Opportunities for everyone! (1) attend the full retreat, (2) the Saturday's Silent Movie Night (open to the public at no charge), and (3) attend and/or sing in the choir in the Sunday Hymn Festival!
Join colleagues and splendid resource persons for new ideas and resources, relaxation, and inspiration to begin 2025. Register by December 20 to reserve your spot. Registration limited.
The CMI Winter Retreat will conclude with a Hymn Festival on January 5 featuring familiar hymns for the liturgical year. Choral Singers are invited to join retreaters to rehearse at 3:00 p.m. for a 5:00 Festival. Dr. Allen Hightower who heads the Choral Music Department at the University of North Texas will conduct. Dr. Tim Shewmaker and Ethan Haman are organists. No charge! Click here for more and to sign up!
Presenters:
Dr. Carey Cannon is Director of Music, Arts, and Traditional Worship at Highland Park United Methodist Church, Dallas, TX. Before taking his current position, Carey served eight years as the Minister of Music at South Main Baptist Church in Houston. Prior to Houston, Carey served nine years as Minister of Music at Providence Baptist Church in Charlotte, North Carolina where he also worked as Associate Conductor for the Charlotte Children’s Choir, Adjunct Faculty for the UNC-Charlotte Men’s Glee, and Founder and Artistic Director of the Carolina Men’s Chorus.
Prior to this post-graduate work, Carey received a Bachelor of Arts from Furman University. He served five years in the United States Army based in Washington, DC where he was a bass vocalist with the U.S. Army Chorus and performed regularly for heads of state, dignitaries, and numerous White House events. While in Washington, Carey also served as a chorister with the National Cathedral Choir of Men and Boys. Carey holds a Doctorate in Musical Arts in Choral Conducting from UNC-Greensboro and Master of Arts degrees in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance from George Mason University. Carey and his wife, Janet love being parents to their two children, Caroline and Duncan.
Mr. Ethan Haman from Fremont, CA, is the organist and assistant conductor at Noroton Presbyterian Church in Darien, CT, and organist at Yale University’s Marquand Chapel. He completed a Master of Music degree in Organ Performance in 2021 at the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music studying with Jon Laukvik and Craig Cramer, and a Master of Musical Arts degree in Organ Performance in 2022, studying with Martin Jean. In 2019 he graduated with a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Southern California, where he double majored in Organ Performance studying with Cherry Rhodes and in Composition with Morten Lauridsen, Andrew Norman, Donald Crockett, Sean Friar, and Daniel Temkin. In 2022 he was recipient of the Audience Prize and finalist in the AGO National Competition in Organ Improvisation.
Soprano Dr. Heather Hawk from Killeen, Texas, has musical honors that include winning First Prize at the AIMS Meistersinger Vocal Competition in Graz, Austria and fourth place as National Finalist in the NATS Artist Award Competition in Chicago. She also won First Prize in the Dallas Opera Guild Vocal Competition. She has won First Place in the Texoma National Association of Teachers in Singing “Singer of the Year” Young Artist vocal competition. She performed the song cycle, “Try Me, Good King,” by noted American composer, Libby Larsen, for the Leschetizky Association Annual Living Composers Concert in New York City with pianist Leslie Spotz. Of her performance, Larsen said, “Gorgeous voice! ~And a great collaboration with your pianist!”
Recent operatic roles include Fiordiligi in Così fan tutte, the title role in Handel’s Alcina, Katisha in The Mikado, and Mother in Amahl and the Night Visitors. She made her Carnegie Hall solo debut with the New York International Music Festival and returned for a second solo performance two years later. Other notable solo appearances include Rutter’s Magnificat and Handel’s Messiah with the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony with the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. She earned a DMA in Vocal Performance from University of North Texas, a Masters in Vocal performance from Baylor University, and a BA in Music from Tarleton State University, where she is a recipient of the Distinguished Tarleton Alumni award.
Heather currently serves as Associate Professor of Music (Voice) at Tarleton State University, and lives in the Dallas/Fort Worth area with her husband, Ben, and six year old son, Ben, Jr.
