Choir Fam Podcast

"In choir we have a chance to learn to embody a different culture through its language. When you're singing pieces in another language, there's a moment where you have to feel that you speak that language if only for a few words, if only a few moments. I think that has the capacity to create a kind of empathy regardless of whether that's your culture or not. To embody it does create this empathy that I really believe in as a way to make our world a little closer for the right reasons."
Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces.

Esmail’s life and music was profiled on Season 3 of PBS Great Performances series Now Hear This, as well as Frame of Mind, a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Esmail divides her attention evenly between orchestral, chamber and choral work. She has written commissions for ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet, and her music has featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, including The Singing Guitar by Conspirare, BRUITS by Imani Winds, and Healing Modes by Brooklyn Rider. Many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press.

Esmail is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and was Seattle Symphony’s 2020-21 Composer-in-Residence. She also holds awards/fellowships from United States Artists, the S&R Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Kennedy Center.

Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School (BM’05) and the Yale School of Music (MM’11, MMA’14, DMA’18). Her primary teachers have included Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Rouse and Samuel Adler. She received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. Her Hindustani music teachers include Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazumdar, and she currently studies and collaborates with Saili Oak. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers.

Esmail was Composer-in-Residence for Street Symphony (2016-18) and is currently an Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West.

She currently resides in her hometown of Los Angeles, California.

To get in touch with Reena, you can find her on Instagram (@reenaesmail) or check out her website: https://www.reenaesmail.com.
Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro episode from September 16, 2022, to hear how to share your story with us. Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
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"The middle school was a three-story building. At the bottom were all of the 'rough' kids. There was a second floor that was moderate. All the kids who had resources had their classes on the third floor. I'm teaching choir down in the bottom where there's a fight every 90 seconds. Over the course of my five years there we ended up through the choir program merging the entire school from top to bottom. It was one of the most memorable, rewarding experiences of my entire life."
Reginal Wright was born in Henderson, Texas. His life as a musician began in his middle school band as a trombonist. As a 20-year educator, Reginal has earned many awards including Outstanding Teacher, Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers, and a nomination for the UIL Sponsor Excellence Award. Reginal also earned the 2018 Educator of the Year Award for the Mansfield School District.

Reginal has performed music in Vienna and Salzburg, Austria as well as Munich, Germany and throughout the United States. As a conductor, he is a sought after clinician in both Gospel and Classical genres. He has enjoyed the opportunity to conduct Honor Choirs for many school districts throughout the United States. He also serves as a clinician in many Texas All State Choir camps and All State Choirs. Reginal is also an aspiring composer, writing music that caters to school and church choirs.

Reginal received both his Bachelor and Masters of Music Education Degrees from Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches, Texas. He is currently the head choral director at Mansfield High School. His choirs are consistent sweepstakes winners in both concert and sight reading contests. Choirs under his direction also earn “Outstanding in Class” awards at National Music Festivals. In 2012 and 2022 the Mansfield High School A Cappella Women’s choir was honored as SWACDA honor choir. In 2018, the Mansfield Varsity Men’s Choir performed at the prestigious Texas Music Educators Association Convention in San Antonio. He is a member of Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association and served as Vocal Chair for TMEA Region 5 from 2014-2017. He was recently appointed Artistic Director of the Arlington Master Chorale.
Reginal resides in Arlington with his wife Renetta, son Gabrien, daughter Reece and Yorkie Cooper.
To get in touch with Reginal, you can find him on Facebook (@reginalwrightmusic and @reginal.wright.39) and Instagram (@regwright). You can check out his website at https://www.reginalwright.com/ .
Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro episode from September 16, 2022, to hear how to share your story with us. Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson from Pexels

"Smart kids are good thinkers. They don't like to make mistakes, but they're going to. So many of them are perfectionists, as are many musicians. The beauty is giving students a chance to explore, to fail, and try again - all the time figuring out what it means to be okay with being uncomfortable. Beautiful things come out of that vulnerability."
Heath Weber is Dean of the School of Visual and Performing Arts at Morningside University. During his tenure at Morningside, he has served as Associate Dean for Performing Arts, Music Department Chair, Director of Choral Activities, and artistic director for the Betty Ling Tsang Summer Performance Series. Prior to his appointment at Morningside, Heath Weber worked in public school music education at all levels, K-12.

A South Dakota native, he found his home in Sioux City, Iowa, first teaching at East High School for 10 years before assuming his position at Morningside. His comprehensive choral program at East was the largest student organization in Iowa, engaging one-third of the student body at EHS. His competitive show choir, The Headliners, was voted one of America’s top three favorite show choirs in Parade Magazine’s first contest.

