Meet our Athletics Director!

Nathan Holst

Athletics Director

Nathan is the current Athletics Director and Physical Education teacher at Saint Thomas Choir School, teaching the boys sport on a daily basis. He will shortly be running the outdoor program at Camp Incarnation, an annual trip to Ivoryton CT which has become something of a tradition for the boy choristers post exam season.
Outside of the Choir School walls Nathan coaches the Varsity Soccer, Basketball, and Softball teams. Besides coaching he has recently joined a soccer team and plays in an Inner City league in NYC. Nathan has also developed a love for the great outdoors being an avid rock climber.
Not only is Nathan a keen sportsman. He was once a Saint Thomas chorister himself, attending Saint Thomas Choir School from 1995-1999. As a result of his first hand experience as a boy chorister, Nathan has a unique perspective and has built a strong rapport with the current students.
Nathan received his Bachelors Degree from Rhode Island College in the field of Elementary Education with a concentration in Theatre. He has performed in many shows both at High School and College level, and uses what he learned through these theatrical experiences to keep his students engaged.

Meet our Housemother!

Susan Sullivan
Nurse & Housemother

Susan has worked at the Choir School for the past 14 years as the School Nurse/ Housemother. This year is her final one at the school as she looks for a new adventure elsewhere. She has worked for the Girl Chorister Camp for three years since its inception five years ago. Susan enjoys working with the girls and comments that the y chromosome makes a huge difference! She enjoys seeing girls come together from all over the country and finds it fascinating how quickly girls bond with each other when there is a common goal. Susan states "This job is so different from all of my other jobs. Caring for girls is fun and I hope to continue to do it where ever I wind up".

Meet our Registrar and Dorm Counsellor!

Anna Winser
Registrar and Dorm Counselor

Anna is this year's British Mountbatten intern at Saint Thomas Choir School. She arrived in New York in September 2008 and will serve at the school until September 2009.
Anna has a flair for languages and a passion for music. She graduated from the University of Nottingham (England) in July 2007 in Joint Honors Hispanic and Latin American Studies & French Studies. Having lived abroad in Latin America and France, Anna was looking for a new challenge overseas, but one which offered vocational training in an international context. The Mountbatten Internship in NYC seemed to fit this criterion perfectly!
Anna also has a strong passion for music. She is a keen pianist and sings in the Broadway Choir at the 92nd Y Center on the Upper East Side. She plans to join a Cabaret singing group over the summer.
Anna also has experience with teaching and youth programs. She has taught English as a Foreign Language in Europe, Latin America and in her home town of Canterbury, England. She was involved with the social programs attached to these language courses often assisting in team sports and conducting tours of large towns of interest.

Meet our Assistant Accompanist!

Kevin Kwan
Assistant Accompanist

Kevin Kwan is Assistant Organist at Saint Thomas Church, Fifth Avenue in New York City. There, he works daily with the Choir of Men and Boys, playing for services and assisting in the training of the choristers. Mr. Kwan is a native of San Francisco, California. A winner of the 2005 American Guild of Organists/Quimby Regional Competition for Young Organists, Mr. Kwan has also won awards from the AGO San Diego Chapter, the Spreckels Organ Society, and the Cleveland Institute of Music. In 2007, Mr. Kwan obtained his Master of Music degree from the Cleveland Institute of Music, where he studied with Todd Wilson. In Cleveland, he served as Organ Scholar at The Church of the Covenant, and was the principal accompanist for the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Chorus. Before moving to Cleveland, Mr. Kwan was Organ Scholar at St. Paul’s Cathedral in San Diego. He has participated in master-classes led by Marie-Claire Alain, Olivier Latry, Gerre Hancock, and Thomas Trotter. Most recently, Mr. Kwan was Organ Scholar at Gloucester Cathedral, one of the most stunning acoustical and architectural environments in the world. During his year in England, he enjoyed two international tours with the renowned Choir of Men and Boys, was featured live on BBC Radio, and played solo piano with the Philharmonia Orchestra in the Three Choirs Festival. Whilst in England, Mr. Kwan performed solo recitals in many prestigious venues, including Lichfield, Truro, Bristol and Gloucester Cathedrals, as well as at Bath Abbey and Westminster Abbey.

Meet our Sight Singing Teacher!

Kirsten D'Aquino
Sight Singing Coach

Kirsten is looking forward to returning to the Girl's Course for the second year. After taking in a workshop in Gregorian Chant this winter, she realized that this would be very useful and interesting to pass along to the girls. Kirsten has been a Cantor in the Lutheran church since she was 13 and has a deep affection for the roots of church music.Kirsten has four boys, a husband, a dog and a cat and some fish and earned her degrees from the Juilliard School in organ performance.

Meet our Vocal Coach!

