2023-2024 Season
Board of Directors
Laura Pokorny, President
Vincent Kavanaugh, Vice President
Anita Meserole, Treasurer
Anne Morrow, Secretary
William Margiotta, Music
Kerri Oman, Membership
Grace Papagno, Liaison
Joanne M. Pedian, Public Relations
Scott E. Schneider, Development
Staff
Jared Berry, Artistic Director & Conductor
Alice Marques, Pianist
Nicolette Minella, Social Media Coordinator
Artistic Director & Conductor
Jared Berry is the Director of Choirs at Manhasset High School where he conducts the Symphonic Choir, Men’s Choir, Concert Choir, Select Ensemble, and Kinsmen, and serves as the music director for the high school mainstage musical production. Mr. Berry has held previous appointments on the faculty at North Shore High School and St. John the Baptist Diocesan High School. During the summers, he continues to serve as an instructor and Director for Administration at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (School of Choral & Vocal Studies). Ensembles under his direction have performed at notable venues including Chautauqua Institute, Carnegie Hall, and have been invited to perform at state conferences.
Outside of academia, he is in his seventh year as Artistic Director & Conductor of the Babylon Chorale, a premiere eighty-five voice community choir presenting annual holiday, classical, and pops concerts. Additionally, he is the Manager and a singer in the Long Island based eVoco Voice Collective, a chamber choir of auditioned singers, conductors, and educators.
Mr. Berry has appeared several times as a Music Director at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Harrogate, England. Each performance has garnered awards including SavoyNet’s 2019 Princess Ida (best musical direction and best chorus), Blue Hill Troupe’s 2015 Patience (overall first place, best animated chorus), and SavoyNet’s 2014 Thespis (second place, best concerted item). Previously, he was the Concert Music Director and Chorus Master for the Blue Hill Troupe, a New York City based theatre troupe presenting high quality theatre performances while raising money for New York City charities.
Prior to his return to Long Island, he was music director and conductor of the University of Georgia Opera Theatre production of Pirates of Penzance, founding artistic director of the Men’s Glee Club Varsity Singers, and assistant conductor of the Men’s Glee Club, Women’s Glee Club, and University Chorus.
Currently he is the Conference Chair for Communications and Personnel for the ACDA Eastern Region conference in 2022 Boston, MA, and serves as the webmaster for the New York chapter. He has previously served as the Honor Choir Chair for the ACDA Eastern Region conferences (2020 Rochester, NY; 2018 Pittsburgh, PA; 2016 Boston, MA). Mr. Berry holds degrees from the University of Georgia (M.M., Choral Conducting) and Hofstra University (B.S.Ed., Music Education).
Pianist
Alice Marques is a graduate of the Crane School of Music at SUNY Potsdam, where she earned a bachelor of music in piano performance and music education. While at Potsdam, she studied conducting with Brock McElheran, piano with James Ball and Marion Carter, and was active in the Crane Opera Guild. She received a master of arts and a master of education from Teachers College, Columbia University, and completed post-graduate coursework at New York University. She is recently retired from the Commack School District, where she was a choral director. She is the former Principal Accompanist for the Long Island Children’s Choir, and a frequent accompanist at both SCMEA and NMEA festivals, as well as for various performances in schools throughout Nassau and Suffolk Counties.
Social media Coordinator
Nicolette Minella is entering her third season with the Babylon Chorale as their Social Media Coordinator.
A proud graduate of both the MS Performing Arts Leadership and Management (’21) and BFA Musical Theatre (’20, Magna Cum Laude) programs at Shenandoah Conservatory, Nicolette has worn multiple hats in the New York and Virginia arts communities- from actor, to administrator, to educator. Currently, she serves as the founding Musical Theatre Instructor at The Music Academy for Special Learners, providing theatre-based classes and private lessons for students with special needs.
Over the last few years, Nicolette has worked arts administration positions at several nonprofits, including Theatre Forward, an organization dedicated to fundraising for the educational and outreach programming of its member theatres; LAByrinth Theater Company, a member-driven collective breaking artistic boundaries and creating new works; and Shenandoah Conservatory, assisting the managing director in facilitating theatre department activities.
In her four years of undergrad, Nicolette held leadership roles in two prominent student organizations, while balancing a rigorous class and rehearsal schedule as a Presidential Scholar. She produced over 25 plays with the Playwrights Performance Group, an entirely student-run organization that mounts student-written, directed, and performed short plays; she even rewrote the constitution and restructured organizational practices to make casting more diverse and equitable. Nicolette was also invited to pledge to Alpha Psi Omega, the National Theatre Honor Society, where she headed the Performance Committee responsible for event-planning- including multiple cabarets, original parody shows, and an annual drag show fundraiser. There, she received the Iota Award for her outstanding service.
Nicolette is so excited to be a part of the Babylon Chorale team!
