Established 2007
SOLI DEO GLORIA
NEWS!
OUR CO-DIRECTORS
Dr. Vicki Bell
Dr. Stephen Bolster
ARTISTIC DIRECTORS
Dr. Vicki Bell holds a Ph.D. in music theory from the University of Kentucky. Her research interests are varied, and range from the use of dissonance in the sacred music of G. P. da Palestrina to the notational styles of Shaker music.
Dr. Bell joined the Music Department at Asbury University in the fall of 1993. For thirty years, she served as coordinator of music theory, and taught freshman / sophomore theory classes and upper-level counterpoint / music analysis courses. Additionally, she directed the Asbury University Chorale, the primary SATB choral ensemble at the university. The Chorale presented 6-8 concerts per academic year, and performed with the Lexington Philharmonic Orchestra in eight major subscription concerts.
Dr. Bell has led Asbury students and alumni in four international performance tours as well as choral residencies at England’s Gloucester Cathedral and Bristol Cathedral. Highlights of the international tours included performances in St. Peter’s Basilica, the Basilica of Santa Maria del Fiore, St. Agapito, Christ Church, Oxford, and Bath Abbey.
Dr. Bell currently directs ECCO, a chamber choir comprised largely of Asbury alumni. Additionally, she is organist / choirmaster at St. Raphael the Archangel Episcopal Church in Lexington, KY.
Dr. Stephen Bolster taught at Berea College for 39 years. Endowed Professor of Music, he conducted the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, and taught applied voice and other music classes. His music degrees are from Dartmouth College, the University of North Carolina, and the University of Colorado. He led the Berea choirs on annual domestic tours and on international concert tours to the Balkans, central and eastern Europe, and China, performing in many of the world’s prestigious concert halls and cathedrals. The choirs performed on multiple televised Christmas specials, including a Christmas Eve Concert aired nationally on CBS.
Dr. Bolster served two terms as President of KY-ACDA, fifteen years as Chairperson of the Youth and Student Activities Committee, and six years as Southern Division Chair of College and University Choirs. In 2002, he received Kentucky ACDA’s highest honor--the Robert K. Baar Choral Excellence Award--for his service to the organization and dedication to choral music education.
KMEA named Bolster the 1999-2000 College-University Teacher of the Year. A Berea College Honorary Alumnus, he received numerous teaching and academic awards there, including Berea’s highest faculty honor-- the Seabury Award for Excellence in Teaching.
Bolster is in demand as a lecturer, clinician, and adjudicator. An expert on acoustical phonetics, he has presented lectures on this topic to professional music organizations and at colleges and universities.