Christine R. Howlett is an Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at Vassar College where she conducts the Vassar College Women’s Chorus, Vassar College Choir, and teaches music theory and voice. Her choruses have sung at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall, and have toured in England, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, and in the United States. The Vassar College Women’s Chorus performed at both the National Collegiate Choral Association at Yale University in 2009, and at the American Choral Directors Association Eastern Conference in Philadelphia in 2010. Recent commissions include “Songs from the Parlour” by Eleanor Daley, “Night City” by Tarik O’Regan, and “Cassandra” by Joelle Wallach.
She is the Artistic Director of Cappella Festiva, an auditioned choral ensemble with a thirty-eight year history of performing in the Hudson Valley. In 2006, she co-founded the Summer Choral Festival at Vassar College and the Cappella Festiva Treble Choir, an auditioned choral ensemble for treble voices ages 8-17. She was appointed music director of the Danbury Concert Chorus in 2011.
Ms. Howlett is active as a soprano soloist. She has recently collaborated with the nationally acclaimed Chatham-Wood Duo on a series of recitals for voice, violin, and piano, and a recording project of the same repertoire. Their recording “Love Raise Your Voice” was released in January 2012 to critical acclaim.
Ms. Howlett has sung in ensembles under Simon Carrington, Alan Gilbert, Jane Glover, Paul Hillier, Lorin Maazel, and Helmut Rilling, and has performed with professional ensembles including the Oregon Bach Festival Berwick Chorus and the New York Choral Artists. This July, she will sing with the Carmel Bach Festival in California. She studied Vocal Performance at the University of Toronto, and earned both a Master’s Degree in Early Music Voice Performance and a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from Indiana University.
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Malinda Kathleen Reese is a member of the Vassar College class of 2016, and is currently studying cognitive science, education, psychology and religion. She grew up in the world of music, theatre and dance, performing by the age of 5. She was a member of the Children’s Chorus of Washington, studied and performed in New York City off-Broadway and in Stratford-Upon-Avon, England, and danced for the Sidwell Friends School Dance Ensemble all over Washington DC, her hometown. She also specializes in Irish music, including the Irish flute and voice. Her performance and arts relations opportunities have taken her to England, Ireland, Italy, Canada, Puerto Rico, Taiwan and beyond. In 2011 she utilized her filmmaking skills for academics, documenting the family and cultural life in regions of Sichuan, China. At Vassar she is a leader in a prominent theatre organization and in her a cappella group, has participated in both Department and student theatre, and will sing in the Vassar College Choir this fall. She is very excited and honored to be working with the Ford Scholar program and the Ashinaga Foundation.
Samantha Smith is a senior at Vassar College, majoring in Media Studies with a focus on Music and Anthropology, as well as two correlates in French and Music and Culture. She has participated in the Vassar Women’s Chorus, Jazz Combo, student theater, and Vassar Devils a cappella, and will sing in the Vassar College Choir this upcoming year. Samantha also founded Young Singers of Orange County, a non-profit K-8 children’s choir in Orange County, CA that develops students’ self esteem while inspiring them to engage in community service. Prior to founding YSOC, she was a choir director of Newport Elementary’s After School Enrichment Program for 3 years, and worked as Musical Director for 3 of their school plays. Samantha has been a professional performer for ten years, and has experience in choirs, musical theater, and rock bands, as well as professional training in voice, guitar, piano, ear training and music theory. She recently taught a four-week Songwriting Seminar at Vassar College. In 2012, she spent 4 months in Dakar, Senegal, studying national identity and the arts, and conducted a research project on traditional music and ethnic identity. Samantha’s three passions are traveling, teaching children, and learning new music and cultures, so Rainbow House is a perfect place for her! She is ecstatic to be working for the Ashinaga Foundation with such a welcoming staff and incredible, inspiring children.
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