Short Bio:
Michelle Horsley is the new Music Director at St. James’s Episcopal Church as of August, 2024, following Alan Murchie's tenure. Most recently, Michelle held positions as Music Director for The Choir School of Hartford, Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (2020-2024) and Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford. Michelle has degrees in Organ Performance (BM) and Sacred Music (MM) from Stetson University and Duquesne University and resides in Hartford's West End with her cat, Norman. Originally from Florida, Michelle has also lived in Spain, Germany, and Mexico. She frequently composes, teaches, leads workshops, and performs around New England.
(Very) Long Bio:
Michelle Horsley is a conductor, organist, pianist, and collaborative artist whose musical endeavors have taken her into diverse artistic engagements across the world. She has served churches of various sizes in Central Florida, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Central Connecticut and in positions of musical leadership and has extensive experience both leading and accompanying choirs in religious, academic, and community environments. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Stetson University and a Master of Sacred Music from Duquesne University.
Michelle began piano lessons at the age of 5 and began playing organ in churches at the age of 12. As a teenager, she held many church positions in the Tampa Bay, Florida area and performed regularly with her father and brother, who are also organists. Her grandfather, Walter S. Horsley, was a composer of children's cantatas in the 1950-1980's and wrote 100% Chance of Rain, a bestseller with Chorister's Guild. The unusual family of organists often performed organ concerts and recorded albums as a trio, often written about in local press (like this feature article in the Tampa Bay Times in 2008). At the age of 17, Michelle and her family performed a particularly unique concert of their own transcriptions of major organ repertoire, which incorporated various synthesizers in addition to pipe organ at the distinguished Palladium Theatre, downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.
After dual-enrolling and receiving an Associate’s degree upon completion of high school curriculum, Michelle continued her music studies at Stetson University, graduating in May of 2012 with a Bachelor of Music in organ performance. At Stetson, she received a full tuition scholarship to study under the direction of Dr. Boyd Jones. Michelle was also a Florida Bright Futures Scholar and a recipient of the William E. Duckwitz Scholarship. At Stetson, Michelle studied under Dr. Boyd Jones and worked often under Maestro Anthony Hose, Dr. Alan Raines, Dr. Manuel de Murga, and Dr. Sydney Hodkinson. She was heavily involved in the Student Composer Forum and served as the primary continuo player for the Stetson University Chamber Orchestra.
Michelle has traveled extensively through Europe and Central America and has lived in several other countries. In 2004, Michelle and her family spent a year in Segovia, Spain for the sole purpose of experiencing another culture and acquiring a new language. They returned several times to live in Spain and also spent several months in Guanajuato, Mexico. Michelle further fueled her interest in cultures and language with a semester of music study at the Pädagogische Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany in 2011. During this time, she traveled throughout Europe, attended organ conferences, and played on a variety of historical instruments in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. In Freiburg, Michelle became the jazz pianist of the university big band and sang in the school choir. She also composed and performed in a new music ensemble which focused on the works of John Cage. Many years later, Michelle would model an experimental, inclusive music program for elementary-aged children at a Presbyterian church after the imaginative work of John Cage. Michelle’s involvement in new music and composition stemmed from her time at Stetson, where she wrote and premiered a variety of eclectic works including Whirlybirds for two pianos, and Thus Spokes Zarathustra for piano and bicycle wheel.
In 2014 Michelle received her Master's degree in Sacred Music from Duquesne University where she studied under Dr. Ann Labounsky and also served as the Graduate Assistant for the organ department. While completing her graduate studies, she held the position of Director of Music Ministry at the Presbyterian Church of Plum Creek, where she created a children's music ensemble and directed several large-scale cantatas. Michelle later served as the Organist/Choir Director at St. John's Lutheran Church of Highland where she directed an adult choir of 25-30 singers for all traditional worship services in additional to choral concerts. While at Duquesne University, Michelle coordinated all chapel services, organized curriculum, and created a graduate handbook for future sacred music majors. She also helped to organize an organ studio trip to France where she and her colleagues attended masterclasses and played organs at Saint Sulpice, Notre Dame, St. Trinite, Notre Dame d'Auteil, St. Denis, La Madeleine, among others. The Duquesne organ studio also traveled to the Solesmes Monastery for an extensive study of chant with Benedictine monks. Michelle's thesis title is The Liturgical Symbolism of the Modern Chorale Preludes of Vincent Persichetti and she performed her graduate recital at St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA. At her graduation, Michelle was presented with the Jean Langlais Award for Excellence in Sacred Music.
