Artistic Director
Nicholas Sienkiewicz
Nicholas Sienkiewicz (he/him) is a conductor and music director currently based in NYC.
Nick has studied conducting under Dr. Chris Albanese, Dr. Betsy Burleigh, Dr. Dominick DiOrio, and Professor Walter Huff at Indiana University Bloomington. Prior to this, Nicholas studied with Professor Austin McWilliams, and sang under the tutelage of Dr. Kimberly Dunn Adams at Western Michigan University.
As a conductor in the community setting, Nick has worked with the Bloomington Chamber Singers, and previously led and organized the inaugural Kalamazoo Community Grand Chorus, a 200 - member ensemble composed of five different community choruses in Southwest Michigan. Nick has also served as the Music Director for the Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Southwest Michigan. While at Indiana University, Nick has had the privilege of working as the Assistant Conductor with the Indiana University Vocal Chamber Ensembles, the Grammy-Nominated Singing Hoosiers, and Assistant Director of All Campus Chorus. He also was the Assistant Chorus Master for HMS Pinafore, and guest conducted Movement VII of the Vonnegut Requiem with NOTUS.
Nick’s work and research as a scholar is focused in the psychological and brain sciences and specializes in developing trauma-informed environments that result in safe, challenging, and engaging choral spaces. Nick’s research has been presented at multiple international and national conferences including the European Association for Music in Schools, the College Music Society, and the American Choral Director’s Association. An active author, Nick has three articles published in the Choral Journal, and one in the Choral Scholar. In the public sphere, Nick has been featured on local and national radio networks, along with the Choralosophy podcast. With a foot dipped in musicology, Nick has a particular interest in psycho- and queer musicology. Nick currently serves as the Interest Session Chair for the ACDA Eastern Region Conference in 2024.
No stranger to musical theatre, Nick’s work in the theatrical world represents a significant part of his musical history. An accomplished pianist and Music Director, Nick has worked in theatres at the regional level, including Timber Lake Playhouse, Farmers Alley Theatre, and the Barn Theatre. Nick has also had the opportunity to work in higher education, assisting and music directing shows at Kalamazoo College and Western Michigan University. Nick worked as a resident Music Director at French Woods Festival of the Performing Arts, where he music directed nine shows in a single summer, some of which included the Amateur Premiere of The Other Josh Cohen, the acclaimed SpongeBob SquarePants, and the world premiere of Bean a Long Day. Most recently, Nick was the music assistant for a Broadway-bound musical The Hippest Trip: The Soul Train Musical. Nick serves both the Michigan Thespian Festival and the International Thespian Festival yearly as a guest adjudicator in Musical Theatre Performance.
As a vocalist, Nick has sung in countless choral and theatrical works including Bach’s Christ Lag in Todesbanden, Corgiliano’s Of Rage and Remembrance, and as Matthew Shepard in Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard. He has sung in renowned choral ensembles including the University Chorale of Western Michigan University, and NOTUS Contemporary Vocal Ensemble. Most recently, Nick premiered the tenor solo of Moira Smiley’s Wire You Here at the American Choral Director’s Association Midwest Conference. Currently, Nick is a member of Trinity Wall Street’s semi-professional ensemble, Downtown Voices.
Nicholas holds a Bachelor of Science in Biochemistry and a Bachelor of Musical Arts degree both with Honors, from Western Michigan University. Nick completed his Master of Music in Choral Conducting at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music where he held both the Margaret E Hillis and Thomas R. Kasdorf Choral Conducting Fellowship.
Nick also holds the position of Director of the Youth Pride Chorus of NYC, and is an Instructor of Music in the BFA program of musical theatre at the New York Film Academy.
Assistant Conductor
Lauren Smith
Lauren Smith is a vocal music teacher based in the Lehigh Valley. She is currently the choral and general music teacher at Southern Lehigh Middle School where she directs the Southern Lehigh Middle School Choirs and Spartan Chorale. She previously taught in the Bridgewater-Raritan Regional School District and has been a music director for many local theatrical productions. She holds a Bachelor’s of Music in Music Education from Ithaca College where she studied voice with Deborah Montgomery-Cove and conducting with Dr. Troy Robertson and Dr. Janet Galván. She served as the student conductor of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, a community choir based in Ithaca, NY dedicated to the preservation of spirituals and the legacy of American civil rights activist, Dorothy Cotton. Upon graduation, she continued to sing with the ensemble and was a featured soloist with the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. She currently sings with the Lehigh Valley Chorale, is a Choral Scholar at the Cathedral Church of the Nativity in Bethlehem, and is on the board of the Phillipsburg Area Summer Youth Theatre.
Collaborative Pianist
Kimberly Poloni
Kimberly Poloni is a Lehigh Valley native who received her undergraduate degree in piano performance. She owned and operated her own teaching studio for over 20 years. She served as staff accompanist for many of the local colleges including Moravian, Muhlenberg and DeSales University. She has had the privilege of accompanying master classes hosted by guest artists including Yo-Yo Ma and Joshua Bell. She currently accompanies many local high school and professional musical ensembles in the Lehigh Valley including the Freddy Awards. In 2014, Kim earned a Master of Science degree from Philadelphia University and currently works as a board-certified occupational therapist. During her work as an occupational therapist, she discovered a passion for health and wellness. She went on to study at Duke University and became a certified health coach and received her personal training certification from the National Academy of Sports Medicine. Kim currently operates her own practice, Alive and Well Integrative Health Coaching LLC. Despite pursuing multiple career paths, music will always remain the constant.