Honorary Life Members
The National Collegiate Choral Organization selects Honorary Life Members to recognize a member of the choral profession who has devoted their life to the enhancement and artistic growth of the choral art. The award recognizes those leaders in our profession who have mentored young conductors, inspired singers, supported music educators in the arts, and shared their talents and gifts in the United States and abroad. In their own ways, each of these individuals has had a major impact on choral music and choral music education through their work at the college and university level. NCCO honors them for their dedication.
Honorary Life Member award recipients are the collegiate and university conductors who have shared their love for choral music devotedly, and who have tirelessly worked to instill this love and joy in their students. Their students often go on to become collegiate choral directors themselves and continue the work of teaching and training young musicians, inspiring the best of our profession.
Honorary Life Members pay no dues to NCCO and may attend all conferences free of registration fees. In this small way, NCCO hopes to show appreciation of and respect for those who have labored and taught to enhance our great profession.
2025 Honorary Life Members
Read below to learn about NCCO’s 2025 Honorary Life Members.
John Alexander
John Alexander is the Artistic Director Emeritus of Pacific Chorale in Orange County, California. He served as the ensemble’s Artistic Director and Conductor from 1972 to 2017. Under his leadership, Pacific Chorale grew to become one of the foremost symphonic choirs in the nation. Since 2006, the Chorale has served as the professional resident choir at the Segerstrom Center of the Arts in Orange County, collaborating regularly with its sister organization, the Pacific Symphony. During Alexander’s tenure, Pacific Chorale toured extensively in the United States, Europe, Asia and South America, and produced numerous world premiere recordings of works by composers such as Frank Ticheli, Jake Heggie, Stephen Paulus, James Hopkins, Morten Lauridsen, Richard Danielpour, Philip Glass, William Bolcom, and Eric Goldenthal.
As a specialist in the choral/orchestral repertoire, Alexander’s long and distinguished conducting career has encompassed taking the podium for hundreds of professional choral/orchestral performances, recordings and premieres around the globe. Alexander is equally proficient behind the scenes, having had the privilege of preparing choruses for some of the world’s most prominent orchestral conductors, including Zubin Mehta, Pierre Boulez, Seiji Ozawa, Michael Tilson Thomas, Leonard Slatkin, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Gustavo Dudamel, Carl St.Clair, Gerard Schwarz, Marin Alsop, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart.
Alexander holds the title of Professor Emeritus at California State University, Fullerton, where he served as Director of Choral Studies from 1996 to 2006. Earlier, he held the same position at California State University, Northridge for 25 years. After his retirement from academia, Alexander has continued his involvement in the pre-professional training of choral conductors. He is a founding member of Chorus America’s Choral/Orchestral Conducting Academy and continues to serve that program as an Emeritus Faculty Member. During his long distinguished teaching career, Alexander has served as mentor, coach, and teacher to hundreds of conductors and singers who now hold prominent positions across the United States.
Alexander’s numerous tributes and awards include Chorus America’s Michael Korn Distinguished Service Award (2024), ACDA’s Howard Swan Award (2017), CSUF School of Music’s Titan of Music award (2016) Chorus America’s Michael Korn Founders Award for Development of the Professional Choral Art (2008); CSUF School of the Arts’ Distinguished Faculty Member award (2006), Arts Orange County’s Helena Modjeska Artistic Visionary Award (2003), Los Angeles County’s Gershwin Award for Artistic Leadership (1990) and Cal State University Northridge’s Distinguished Professor Award (1977).
Hilary Apfelstadt
Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt is Professor Emerita of Choral Studies at the University of Toronto where she held the Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting and received the inaugural Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. From 2013 – 2018, she was artistic director of Exultate Chamber Singers, a semi-professional ensemble in Toronto. Previously she taught in the U.S. at the Ohio State University (1993 – 2010) and at the University of NC-Greensboro, after receiving her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her teaching experiences range from teaching public school to directing community ensembles and church choirs.
A native Canadian, she has led her university choirs in performances at regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and at Podium, the national professional conference of Choral Canada. She has guest conducted honors choruses and festivals through the U.S. and Canada, including forty all-state choirs. She directed the 2014 National Youth Choir of Canada, and has conducted choral festivals internationally.
A prolific author, she has published numerous articles and book chapters on choral pedagogy, Canadian choral repertoire, and leadership. She is co-editor of Teaching Music through Performance in Choir, v.5, (GIA, 2019), and a contributing author to Volume 4 of the same series. Her book on the life and work of Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson, I Didn’t Want It To be Boring (Toronto: Prism Publishers) won Choral Canada’s award for the Outstanding Choral Publication in 2018. She is Editor of Choral Repertoire by Women Composers (GIA, 2025) that features 225 composers.
During her career, Hilary Apfelstadt had advised many graduate students in choral conducting, many of whom now hold significant positions in the field. Two of her advisees have won national dissertation research awards. She has served on the Editorial Boards of the ACDA Choral Journal and Choral Canada’s Anacrusis, and was a contributing columnist to the Canadian Music Educator for several years.