After completing her graduate work, she moved to Seattle where she took the position of Organist at Seattle First Baptist Church. There, she provided music for all worship services, worked with soloists and chamber ensembles, and accompanied the 60-voice sanctuary choir in services as well as major choral concerts (including Bach's Magnificat and Bernstein's Mass). She introduced many new musical programs to the church such as A Solstice Contemplation, Notes of Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Concert, The Seven Last Words of Christ: A Good Friday Musical Meditation, Dueling Organists, and A New Year's Cabaret. She also gave several programmatic post-compline organ recitals at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral including Meditations on War and Peace and Meditations of Lost and Found. While at Seattle First Baptist Church, Michelle premiered over 25 original compositions and arrangements. She also performed with the Seattle Philharmonic in several concerts as a guest organist. While in Seattle, Michelle also served as the accompanist for Diverse Harmony, the nation's first and largest queer-straight alliance LGBTQIA+ youth choir which consists of a 50-voice chorus as well as an auditioned, a capella, 16-voice ensemble called Spectrum. She was the main accompanist for the combined youth choir for the GALA Convention of 2016 in Denver, CO. Michelle also served as a board member on the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
In 2017 Michelle moved to Connecticut and in August of 2018, she succeeded Maestro Richard Coffey as Director of Music at South Church in New Britain and as the Artistic Director of the renowned South Church Music Series. During the summer, Michelle has worked as the Associate Music Director for the West Hartford Summer Arts Festival. She also does freelance work as a recording artist, guest organist/pianist, and music educator throughout Connecticut.
In 2020 she accepted the position of Director of Music Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Church (https://www.trinityhartford.org) and as Music Director of the Choir School of Hartford (https://www.choirschoolofhartford.org), which is a non-profit organization offering tuition-free music education for children and youth between the ages of 8–18. During her time at Trinity Episcopal Church and with The Choir School of Hartford, she pioneered new systems for music-making during the COVID-10 pandemic (including projects like a socially-distanced video performance of Zoltan Kodaly's Missa Brevis and ambitious virtual choir / video projects, like the filming of a children's Christmas anthem using a makeshift recording studio & air circulation system via leaf blower. In 2021 she piloted a 6-month Compline program, offering late-night a capella choral services modeled after ancient monastic practices. Other projects around this time included a performance of Haydn's Missa Brevis in F Major, Will Todd's Jazz Missa Brevis, collaborative chorister evensong services at Trinity College, ambitious week-long Choir Course Week programs, a Lessons & Carols program featuring works exclusively by under-represented composers, The Open Heavens (a collaborative concert with the all-professional ensemble Voices of Concinnity), and a Chorister Tour of NYC to participate in the 2023 Chorister Festival at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine followed by a subsequent 2024 Chorister Tour of NYC with a choral collaboration at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan). In November of 2023, Michelle oversaw a choreography commission for a collaboration with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet in a musical program associated with All Saint's Day, featuring Ola Gjeilo's Dark Night of the Soul and Jake Runestad's 6-movement work The Hope of Loving, with string ensemble, soloists, and professional dancers. In December, the choral ensembles hosted an "O" Antiphon service. In the spring of 2024, the Choir School of Hartford and the Trinity Adult Choir performed in Birdsong, a unique musical celebration of birdsong in collaboration with members of the Hartford Audubon Society, featuring works by Messiaen, Rameau, Whitacre, Britten, etc., funded by a Jolidon Grant. In May of 2024, in collaboration with Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus, Michelle co-led a performance of the Argentinean masterpiece, Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez, accompanied by an ensemble of folk instruments from South America.
