Valerie J. Becker is a multi-faceted musician who is active as a pianist, conductor and music educator in the Boston area.  A native of Boston, Ms. Becker received both her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Boston University where she was a student of Anthony di Bonaventura.  Her post graduate studies led her to the University of Illinois where she worked on a collaborative artist degree, to Austria where she studied German Lied and to Italy where she performed with the Rome Festival Orchestra. She has been soloist with the Boston Pops Orchestra and has appeared in recital with many major artists throughout the world. As a former rehearsal pianist for the Boston Symphony, Ms. Becker had the occasion to play for world-renowned artists such as Midori, YoYo Ma, James Galway and Kathleen Battle. She served on the faculty of North Carolina School of the Arts, the Boston University Tanglewood Institute and was Artistic Director for The Treble Chorus of New England for many years. Ms. Becker has adjudicated Northeast District Auditions, conducted the Northeast District Treble Chorus in concert and was a choral clinician for The Choristers Guild Southeastern Children’s Festival. Currently she is on the Performing Arts Faculty at the Commonwealth School, Needham High School, a faculty accompanist at The Rivers School and New England Conservatory, Music Director for the Congregational Church of Needham, Coordinator of the After School Lesson Program for the town of Needham, pianist for both the Andover Choral Society and the Kodály Music Institute of Boston’s summer program and coaches and teaches privately.

Rebecca Lakes has taught Pk-8th grade general music and choir in Texas public schools for 23 years. She has presented workshops for school districts across the country and at state and national music education conferences. Rebecca earned her B.A. and B.M.E. from Cedarville University, an M.M. from Belmont University, and her Principal certification from Schreiner University. She is fully certified in both the Kodály and Orff approaches to music education, and served on the national board of the Organization of American Kodály Educators, where she currently chairs the "Endorsed Program Instructors Network" Committee and is a member of the Equity committee. Rebecca is also the Director of the Preparatory and Prelude Choirs for the Children’s Chorus of San Antonio and is a featured honor choir clinician. Immediately following KMI this summer, she will be the Elementary Honor Choir clinician for the Arkansas Choral Directors Association conference.

Dr. Reagan G. Paras (aka The Choral Doctor) serves as an Associate Professor for Berklee College of Music. Throughout the academic year, he instructs both undergraduate and graduate students in Advanced Choral Conducting, Choral Rehearsal Techniques, Choral Literature, as well as conducts the Berklee Concert Chorus.

A passionate conductor, singer, and educator, he has directed performance tours across the United States and abroad. Recently, he conducted a European Performance Tour that traveled through the Czech Republic, Austria, and Hungary. He is the Artistic Director of Many Voices: Mechanics Hall Youth Singers, which performs repertoire that authentically honors the mosaic of cultures represented in the ensemble. He serves as Music Director for The Salisbury Singers, one of the premier choral ensembles in the state. Throughout the summer, he conducts the Kodály Music Institute Choir, which comprises music educators from across the globe. After a nationwide search, Reagan was selected to represent the United States as a Conducting Fellow for the American Choral Directors Association’s International Choral Exchange Program to the Philippines. He frequently conducts esteemed honor choirs nationwide and is a highly sought-after conductor, recognized for his exceptional artistry and leadership in the choral community.

He is an advocate for choral music education, serving on various executive boards for music associations across the northeast. He has been honored with the election as President of the Massachusetts chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), a testament to his leadership and dedication to the choral arts.

Gabor Virágh is Associate Professor of Music Theory and Supervisor of Ear Training at the Hartt School at the University of Hartford, who performs on both trumpet and coronet. He is classical-Jazz musician with a 5-year diploma graduate of the Franz Liszt Academy, Budapest, Hungary, and an M.M. from the Berklee School of Music, Boston.  Virágh studied at the Academie Musicala Ottorino Respighi Festival of Assisi, Italy. Mr. Virágh performs trumpet in both classical and jazz idioms. He is a revered solfège Professor at the Hartt School, University of Hartford, Connecticut and guest lecturer in Kodály courses in Nebraska, Kansas, and Colorado. His seven publications include an English translation and Edition of The World of Sounds and Living Harmonies: Anthology of Renaissance & Early Baroque Vocal Works. Mr. VIrágh is a featured soloist of the New England Jazz Ensemble and other big bands as well as Musica Mundi (Classical Hits) and Toodle-e labels (“Let’s Fall in Love” June Bisantz Evans sings Chet Baker.)

Kati Virágh teaches music theory at the Hartt School of the University of Hartford and performs as a violinist. She completed her study in the Béla Bartók Conservatory of Music and the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, Hungary. She was a member of the Hungarian National Opera when she had invited to the Orchestra Symphonica Tenerife in Canary Island, Spain. Since 1990 she is a resident of United States and is currently a member of the Hartford Symphony, and an adjunct professor of theory/ear-training at the University of Hartford/The Hartt School. Mrs. Virágh is a frequent guest clinician at Nebraska Wesleyan, the State University Wichita, New England Conservatory, and the University of Colorado. Mrs. VIragh won the Second Prize of the International Violin Competition, Czechoslovakia, was four times the First Prize Winner of the Hungarian National Violin Competitions. Among her teachers were the famous Russian violinist Semyon Snitkovsky and the outstanding master pedagogue of the Kodály movement, Melinda Kistétényi.

Janice Allen

Peter and Mary Alice Amidon

Margaret Callaghan

Wendy Covell

Dr. Mary Epstein

William Geha

Betty Hillmon

Libby Hunter

Dr. Katalín Kíss

Tom Morris

Virginia Pohlmeier

Frankie & Doug Quimby

Dr. Alyson Shirk

Dr. Jill Trinka

Kristin Stier

Katherine Athanasiou

Karrie Chan-Lam

Joanne Crowell

Carol Forward

Dr. Rachel Gibson

Dr. Alice Hammel

David Hodgkins

James R.F. Holmes

Dr. Emily Howe

Dr. Mary Ellen Junda

Judith Kotok

Reka Peterson

Susie Petrov

Constance Price

Jonathan Rappaport

Wendy Silverberg

Pamela Wood

Dr. Susan Brumfield

Susan Cleveland

Sean Deibler

Lilla Gábor

Elizabeth Higgins

Martha Holmes

Eric Kamen

Dr. Brian Michaud

Kate Phillipson

Elaine Quilichini

Ivy Rawlins

Tímea Szijártó

Charlyn Bethell

Stephen Buck

Philip Montgomery