A Life Member of ACDA, Dr. Apfelstadt served as National President from 2007 - 2009 and as Interim Executive Director from 2020 - 2021. She has been honored with leadership awards from NC-ACDA, the Ohio Choral Directors Association, ACDA Central Region, ACDA Midwestern Region, and Choirs Ontario. She is also a member of NCCO and Chorus America.
Iris S. Levine
Dr. Iris S. Levine is a nationally acclaimed choral conductor, educator, and arts leader, widely recognized for her contributions to women's choral music and higher education. She is the founder and artistic director of VOX Femina Los Angeles, Southern California’s premier women’s chorus. Under her visionary leadership, VOX has earned an esteemed reputation through over 350 performances across the United States, Mexico and Canada, and appearances at major national conferences, including ACDA, Chorus America, and GALA Choruses. Dr. Levine is known for cultivating strong, collaborative relationships with composers, resulting in nearly 70 commissioned works that have significantly expanded the treble choir repertoire.
Dr. Levine currently serves as Interim President of California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she has held a range of academic leadership roles including Interim Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, Dean of the College of Letters, Arts, and Social Sciences, Interim Dean of the College of Education and Integrative Studies, and Chair of the Department of Music. As a faculty member, she taught conducting and music education courses and conducted the Kellogg Chamber Singers.
She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, where she studied with Rod Eichenberger and James Vail, and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Temple University under Alan Harler.
An active leader in the American Choral Directors Association, Dr. Levine has served in numerous state, regional, and national roles. She is the editor of the Iris S. Levine Treble Choral Series with Pavane Publishing and a contributing author in Conducting Women’s Choirs: Strategies for Success, Choral Reflections: Insights from American Choral Conductor-Teachers, and Choral Repertoire by Women Composers. She continues to inspire singers and conductors nationwide as a frequent clinician, adjudicator, and advocate for inclusive and innovative choral artistry.
Dr. Levine lives in Culver City, California, with her wife, Lesili, and their two cats, who believe every rehearsal is for them.
A. Jan Taylor
A. Jan Taylor is an accomplished educator, pianist, singer, and choral conductor from Houston, Texas. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in conducting from the University of Houston, as well as a Master of Arts degree from Prairie View A&M University. Dr. Taylor served as Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Prairie View A&M University from 1996 until her retirement in 2022.
Throughout her career, Dr. Taylor has taught general music, piano, and directed choirs at the elementary, middle, and high school levels in the Houston Independent School District. A highly sought-after adjudicator and choral clinician, she has worked with numerous competitions, festivals, and regional choirs across the country. She is also a noted lecturer on the performance practices and preservation of the Negro Spiritual.
Dr. Taylor's work as a performer and conductor has taken her across the United States, Europe, and Asia. As a former Assistant Conductor of the Houston Symphony Chorus under Charles Hausmann, she prepared choirs and collaborated with esteemed conductors and composers. With the Houston Ebony Opera Guild, she has coached vocalists and conducted the Guild's chorus in performances of spirituals, African American choral art music, and operatic works.
She has also conducted the “105 Voices of History” HBCU National Choir at prestigious venues, including the Grand Ole Opry House in Nashville, the Andrew W. Mellon Auditorium, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the nationally televised MLK50 Commemoration at the National Civil Rights Museum in Memphis.
Under her direction, the Prairie View A&M University Concert Chorale and Chamber Singers performed widely throughout the United States and internationally, collaborating with the Houston Symphony Orchestra and appearing at music festivals in Poland, Germany, and South America.
Other work by Dr. Taylor includes serving as a lecturer, guest panelist, and presenting choral conducting masterclasses with organizations such as The Voices of Houston, Bent But Not Broken, the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Texas Choral Directors Association (TCDA), Texas Music Educators Association (TMEA), and numerous regional conferences throughout the United States.
In recognition of her contributions to choral music, Dr. Taylor was honored with the Texas Choral Directors Association Choirmaster Award in 2023. She is an active member of the Texas Music Educators Association, American Choral Directors Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, and Sigma Alpha Iota Music Fraternity for Women.
NCCO's Honorary Life Members
John Alexander ('25)
Hilary Apfelstadt ('25)
Charlene Archibeque (’15)
Anton Armstrong ('21)
William Bausano (’09)
Jerry Blackstone (’17)
Marguerite L. Brooks (’21)
Simon Carrington (’15)
Roland Carter ('23)
Joan Catoni Conlon (’19)
William Dehning (’11)*
Randi Von Ellefson (’17)
Joseph Flummerfelt (’13)*
Kenneth Fulton (’17)
Janet Galván ('21)
Vance George (’09)
Lisa Graham (’19)
Buddy James (’19)
Ann Howard Jones (’17)
Karen Kennedy (’19)*
Iris Levine ('25)
Jerry McCoy (’19)
David Morrow ('21)
Robert Page (’08)*
Alice Parker (’11)
Rosephanye Powell ('23)
Bruce Rogers ('23)
Pearl Shangkuan ('23)
A. Jan Taylor ('25)
André J. Thomas (’17)
Dale Warland (’06)
* deceased