Elizabeth Woodhouse,
Artistic Director
Elizabeth Woodhouse is the Founder and Artistic Director of the Choral Collective of Newport County (RI), which includes the Newport County Youth Chorus and the Aquidneck Singers (teen and adult women's chorus). She has worked with community choirs for more than 15 years in Denver, CO, Columbus, OH, New Haven, CT and most recently in Brooklyn, NY with the Brooklyn Youth Chorus. During her career she has conducted ensembles of varying ages and abilities. Elizabeth has prepared ensembles for performances at Carnegie Hall and Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) as well as for a national PBS Kids Commercial.
A leader in the children's choir community, Elizabeth has been a guest lecturer at Salve Regina University, the University of Colorado - Boulder, The Ohio State University, and Western Connecticut State University. Elizabeth is a frequent adjudicator at choral festivals including WorldStrides, Fantastic Festivals and Music in the Parks as well as the Rhode Island Junior High Choir Festival and the New Hampshire Music Educators Association Large Group Festival. In March 2019 she was the Guest Conductor for the RI All-State Elementary Chorus. This year Elizabeth will serve as the Guest Conductor of the Westchester All-County (NY) Intermediate Honor Choir and the NH and NYACDA Elementary Honor Choirs.
Elizabeth received a Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Colorado at Boulder and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting at The Ohio State University.
Elizabeth is the President of the Arts and Cultural Alliance of Newport County and the President-Elect of the RI chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA).
Melissa Woolverton,
Accompanist
Melissa Woolverton was born and raised in Manitoba, Canada and at the age of three began studying classical piano through the Royal Conservatory of Music, Canada. She continued her piano studies at Northern State University in Aberdeen, SD and graduated with a Bachelors of General Studies (magna cum laude) with a piano, voice, and theatre emphasis. The Astors’ Beechwood Theatre Company in Newport, RI brought Melissa to Rhode Island in 2004 as an actor and Music Director. Currently, Melissa is accompanist for Salve Regina University in Newport, RI, the Greater Tiverton Community Chorus, the Chorus of Westerly, the Newport County Youth Chorus, United Congregational Church in Middletown, RI and the High School Choruses of Middletown, RI, and Mount Hope in Bristol, RI. She has worked as an accompanist for auditions for Broadway shows and with the University of Rhode Island, Opera Providence, Newport Children’s Theatre, Suzanne Vega, Dunkan Sheik, and Gerry Leonard.