In the spring semester of 2022, Michelle Horsley served temporarily as Organist / Director of Chapel Music at Trinity College during Christopher Houlihan's sabbatical, which involved 7 weekly rehearsals of the Trinity College Chapel Singers, an auditioned ensemble which sang for weekly chapel services as well as regular Evensong services throughout the semester.
Since 2020, Michelle Horsley has also served as Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, which oversees a variety of chapter programming as well as around the disbursement of $8,000-$12,000 in yearly Jolidon organ scholarships and an additional $15,000 in yearly Jolidon grants. In the 2020-2021 season, chapter programming included a variety of pandemic video programming on a new Hartford AGO Youtube channel, which included virtual organ crawls, curated video submissions from members, "shoptalk" interviews with local music directors, etc. as well as the design of a new chapter website. The 2021-2022 season included the unveiling of a new Jolidon Concert Series, which included performances by David Hurd, Chelsea Chen, Michael Hey, and Eric Suter as well as new visions for the Halloween PipeScreams event. In 2022-2023, the chapter hosted a concert at The Bushnell featuring Paul Jacobs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in the fall as well as a Jolidon Student Recital in the spring. And in the 2023-2024 season, events included PipeScreams; Pedals, Pipes, & Pizza; and Member's Recital as well as a trailblazing conference in collaboration with the Connecticut Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association called The Art of Gathering which featured workshops, reading sessions, console demonstrations, and panel discussions.
In August of 2024, Michelle became the new Music Director at St. James's Episcopal Church in West Hartford, where she will be leading the adult choir, choristers, and children's music program.
Michelle Horsley is the new Music Director at St. James’s Episcopal Church as of August, 2024, following Alan Murchie's tenure. Most recently, Michelle held positions as Music Director for The Choir School of Hartford, Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (2020-2024) and Director of Music at Trinity Episcopal Church in Hartford. Michelle has degrees in Organ Performance (BM) and Sacred Music (MM) from Stetson University and Duquesne University and resides in Hartford's West End with her cat, Norman. Originally from Florida, Michelle has also lived in Spain, Germany, and Mexico. She frequently composes, teaches, leads workshops, and performs around New England.
(Very) Long Bio:
Michelle Horsley is a conductor, organist, pianist, and collaborative artist whose musical endeavors have taken her into diverse artistic engagements across the world. She has served churches of various sizes in Central Florida, Pittsburgh, Seattle, Central Connecticut and in positions of musical leadership and has extensive experience both leading and accompanying choirs in religious, academic, and community environments. Michelle holds a Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance from Stetson University and a Master of Sacred Music from Duquesne University.
Michelle began piano lessons at the age of 5 and began playing organ in churches at the age of 12. As a teenager, she held many church positions in the Tampa Bay, Florida area and performed regularly with her father and brother, who are also organists. Her grandfather, Walter S. Horsley, was a composer of children's cantatas in the 1950-1980's and wrote 100% Chance of Rain, a bestseller with Chorister's Guild. The unusual family of organists often performed organ concerts and recorded albums as a trio, often written about in local press (like this feature article in the Tampa Bay Times in 2008). At the age of 17, Michelle and her family performed a particularly unique concert of their own transcriptions of major organ repertoire, which incorporated various synthesizers in addition to pipe organ at the distinguished Palladium Theatre, downtown St. Petersburg, Florida.
After dual-enrolling and receiving an Associate’s degree upon completion of high school curriculum, Michelle continued her music studies at Stetson University, graduating in May of 2012 with a Bachelor of Music in organ performance. At Stetson, she received a full tuition scholarship to study under the direction of Dr. Boyd Jones. Michelle was also a Florida Bright Futures Scholar and a recipient of the William E. Duckwitz Scholarship. At Stetson, Michelle studied under Dr. Boyd Jones and worked often under Maestro Anthony Hose, Dr. Alan Raines, Dr. Manuel de Murga, and Dr. Sydney Hodkinson. She was heavily involved in the Student Composer Forum and served as the primary continuo player for the Stetson University Chamber Orchestra.
