Join with members of the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus and lift your voice this summer! Sing inspiring pieces with our chorus master Paul Thornock, review the fundamentals of healthy singing with Bill Lavonis & Jonathan Murphy, brush up on your music reading skills with Tina Zenker Williams, and meet other singers from throughout the region.
Chorus Camp is held 5:45-9:30PM on Monday, June 16 through Wednesday, June 18, in Downtown Savannah at Regina Coeli Hall in the undercroft of the Cathedral Basilica of St. John the Baptist. This space is handicap accessible.
Here’s what each evening will look like at Chorus Camp:
Our final evening of camp will feature a short concert at 8:30pm for friends and family with a small chamber orchestra, and a reception following.
The $100 registration fee covers sheet music, dinner & dessert each evening, and all instruction. If finances are a hindrance to your participation, please contact Sharon Mays to discuss a scholarship. Registration closes on Wednesday, June 4th.
Chorus Master
Sponsored by Brenda Kenworthy, in memory of Brian Kenworthy
Dr. Paul Thornock is Director of Music and Organist at the Cathedral of St. John the Baptist in Savannah, Georgia, where he conducts the semi-professional Cathedral Choir, the fully professional Choral Scholars, and acts as Artistic Director for the Friends of Cathedral Music concert series.
Before coming to Savannah, Dr. Thornock was the director of music at St. Joseph Cathedral in Columbus, Ohio and St. James Cathedral in Seattle. He has also taught at the University of Puget Sound, Capital University, and Trinity Lutheran Seminary. He holds degrees from the University of Puget Sound (BM), the University of Notre Dame (MM), and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (DMA).
Music Theory
Soprano Tina Zenker Williams debuted as a soloist in 1996, singing Bachianas Brasileiras No. 5 with The Florida Orchestra. She has sung with orchestras throughout the Southeast, focusing on the works of Handel, J. S. Bach, Mozart, Haydn, Schubert and others. She has also created and performed special recital programs of American music and Baroque music for the Savannah Music Festival. Tina also enjoys collaborating with chamber groups, and is a founding member of Savannah Baroque. As a professional chorister, she has sung with the Charleston based Taylor Festival Choir, and is a featured soloist on two of their CDs.
Tina is also a passionate music educator, and maintains an active studio working with teenagers and adults, from beginners to emerging professionals. She specializes in technique, musicianship, and audition preparation. Tina has taught in Savannah for the past 25 years. Her students have gone on to lead professional careers in performance, music therapy, music business and management, and teaching.
Dr. William Lavonis holds degrees in voice, opera and musical theatre from the University of Cincinnati, Philadelphia’s University of the Arts, and Shenandoah University. He has held a number of collegiate teaching positions, including the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee where he served for 15 years as Professor of Voice and Director of Opera and Musical Theatre.
A native of Southern New Jersey, Bill made his professional singing debut at New York’s Avery Fisher Hall with the American Symphony Orchestra in Israel in Egypt and has performed over 100 leading and supporting roles in opera and musical theatre throughout the United States, including Connecticut Opera in Hartford, Florentine Opera in Milwaukee, Santa Fe Opera and the Ohio Light Opera. He has appeared with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and has been heard in recital and oratorio on Wisconsin Public Radio, in New York City and at the Berkshire Choral Festival where he was a faculty member for ten years.
Vocal Fundamentals: Soprano & Altos
Jonathan Murphy is active as a tenor, pianist, and conductor, currently serving as the Director of Music & Organist at First Presbyterian Church. He is a graduate of the University of Tennessee, where he was a member of the Knoxville Opera Studio, and the University of Oklahoma, where he was a Weitzenhoffer Opera Fellow, and Georgia Southern University. Among Jonathan’s operatic roles are Don Ottavio (Don Giovanni), Pylade (Iphigénie en Tauride), Peter Quint (The Turn of the Screw), Nemorino (L’elisir d’amore), Elvino (La Sonnambula), Ferrando (Cosí fan tutte), Nerone (L’Incoronazzione di Poppea).
As an opera coach, he has prepared roles and operas for performances at the Metropolitan Opera, Dallas Opera, San Francisco Opera, San Diego Opera, and Santa Fe, among others. Among the international artists he has worked with are Samuel Ramey, Leona Mitchell, Robert Hale, Clifton Forbis, Kurt Ollmann, William Powers, and Jay Hunter Morris. Jonathan’s concert work includes Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Handel’s Messiah, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, and the Requiems of Mozart and Verdi. His 2019 performance as tenor soloist in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard was broadcast on Michigan Public Radio.