As a performer, Weber has performed as a member of the GRAMMY-nominated South Dakota Chorale, an organization for which he has also served as Board President. Additionally, he has performed as a bass/baritone soloist with the South Dakota Symphony, The Sioux City Symphony, Opera South Dakota, and Together in Hope Choral Singers.

Weber has directed camps for gifted and talented students for nearly three decades. Each year, Morningside University hosts The Catalyst Collective, a two-week immersive experience offering students an opportunity to learn various academic pursuits from Morningside faculty, receive leadership development opportunities, and intense performing arts training for high-ability youth from all over the country.

To get in touch with Heath, you can email him at [email protected] or find him on Instagram: @weberday. You can also check out the Morningside School of Visual and Performing Arts at @msideperforms on Instagram, TikTok, and Twitter.
Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson from Pexels

“We were doing some Anglican chant, and we went on to the Hogan ‘Ride On, King Jesus.’ It was as if it was the first time we had ever seen light. It was a revelation for me and for the singers and led to a lot of rebranding of who we are, our values, whose music is important, and the right balance we should be striving for. I felt like I had finally found a place where I could express my full musical identity because it had been fragmented in every other professional setting.”
Arreon A. Harley-Emerson graduated from Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland, with bachelor’s degrees in Music Theory & Composition and Vocal Performance (opera). He received master’s of music degrees in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance from the University of Delaware School of Music and is a doctoral candidate and University Fellow at the Boyer School of Music and Dance at Temple University in Philadelphia. He has had the opportunity to conduct in venues such as St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, The Kimmel Center for the Arts in Philadelphia, and the Joseph Meyerhoff Symphony Hall in Baltimore.
Mr. Harley-Emerson has held a number of teaching and artistic director positions. He served as Director of Music and Operations of the Choir School of Delaware from June 2013 through December 2022. In this position, he was responsible for the musical components of the renowned Choir School program as well as serving as Executive Director, managing the day-to-day operations of the organization.
An avid researcher and presenter, Mr. Harley-Emerson has contributed a chapter to The Oxford Handbook for Choral Pedagogy entitled “The Gang Mentality of Choirs: How Choirs Have the Capacity to Change Lives.” He also has a TEDx Talk with the same title and contributed to the research literature regarding culturally responsive choral and classroom practice.
Committed to the principles of Access, Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, Belonging, and Restorative Practice (ADEIBR), Mr. Harley-Emerson has established a thriving consultancy to assist arts and culture nonprofit organizations in remaining relevant in the 21st century. His work includes longitudinal studies, strategic planning, Board Excellence training, resource and asset development, and board diversification. Mr. Harley-Emerson currently serves as the National Chair of the American Choral Directors Association’s Diversity Initiatives Committee. An active member of the Wilmington, Delaware community, Mr. Harley-Emerson is on the Delaware Arts Alliance’s Board of Directors, where he serves as President of the Board and chairs the Advancement Committee, which is tasked with fundraising, membership development, and DEIB.
To get in touch with Arreon, you can visit his website, equitysings.com. You can also find him on Facebook (@EquitySings) or Instagram (@equitysings). Learn more about Arreon's pro choir, Elevation, at elevatevocalarts.org.
Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 2 episode from May 22, 2023, to hear how to share your story with us.
Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson

"I was in this limbo place, and I took a church job and a community chorus job. [I thought,] 'I need a piece that does this thing, and I can't find one, so I might as well just write it.' I discovered that I really liked it. It became central to me fairly quickly. Writing has always been a fairly need-driven activity rather than something that I just did off the top of my head."
Reginald Unterseher is Music Director and Composer-in-Residence at Shalom United Church of Christ, Richland, Washington. His works are published by Oxford University Press, Walton Music, MusicSpoke.com, and his web site, as well as in the Justice Choir Songbook.

He was the Washington State Music Teacher’s Association’s “Composer of the Year” for 2013. Mr. Unterseher’s compositions are regularly performed throughout the world and have been featured at regional and national ACDA and NAfME conventions in the US as well as at Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Reginald Unterseher has always been drawn to composing pieces about the natural world and current events. His career path has careened between being a ski instructor, an opera and music theater performer, an at-home dad to three children, a conductor, and voice teacher. He has served WA ACDA and NW ACDA in several R&R roles over the last 20 years. He is a founding member of Northwest Choral Publishing. Reg has had more of his compositions performed in a nuclear reactor than any other composer in history, living or dead. He is originally from Walla Walla, Washington.
To get in touch with Reg, you can visit his website, https://www.reginaldunterseher.com .
Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro episode to hear how to share your story with us. Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson from Pexels