Michelle has traveled extensively through Europe and Central America and has lived in several other countries. In 2004, Michelle and her family spent a year in Segovia, Spain for the sole purpose of experiencing another culture and acquiring a new language. They returned several times to live in Spain and also spent several months in Guanajuato, Mexico. Michelle further fueled her interest in cultures and language with a semester of music study at the Pädagogische Hochschule in Freiburg, Germany in 2011. During this time, she traveled throughout Europe, attended organ conferences, and played on a variety of historical instruments in Germany, Denmark, the Netherlands and the Czech Republic. In Freiburg, Michelle became the jazz pianist of the university big band and sang in the school choir. She also composed and performed in a new music ensemble which focused on the works of John Cage. Many years later, Michelle would model an experimental, inclusive music program for elementary-aged children at a Presbyterian church after the imaginative work of John Cage. Michelle’s involvement in new music and composition stemmed from her time at Stetson, where she wrote and premiered a variety of eclectic works including Whirlybirds for two pianos, and Thus Spokes Zarathustra for piano and bicycle wheel.
In 2014 Michelle received her Master's degree in Sacred Music from Duquesne University where she studied under Dr. Ann Labounsky and also served as the Graduate Assistant for the organ department. While completing her graduate studies, she held the position of Director of Music Ministry at the Presbyterian Church of Plum Creek, where she created a children's music ensemble and directed several large-scale cantatas. Michelle later served as the Organist/Choir Director at St. John's Lutheran Church of Highland where she directed an adult choir of 25-30 singers for all traditional worship services in additional to choral concerts. While at Duquesne University, Michelle coordinated all chapel services, organized curriculum, and created a graduate handbook for future sacred music majors. She also helped to organize an organ studio trip to France where she and her colleagues attended masterclasses and played organs at Saint Sulpice, Notre Dame, St. Trinite, Notre Dame d'Auteil, St. Denis, La Madeleine, among others. The Duquesne organ studio also traveled to the Solesmes Monastery for an extensive study of chant with Benedictine monks. Michelle's thesis title is The Liturgical Symbolism of the Modern Chorale Preludes of Vincent Persichetti and she performed her graduate recital at St. Paul's Cathedral in Pittsburgh, PA. At her graduation, Michelle was presented with the Jean Langlais Award for Excellence in Sacred Music.
After completing her graduate work, she moved to Seattle where she took the position of Organist at Seattle First Baptist Church. There, she provided music for all worship services, worked with soloists and chamber ensembles, and accompanied the 60-voice sanctuary choir in services as well as major choral concerts (including Bach's Magnificat and Bernstein's Mass). She introduced many new musical programs to the church such as A Solstice Contemplation, Notes of Gratitude: A Thanksgiving Concert, The Seven Last Words of Christ: A Good Friday Musical Meditation, Dueling Organists, and A New Year's Cabaret. She also gave several programmatic post-compline organ recitals at St. Mark's Episcopal Cathedral including Meditations on War and Peace and Meditations of Lost and Found. While at Seattle First Baptist Church, Michelle premiered over 25 original compositions and arrangements. She also performed with the Seattle Philharmonic in several concerts as a guest organist. While in Seattle, Michelle also served as the accompanist for Diverse Harmony, the nation's first and largest queer-straight alliance LGBTQIA+ youth choir which consists of a 50-voice chorus as well as an auditioned, a capella, 16-voice ensemble called Spectrum. She was the main accompanist for the combined youth choir for the GALA Convention of 2016 in Denver, CO. Michelle also served as a board member on the Seattle Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
In 2017 Michelle moved to Connecticut and in August of 2018, she succeeded Maestro Richard Coffey as Director of Music at South Church in New Britain and as the Artistic Director of the renowned South Church Music Series. During the summer, Michelle has worked as the Associate Music Director for the West Hartford Summer Arts Festival. She also does freelance work as a recording artist, guest organist/pianist, and music educator throughout Connecticut.
