Simpson and Robert Carwithen, and he sang in the Westminster Choir. While at Westminster he toured under the direction of the esteemed conductor, Roger Wagner. Mr. McKenzie has performed in concerts, recitals, operas and oratorios throughout the United States as well as in Spoleto, Italy. He studied voice with Metropolitan Opera singers Margaret Harshaw and Nicola Rossi-Lemeni while at Indiana University.

Mr. McKenzie served as a minister of music at churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey, as well as conductor for the University Chorale at Temple University. As a director, vocal director, conductor and performer, Mr. McKenzie has over a hundred musical theater credits. He also served as accompanist for solo recitals and choral concerts for many years.

Mr. McKenzie has presented at events for both the National Association for Music Educators and American Choral Directors Association. He served as president of South Jersey Choral Directors Association and also on the All-State Choral Procedures Committee.

In addition to his position at GSJC, Mr. McKenzie presently adjudicates for Heritage Festivals and maintains a private vocal studio in Cherry Hill, where he lives with his wife, Maryann.

George Hemcher

Collaborative Pianist

George Hemcher is the Career Development Coordinator for the Center for Performing and Cinematic Arts at Temple University. Prior to joining the administrative staff at Temple, he was the Youth Opera Coordinator for Sarasota Youth Opera (SYO) at Sarasota Opera in Florida. His role spanned work from youth opera productions and mainstage productions to educational outreach and community outreach. Hemcher was an assistant conductor for SYO’s world premiere of Rachel J. Peters’ Rootabaga Country, Britten’s The Little Sweep and Hans Krása’s Brundibár. For mainstage productions, he was the assistant conductor for Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas and children’s chorus master for Puccini’s Turandot and La bohème. Outside of his music engagements, Hemcher was on the Board of Directors for the Fabulous Arts Foundation, Inc. fostering LGBTQ+ artists as a catalyst for political and social change and was on the Steering Committee of OPERA America’s Community Engagement and Education Network. In the Philadelphia region, Hemcher has worked on Puccini’s Turandot with OperaDelaware and will be Chorus Master for their production of La bohème this fall.