Allen Hightower serves as the Director of Choral Studies at the University of North Texas, where
he leads the graduate program in choral conducting and oversees a comprehensive choral
program of eight ensembles. Allen is the conductor of the UNT A Cappella Choir and Grand
Chorus, which collaborates with the UNT Symphony Orchestra in performances of choral-
orchestral masterworks. As a member of UNT’s Early Music faculty, he leads the vocal
ensemble Vox Aquilae and is currently the interim director of the UNT Baroque Orchestra. Since
arriving at UNT in 2016, the A Cappella Choir has received invitations to perform for the Texas
Music Educators Association in 2020, the national conference of the American Choral Directors
Association in 2021 and 2025, and the Southwestern Region of ACDA in 2022. Vox Aquilae and
the UNT Baroque Orchestra were featured at the 2022 conference of the National Collegiate
Choral Organization.
Prior to his arrival at UNT, Dr. Hightower held the Weston Noble Endowed Chair in Music at
Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, where he was conductor of the renowned Nordic Choir. From
2000-2010, Allen was the Director of Choral Studies at Sam Houston State University. He has
served churches in Texas, California, and Minnesota, and currently serves at the Stonebriar
Community Church in Frisco, Texas. Allen has previously served as the Church Music Vice-
President of the Texas Choral Directors Association and as an adjunct professor of conducting at
the Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary in Fort Worth, Texas. Allen served as the
interim chorus director of the Houston Symphony for the 2022-2023 season.
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Dr. Don Horisberger holds degrees from Capital University (B.M.) and Northwestern University (M.Mus. and D.Mus.) where he studied with Karel Paukert, Wolfgang Rübsam, and Margaret Hillis. He also studied organ and church music as a Fulbright-Hayes scholar to Germany.
His career spans service to churches in multiple denominations, with 30 years at The Church of the Holy Spirit in Lake Forest, IL where he led adult, children’s, and handbell choirs, taking the adult choir to five week-long residencies at major English Cathedrals. In addition, he was Associate Conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus as part of his 40 year association with the CSC as singer, bass section leader, German coach.
Now semi-retired in the Madison, WI area, Don continues as guest conductor, recital organist, clinician, and lecturer. A member of the Association of Church Musicians in Madison, he recently conducted a choral festival and played on member benefit recitals, and he continues with occasional church work, especially at St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Madison.
Professor Ellen Johnston is recently retired as the Director of the Music, Liturgy, and the Arts at Virginia Theological Seminary, a program which offers continuing education by means of conferences and symposia, provides a consultancy service for parishes and dioceses, and offers distance learning opportunities. She is Vice-Chair of the Standing Commission on Liturgy and Music for the Episcopal Church, and former Director of Music at the Church of the Holy Comforter in Richmond, Virginia. She holds a bachelor’s degree from Centenary College and M.M. from Southern Methodist University.
Miguel Ruiz is the Director of Parish Music and Music Teacher at Messiah Lutheran Church and Classical Academy in Keller, Texas. He serves as the organist, director of choirs and handbells, and teaches music from preschool through eighth grade. He earned a Master of Choral Music Education from Westminster Choir College, and the Director of Parish Music certification through Concordia University, St. Paul. He enjoys learning about the history of Lutheran sacred music, and conducted his graduate research on the history of choral pedagogy in Lutheran schools. When not musicking, he helps his wife Ei chase five young singers around their Fort Worth home.
Tim Shewmaker serves Our Redeemer Lutheran Church and School of Dallas as Cantor, a position he has held since 2011. He plays organ for services, directs choirs and ensembles, and leads music for children’s programming. In the school, he teaches choir and general music for grades K-6. He graduated from Concordia University Nebraska with a degree in Parish Music and holds M.M. and D.M.A. degrees from Texas Christian University. His principal teachers include H. Joseph Butler and Jeffrey Blersch. He enjoys arranging and composing new hymnody, organ music, and other music for the liturgy. Several of his organ pieces are published by Concordia Publishing House. He currently serves the church-at-large through the Dallas Lutheran Hymn Festival and the Church Music Institute.
Our retreat will be held at the beautiful St. Luke’s Episcopal Church (pictures below).
Barbara Bradfield's organ that we will be visiting on Friday night of the Retreat.