In 2020 she accepted the position of Director of Music Ministries at Trinity Episcopal Church (https://www.trinityhartford.org) and as Music Director of the Choir School of Hartford (https://www.choirschoolofhartford.org), which is a non-profit organization offering tuition-free music education for children and youth between the ages of 8–18. During her time at Trinity Episcopal Church and with The Choir School of Hartford, she pioneered new systems for music-making during the COVID-10 pandemic (including projects like a socially-distanced video performance of Zoltan Kodaly's Missa Brevis and ambitious virtual choir / video projects, like the filming of a children's Christmas anthem using a makeshift recording studio & air circulation system via leaf blower. In 2021 she piloted a 6-month Compline program, offering late-night a capella choral services modeled after ancient monastic practices. Other projects around this time included a performance of Haydn's Missa Brevis in F Major, Will Todd's Jazz Missa Brevis, collaborative chorister evensong services at Trinity College, ambitious week-long Choir Course Week programs, a Lessons & Carols program featuring works exclusively by under-represented composers, The Open Heavens (a collaborative concert with the all-professional ensemble Voices of Concinnity), and a Chorister Tour of NYC to participate in the 2023 Chorister Festival at The Cathedral of St. John the Divine followed by a subsequent 2024 Chorister Tour of NYC with a choral collaboration at St. Bartholomew's Episcopal Church (Manhattan). In November of 2023, Michelle oversaw a choreography commission for a collaboration with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet in a musical program associated with All Saint's Day, featuring Ola Gjeilo's Dark Night of the Soul and Jake Runestad's 6-movement work The Hope of Loving, with string ensemble, soloists, and professional dancers. In December, the choral ensembles hosted an "O" Antiphon service. In the spring of 2024, the Choir School of Hartford and the Trinity Adult Choir performed in Birdsong, a unique musical celebration of birdsong in collaboration with members of the Hartford Audubon Society, featuring works by Messiaen, Rameau, Whitacre, Britten, etc., funded by a Jolidon Grant. In May of 2024, in collaboration with Chorus Angelicus and Gaudeamus, Michelle co-led a performance of the Argentinean masterpiece, Misa Criolla by Ariel Ramirez, accompanied by an ensemble of folk instruments from South America.
In the spring semester of 2022, Michelle Horsley served temporarily as Organist / Director of Chapel Music at Trinity College during Christopher Houlihan's sabbatical, which involved 7 weekly rehearsals of the Trinity College Chapel Singers, an auditioned ensemble which sang for weekly chapel services as well as regular Evensong services throughout the semester.
Since 2020, Michelle Horsley has also served as Dean of the Greater Hartford Chapter of the American Guild of Organists, which oversees a variety of chapter programming as well as around the disbursement of $8,000-$12,000 in yearly Jolidon organ scholarships and an additional $15,000 in yearly Jolidon grants. In the 2020-2021 season, chapter programming included a variety of pandemic video programming on a new Hartford AGO Youtube channel, which included virtual organ crawls, curated video submissions from members, "shoptalk" interviews with local music directors, etc. as well as the design of a new chapter website. The 2021-2022 season included the unveiling of a new Jolidon Concert Series, which included performances by David Hurd, Chelsea Chen, Michael Hey, and Eric Suter as well as new visions for the Halloween PipeScreams event. In 2022-2023, the chapter hosted a concert at The Bushnell featuring Paul Jacobs with the Hartford Symphony Orchestra in the fall as well as a Jolidon Student Recital in the spring. And in the 2023-2024 season, events included PipeScreams; Pedals, Pipes, & Pizza; and Member's Recital as well as a trailblazing conference in collaboration with the Connecticut Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association called The Art of Gathering which featured workshops, reading sessions, console demonstrations, and panel discussions.
In August of 2024, Michelle became the new Music Director at St. James's Episcopal Church in West Hartford, where she will be leading the adult choir, choristers, and children's music program.