Lawrence Speakman has had a distinguished career over the last
25 years as a choral and orchestral conductor, professional singer,
church musician and teacher. He is a 1978 graduate of
Westminster Choir College where he toured
as a member of the 40 voice Westminster Choir, singing under the
likes of Mehta, Ozawa, Bernstein, Shaw and Boulez, and studied
conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt and Dennis Shrock. Mr. Speakman
also attended Temple University where he majored in voice performance
(Graduate Opera Program).
He spent 9 years as a member of the 30 voice The Philadelphia
Singers, using his home town of Philadelphia as his base as a
professional soloist. Mr. Speakman moved to the triangle in 1989
He
co-founded the Concert Singers of Cary
in 1991. At the conclusion of their first
season Mr. Speakman was invited by
the North Carolina Symphony to prepare
the group for a performance of
Beethoven's Symphony #9 which established
The Concert Singers as one of
the major symphonic choirs in the area.
He has since prepared eight programs
for the North Carolina Symphony and
has twice served as a guest conductor of
the Raleigh Symphony. He is currently
serving as Assistant Conductor of the
East Carolina Symphony Orchestra. He
also has served as chorus master for the
Opera Company of North Carolina and
continues his singing career as a member
of the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Durham,
under Rodney Wynkoop.
. Mr. Speakman is Director of Music Ministries at
Watts Street Baptist Church of Durham.
Linda Velto:
Linda Sauter Velto graduated from
Ithaca College with a dual Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Music Education. She continued her studies by earning a Master of Music in Piano Accompanying from the University of Arizona at Tucson. Ms. Velto has served as classroom music teacher, choral director, staff accompanist, and church musician in New York, Arizona, Texas, and North Carolina. In addition, she has music directed a number of community theatre productions. Ms. Velto is currently staff accompanist at Cary Academy, having formerly held that position at Meredith College for six years. She maintains an active career as a freelance accompanist. Ms. Velto and her husband Bill share their home with their two kids, Alex and Maggie, and their cats Burton and Livingston. She begins her eighth season with Concert Singers of Cary in September 2007.
David Lindquist earned a M.A. in political science, quantitative analysis and survey
research from the University of Connecticut in May 1986.
Since leaving his home town of East Hampton, Connecticut he
has held positions as Research Project Director with the Gallup Organization
of Princeton, New Jersey (1986-89), as Senior Project Director
with Phoenix Hecht of Research Triangle Park (1989-94), as
Market Research Director for Fayetteville Publishing Company (1995-2001),
and most recently as Market Research Specialist with the Herald-Sun in
Durham (2001-05). He is currently a market research manager with the AICPA in Durham.
He is a Past President (1994-95), Public Relations Committee Chair (1996-99), and Tenor Section Leader
(1993) with the Concert Singers of Cary. He is also an active member of the
chancel choir at St. Paul's Episcopal Church of Cary. Mr. Lindquist assumed
office as CSC's first Executive Director in July 1999 and begins his ninth year in that office in September 2007.
In his spare time, Mr. Lindquist indulges interests in birdwatching and history. He is married to Jennifer Hoff,
a statistician-programmer with the Department of Veterans Affairs. They live
in the Silverton community in Cary.
Jodi Adams Jodi Adams served as Concert Singers' principal accompanist from September 1994 through the close of the 1999-2000 season (for a total of six years of service). She was also named Music Assistant in May 1999. She has made special cameo appearances as subsititute accompanist since and in 2004 moved to Ohio.
Dr. Stephen J. Mulder Dr. Mulder joined CSC as Assistant Conductor in May 1999 and directed all or part of three concert programs until being named Director of Choral Activities at Gordon College in Georgia in June 2000. He's currently Director of Music and Worship Arts Ministries at Griffin (GA) First United Methodist Church (since Fall 2004).
Sarah Rogers Sarah Rogers served as Concert Singers' first principal accompanist. She worked with the chorus during the first, second and third seasons (1991-94). Sarah, a piano teacher, and her two children now live on a farm in Harmony, North Carolina.
