Cheryl Dupont, Music Director
Cheryl Dupont is the Artistic Director of the New Orleans Children’s Chorus and Youth Chorale. Although she is known throughout the United States for her work with children’s choirs, Cheryl is equally experienced at working with mixed choirs on the high school, college and adult levels. She has many years of experience as a high school choral director, and served as Interim Director of Choral Activities at the University of New Orleans for the 1999-2000 academic year. Mrs. Dupont has also served as an Instructor of Voice at the University of New Orleans, Womens’ Chorus Director at Loyola University of the South, and as Associate Conductor of the Symphony Chorus of New Orleans. Other experience includes teaching and conducting on the elementary level and in churches. Her choirs have won numerous awards in music festivals throughout the South, and have appeared at state as well as regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (Savannah in 1992, Knoxville in 1994, and Orlando in 2000), the national convention of the Organization of American Kodaly Educators in 1998, and made their solo debut at Carnegie Hall in New York in June of 1997
Mrs. Dupont is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator. She has conducted numerous all-state choirs throughout the country, and frequently conducts honor choirs for children, middle school, junior high and high school throughout the Southeast. She holds the Bachelor of Music Education degree in Piano and Voice and the Master of Music Education degree in Conducting Performance, both from Loyola University of the South, and the Artist-Teacher Diploma from the Choral Music Experience Institute. She is a Master Teacher for the Choral Music Experience Institute, working in the field of advanced training of choral teacher/conductors. For fifteen years Cheryl has directed CME courses in South Carolina, North Carolina and Kansas, and served as a Teaching Associate at CME Institutes in the US, England, Sweden, Scotland, Ireland and Wales. In addition, she is the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Crescent City Choral Festival, an annual choral festival for children throughout the United States, which is in its twelfth successful year. In 2006 she directed the Children’s Honor Chorus at the regional convention of the America Choral Directors Association in Charleston, WV, and in March of 2010, she conducted the Youth Treble Honor Choir at Western Division ACDA in Tucson, AZ. In April of 2009, Cheryl conducted a massed choir with orchestra at Carnegie Hall.
Mrs. Dupont has assumed many leadership roles on the district level of the Louisiana Music Educators Association. An active member of the American Choral Directors Association, she served from 1993-1999 as Southern Division Repertoire and Standards Chairperson on the National Committee on Children’s Choirs. She is the founder and chairperson of the Louisiana ACDA Elementary All-State Honor Chorus and served two terms as president of the Association for Choral Music Education.
Tara Hinds, NOCC Assistant Director & Lyric Chorus Director
Tara Hinds graduated from Loyola University New Orleans in 2005 with a degree in music therapy and voice. Throughout college she worked in musical and theatre programs with the Jefferson Performing Arts Society and Trinity Episcopal School. She completed levels I, II, and III of the Choral Music Experience (CME) under Cheryl Dupont at Elon University. She has been the choral director at Mount Carmel Academy since 2006, conducting beginning choir, Encore, Chorale, and the Mt. Carmel/ Brother Martin Mixed Ensemble. Under the direction of Ms. Hinds, Mt. Carmel Academy’s Chorale has qualified for state festival and received superior ratings at state festival every year. Ms. Hinds also served as musical director for several school productions. She is also the choral director at Brother Martin High School, where enrollment in choir has doubled since her arrival in January of 2008. Her students at both schools consistently place in district and state honor choirs.
Outside of her work in schools, Ms. Hinds has been on staff at St. Louis Cathedral since 2004, where she serves as a cantor, adult choir soprano section leader, and administrative director of the St. Louis Cathedral Boychoir. She also has a fledgling children’s choir at St. Pius X Church in Lakeview. More recently, she has enjoyed having the opportunity to be a clinician and adjudicator in south Louisiana. Ms. Hinds is also the new Lyric Chorus director for the New Orleans Children’s Chorus, She is a member of ACDA, MENC, and LMEA. When she isn’t conducting or singing in a rehearsal, Ms. Hinds is working on a Masters in Counseling Psychology from the Adler School of Professional Psychology.
Jonathan Szymanski, Lyric Chorus Accompanist
Jonathan Szymanski started his artistic journey as a pianist at age 7, and began accompanying for various choirs, churches, and theatrical productions by age 12. After attending Loyola University New Orleans for a Bachelor degree in Piano Performance, Mr. Szymanski has grown in prominence as a young adult musician in the Greater New Orleans Area.
He is currently the staff accompanist for both Brother Martin High School and Mount Carmel Academy, as well as a regular accompanist for St. Mary’s Dominican High School and Hahnville High School. In addition to his work in local area schools, Mr. Szymanski is the organist for both St. Louis Cathedral Adult Choir and Boychoir, and organist at Our Lady of the Rosary and Holy Name of Jesus Church.
Mr. Szymanski joined the New Orleans Children’s Chorus staff in 2010 as Lyric Chorus accompanist, and looks forward to working with these talented young voices this upcoming season.
Dr. Margaret Campo, Northlake Chorus Accompanist
Dr. Margaret Campo is the accompanist for the NOCC Northlake Chorus. She currently teaches in the Talented Music Program of St. Tammany Parish and serves several of the schools in the Slidell area. She has accompanied for many school and community choirs in New Orleans and on the Northshore. She often accompanies students for the District IX competitions, NATS, college auditions and the Classical Music Magazine competition.
Dr. Campo has been organist and music director of Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church in Slidell, La. for the past ten years. She has been teaching piano and organ and performing professionally for forty years. Dr. Campo received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music Performance from the University of New Orleans where she studied organ with John Hutton. She continued her studies receiving a Master of Arts Degree and Doctorate of Arts Degree in Organ Performance from Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge, La under the instruction of Dr. Herndon Spillman. She is a member of the National
Pastoral Musicians and the American Guild of Organist.
