“If you give attention to the right behaviors, they will multiply. If they sing well and supported and you encourage that, that is going to multiply. If you give attention to the bad behaviors – and that doesn't just mean behavior things like talking out of turn – even though it's being criticized, because it gets attention it will multiply . This is true in life. Whatever you think is positive and you want to multiply, give it attention, give it love, nurture it, and it will multiply."

Sherry Blevins is a sought-after artist, award-winning composer, lyricist, as well as an award-winning music educator and conductor. She has over 40 published choral works with 7 different publishing houses including her own series with Hinshaw Music and has been honored to compose for and work with a variety of ensembles around the world including Vancouver, Canada, Lucca, Italy, Bejing, China, Western Alaska, and across the continental United States. She premiered her work “Awaken” at Carnegie Hall with National Concerts in 2024 and conducted her own choral suite, “Tipping Point” at Carnegie Hall in 2025. She was recently honored to be included in GIA's 2025 book, Choral Repertoire by Women Composers. She is also Founder and Artistic Director of the International Choral Composers Institute which hosted 40 composers and lyricists in its inaugural year.

According to Hinshaw Music, “Sherry Blevins, a luminary in the world of choral composition and education, orchestrates harmonies that resonate with the soul. Her musical expertise is surpassed only by her dedication to nurturing the next generation of voices, making her a revered figure in both composition and education.”

Ms. Blevins has a bachelor’s degree in music education with a principal in voice from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and a master’s degree in choral conducting from Appalachian State University. Her hope is that whether through composing or teaching, that the music she shares will bring hope, life, and light to others.

You can find Sherry Blevins’ work wherever music is sold and you may contact her at sherryblevinsmusic.com.

To get in touch with Sherry, you can email her at sherryblevinsmusic@gmail.com, find her on Facebook (@sherry.blevins.18), or visit her website.

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

"I have to say that the best experience was to conduct choirs on many levels, with amateurs who loved what they did, it was a pleasure working with them just because of that, and also working with higher-level groups and being able to do other things. I started teaching children from 6 years old up to 20. I had non-auditioned groups and more advanced students. That for me was my best teaching experience."

Tiago Marques studied Piano, Guitar, Singing and Choral Conducting at the Academia de Amadores de Música (AAM) and the Escola Artística de Música do Conservatório Nacional (EAMCN), Portugal's largest and most prestigious school in primary to secondary music education. Between 1992 and 1996 he got a Bachelor's Degree in Composition at the Escola Superior de Música de Lisboa (ESML), studying under Christopher Bochmann and António Pinho Vargas.

Between 1997 and 2002 he studied Choir Conducting at the Utrechts Conservatorium and the Conservatorium van Amsterdam under Daniel Reuss, Jos Vermunt and Jos van Veldhoven. His Bachelor's Degree's final exam included both classical music and close-harmony (jazz, latin and pop music for vocal ensembles), a genre in which he has been specializing for many years while singing in, conducting and writing for several choirs and vocal groups. He followed summer courses and workshops in this genre with, among others, Darmon Meader, Peter Eldridge, Kim Nazarian and Lauren Kinhan (New York Voices), Michele Weir and Phil Mattson (P.M. Singers), Anders Edenroth and Peder Karlson (The Real Group), Ward Swingle and Jonathan Rathbone (The Swingle Singers) and Jens Johanssen (Vocal Line). In 2011 and 2012 he got two Master's Degrees in Choral Conducting (both Performance and Teaching) at the ESML.

Between 1994 and 1997 he taught Choir, Chamber Music and Harmony and Musical Analysis at the AAM and the Escola de Música do Orfeão de Leiria. Since 2005 he has been a Choir teacher at EAMCN, heading the Ensemble Music Department since 2024.

In Portugal, the Netherlands and Czechia he conducted several choirs and sang in high level ensembles of music genres such as early music, opera, contemporary and close-harmony. At the moment he conducts Musaico, an advanced choir in the EAMCN, and Coro da Ermida, both of which have been gold medallists in international competitions.

Tiago Marques is also a composer and arranger, having a number of works performed and recorded by choirs and vocal ensembles in Portugal, Spain, France, the Netherlands and Czechia, as well as an award at the International Vocal Group Festival in Tilburg (2004) for Best Arrangement.

To get in touch with Tiago, you can find him on Facebook (@tpnmarques).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

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Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

“I didn’t want conducting to be only about telling people what to do and they respond. I’ve been in situations like that, and it’s sometimes very effective, but it wasn’t something that I felt I could ever do naturally. I can bring my full artistry to something even when everyone else in the room is attempting to bring their full artistry. We get their imaginations and their color spectrum. If they’re just fitting into my ideas only, it’s a one-dimensional kind of experience.”

Acclaimed for crafting thought-provoking musical journeys that create deep connections between performers and listeners, Craig Hella Johnson is the founding artistic director and conductor of Conspirare, a GRAMMY®-winning choir and nonprofit performing arts and music education organization that believes in the power of music to change lives, inspire peace, and foster belonging. Founded in 1991 in Austin, Texas, by Johnson and a band of dedicated supporters, Conspirare has become a force for musical and human connection.

Johnson has held leadership roles as Music Director for the Cincinnati Vocal Arts Ensemble, Creative Partner at the Oregon Bach Festival, and currently serves as Artist in Residence at Texas State University. A celebrated guest conductor of choral and orchestral works, he is also a published composer, arranger, and educator, recognized with the 2022 Presidential Award for Excellence in Scholarly/Creative Activities at Texas State University.

His concert-length composition Considering Matthew Shepard, premiered and recorded by Conspirare, continues to reach audiences nationally and internationally. Johnson’s accomplishments have been honored with numerous awards, including a 2015 GRAMMY® for Best Choral Performance with Conspirare, Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art, Texas State Musician of the Year, the Matthew Shepard Foundation’s Dennis Dougherty Award for Community Leadership, and Wartburg College’s 2023 Graven Award.

To get in touch with Craig, you can email him through Conspirare (info@conspirare.org) or find him on Facebook (@CraigHellaJohnson).

Email choirfampodcast@gmail.com to contact our hosts.

Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson