Critically acclaimed stellar [Chicago Tribune] countertenor Thomas Aláan has been a featured soloist on radio shows, album recordings, concert series, and festivals across the United States. In addition to singing, Thomas further divides his time teaching voice in his home studio; in leadership roles of OperaWorks™, The EcoVoice Project, and the Bach and Beethoven Experience (BBE); as Assistant Conductor at Holy Name Cathedral; running the Summer Institute on Sustainability and Energy (SISE) at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC); and as a saxophonist. Thomas also teaches interdisciplinary music courses like Music as a Tool for Environmentalism and Change and The Music and Science Connection in the UIC Honors College. He has presented and moderated panels on the use of music and the arts in environmental spaces at SISE, the Association for the Advancement of Sustainability in Higher Education, and Loyola University’s Climate Change Conference, and presented on music more broadly through the Helena Music Teachers Association, The People's Music School, and the Self Employment in the Arts (SEA) Art Business Entrepreneurship Workshop. Outside of music and environmental activities, Thomas is a personal trainer and nutritional coach (NASM-CPT/CNC), and volunteers as Vice President of the Board of Directors of Beyond Legal Aid. He can also be found at home feeding his cat, Theobald, many tasty snacks. 😻

Liza Calisesi Maidens, DMA is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Illinois at Chicago. Recently, the UIC Treble Choir was the invited headlining choir for the Illinois-ACDA Treble Choir Festival. Prior to her appointment at UIC, she was a member of the conducting faculty at Eastern Michigan University from 2015-2021, where she conducted EMU Vision (formerly Women’s Choir), EMU Voces, and EMU Express. EMU Vision enjoyed performance invitations to the Michigan-ACDA Fall Conference and the Detroit Symphony Orchestra’s French Fest performance of Debussy’s Nocturnes at Orchestra Hall. Dr. Calisesi Maidens received her DMA in Choral Conducting at Michigan State University. While at MSU, she served as a Graduate Fellow for the Residential College for Arts and Humanities, which contributes to the scholarship of teaching and learning in the areas of the arts, humanities, and community engagement. Her research centers around the expansion of the choral canon. In March of 2021, Liza co-presented her research session, “Reconsider the Canon: bringing the past to the present,” at the National ACDA Conference. Her doctoral research, “20th-century British Commissions and the Democratization of Music,” highlights two treble choral-orchestral works by Imogen Holst and Ralph Vaughan Williams, commissioned by the two largest women’s organizations in Britain. Dr. Calisesi Maidens serves as a board member for Illinois-ACDA and mirabai, a professional ensemble led by Sandra Snow to enhance the artistic expectations of women’s choral singing. She has served on the board for Michigan-ACDA and is an active guest conductor, clinician, and presenter. Liza has sung professionally with the Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, mirabai, and sounding light. She holds degrees from Michigan State University (DMA), Westminster Choir College (MM), Central College (BA).

Kirsten Hedegaard has enjoyed a varied career as singer, conductor, and scholar. Having been described as a “seraphic soprano” (Chicago Tribune), who “glides angelically above the rest” (Austin 360), she has performed with many early music specialists, most notably Nicholas McGegan, Paul Hillier, Ivars Taurins, Mary Springfels, Kenneth Slowik, and John Butt. Hedegaard has also appeared as soloist and ensemble member with groups across the country, including Philharmonia Baroque, Mercury Baroque, Ensemble viii, Baroque Band, Schola Antiqua, Newberry Consort, Ars Antiqua, Rook Ensemble, Bella Voce, Callipygian Players, Elgin Symphony, Elgin Master Chorale, and eighth blackbird.

Currently Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Loyola University, Hedegaard has taught conducting at Concordia University, River Forest and has conducted choirs and orchestras for various institutions including Eastman House, Chicago Children’s Choir, Chicago Choral Artists, Northbrook Community Chorus, Gallery 37, Loyola Academy, and the University of California. As Director of Music at the Presbyterian Church of Barrington, she leads a robust program, including the Music on the Hill Concert Series. Since 2001 she has also been the conductor for the Bella Voce outreach program.

Hedegaard’s ongoing research in the area of choral music and environmental justice has led to the recent formation of the New Earth Ensemble, a chamber ensemble dedicated to performing and commissioning new works that support environmental awareness. As a co-founder of the EcoVoice Project, Hedegaard is dedicated to bringing together musicians and artists to explore how the arts can support environmental education and action.

Hedegaard holds a B.M. from Northwestern University, a M.A. from the University of California, where she was conducting assistant to Paul Hillier, and a D.M.A. from the University of Illinois, where she studied choral conducting with Andrew Megill and orchestral conducting with Donald Schleicher.

Rachel Leamon is the Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies at the School of Environmental Sustainability. She serves as the primary point of contact for undergraduate students and as the academic advisor for all BA students. She oversees student academic support, study abroad advising, and academic policies and procedures, including registration, fulfillment of degree requirements, and the resolution of academic issues. She also manages Commencement on behalf of the SES. Leamon joined the SES team in 2014. BA of Art History and Anthropology from Vanderbilt University. MA of Art History from the University of Illinois at Chicago

Profiled by John von Rhein in the Chicago Tribune as “the inspiring conductor, scholar, and educator,” Andrew Lewis is Artistic Director of Bella Voce and the Bella Voce Sinfonia, Music Director of the Elgin Master Chorale, Choirmaster at St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Evanston, a member of the faculty at the University of Illinois at Chicago, and assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus. He has been a guest lecturer at Concordia University Chicago, Loyola University Chicago, the Lectures in Church Music series, Garrett Theological Seminary, and formerly taught the conducting course at DePaul University. He has been a guest conductor with the Milwaukee Symphony Chorus and has appeared on several occasions as a guest conductor with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra. Mr. Lewis’s performances with Bella Voce, the Elgin Master Chorale & Elgin Symphony have been broadcast nationally on WFMT 98.7. Mr. Lewis attended Northwestern University, receiving his Bachelor of Music degree in music theory. While a student at Northwestern he received a scholarship to observe the rehearsals of Daniel Barenboim and Asher Fisch at the Staatsoper-Unter-den-Linden, Berlin. After college he moved to California, worked as a church musician, and was an original member of the Philharmonia Baroque Chorale of San Francisco, having sung with Baroque specialists Nicholas McGegan and John Butt. He then attended the Eastman School of Music to study choral, orchestral, and operatic conducting with William Weinert and orchestral conducting with David Effron, receiving his Master of Music degree in 1998. Mr. Lewis has also studied with conductors Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw, Robert Spano, James Paul, Gustav Meier, Stephen Cleobury, Duain Wolfe, and Dale Warland in the United States and Michel Tapachnik in Copenhagen, Denmark. Mr. Lewis is married to singer and conductor Kirsten Hedegaard. He and Kirsten have three boys, all of whom sing with their dad at St. Luke’s.