Abigail Haynes Lennox
Vocal Coach & Counselor

Acclaimed as angelic and stylish in her interpretations of Bach and Mozart, Abigail is equally at home with genres ranging from early plainchant to 19th-century mélodie to improvised avant-garde. Originally from Bartlett, Tennessee, she moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan where, after finishing her bachelor’s degree in vocal performance at the University of Michigan, she served as music director for the Wesley Foundation of First Methodist, performed with the Michigan Opera Theater under Stephen Lord, and was a frequent soloist appearing on premier recordings of contemporary works. In May 2007, Abigail completed her master’s degree in voice at the Yale Institute of Sacred Music where she studied under James Taylor, Ted Taylor, and Judith Malafronte. In addition to participating in master classes with Martin Katz, Stephen Layton, and David Daniels, she has performed as soloist in Bach’s St. John Passion and Buxtehude’s Membra Jesu nostri under Simon Carrington, Mozart Vespers with Sir David Willcocks and again with Sir Neville Marriner, Bach’s Magnificat in E-flat Major with Helmuth Rilling, Beethoven’s Mass in C and multiple Bach cantatas with Yale ensembles, and a program of French Baroque music with the Ensemble Européen William Byrd. She made her debut with American Bach Soloists as a soloist in Bach’s Christmas Oratorio in January 2007, and returned this season to perform Bach's Mass in B Minor in January and Handel's Laudate pueri in May. Inspired by such ensemble experiences, Abigail enjoys teaching young musicians and engaging in collaborative projects with fellow artists in addition to pursuing a solo career. She is thrilled to be returning to the St. Thomas Girl Chorister Course as voice instructor. The week spent with such talented young women is the highlight of her summer.

Meet our Resident Advisor!

Deborah Beien
Resident Advisor


Mrs. Beien is a musician with the Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago. She has been conducting a mixed children's choir for 10 years and is also a singer and soloist. She currently works at Queen of Angels parish on Chicago's north side. Having been a singer since childhood herself, Mrs. Beien is pleased to participate in the Girls Choir Course which enables girls to develop their talents. Music is a lifelong joy, and one well worth the effort.
Mrs. Beien and her husband, Jim, have four children who are all in their twenties. She is also a serious gardener with a specialty in roses. It is a struggle to leave the garden for this week, but the sounds of all the complex and wonderful music being made, makes it impossible to resist.

Meet our Course Manager!

Ruth Cobb

Course Manager

Ruth Cobb has been the Director of Admissions and Alumni Relations at Saint Thomas Choir School for seven years and has been a part of the Girl Chorister Course since its founding in 2005. She has previously been an Organist and Director of Music in Episcopal Churches and taught music in Independent Schools. Ruth earned a Master of Music Degree from Northwestern University and her Bachelor of Music from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Ruth lives in New Haven, CT with her husband, David and chocolate lab, Scout. They have three children who are young adults in college or working.

I have trouble naming one favorite part of the course, but I really enjoy the sense of our own little Brigadoon springing to life each summer as the girls return and welcome the new choristers to the course. The girls make it a very delightful week!

Welcome to the 2009 Girl Chorister Course!

Welcome to the 2009 Girl Chorister Course starting early afternoon on Saturday July 25 and ending on August 2 following the 11 AM service! A timetable will be posted shortly. Preparations are underway and we look forward to welcoming you into the Choir School next month!

Meet our Choir Director!

Sarah Baldock
Choir Director





Sarah Baldock took up the post of Organist and Master of the Choristers at Chichester Cathedral in April 2008. She was previously Assistant Director of Music at Winchester Cathedral where she accompanied the Choir in daily services, tours, broadcasts and recordings. She founded the Winchester Cathedral Girls’ Choir in 1998, and was its Director until 2008. During this period the choir toured Sweden, Italy and Denmark, made a CD for the Griffin label entitled Immortal Fire, and gave concerts in the UK including two Christmas performances at Birmingham Symphony Hall. Several former Girl Choristers have won choral scholarships to Cambridge and other universities.

During her time in Winchester she was accompanist to the Waynflete Singers and Organ Performance Tutor at Southampton University. She has been a faculty member of the Calgary, Edinburgh and Oundle Organ Courses, and involved in education projects at the Royal Festival Hall and Birmingham Symphony Hall. She is a Trustee Council member of the Royal College of Organists.

Educated as a music scholar at St Paul’s Girls’ School in London, and as Organ Scholar of Pembroke College, Cambridge, she won prizes in the RCO diploma examinations and a bursary for postgraduate study with David Sanger and Thomas Trotter.

Finalist in the 1998 Calgary International, and prizewinner at the 2000 Odense and 2002 Dallas International Organ Competitions, Sarah Baldock enjoys an active career as an organ soloist in the UK and abroad. Performances have included concertos with the City of Birmingham Symphony, Dallas Symphony, Calgary Philharmonic, Royal Philharmonic and Hampshire Youth Orchestras and solo concerts in Europe, USA and Canada. In 1998 she released a CD on the Marcussen organ in Tonbridge School Chapel for Herald, and two other recording projects are underway.

Sarah Baldock has directed choral workshops in the UK, USA, Norway and Sweden. She lives in Chichester Cathedral Close with her husband, David Hurley.