Music Director & Conductor

Originally from Chicago, Emma Daniels (she/her) is a conductor, composer, and singer with a passion for using choral music to connect people of different backgrounds and celebrate underrepresented voices. She is currently pursuing her DMA in Choral Conducting at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts, where she co-directs the University Choir. Emma is a founding member of Triad: Boston’s Choral Collective, an organization made up of singers, composers, and conductors who share artistic responsibility and perform new music. Today, she sings, conducts, and composes with C4: the Choral Composer/Conductor Collective in NYC, the choir after which Triad was modeled. She has most recently served as Choral Instructor at King School in Stamford, CT, as well as assistant conductor of Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Children’s Chorus for its 2020 production of Tchaikovsky’s Queen of Spades, and conductor at Chicago Sinai Congregation.

Emma’s compositions have been performed by choirs at Jacksonville University, the Church of St. Mary the Virgin in Times Square, and other college, synagogue, and church choirs from Boston to Los Angeles. As a vocalist, she has performed both solo and ensemble work in the Midwest and on the East Coast, including with St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Wilton, CT, St. James Cathedral Choir of Chicago, Philadelphia Symphonic Choir, and Princeton Society of Musical Amateurs.

Emma holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Tufts University in Medford, MA.

Pianist, Organist, Accompanist

Shea Velloso is an organist and church musician from central New Jersey. He is a graduate of Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, where he earned his bachelor’s degree in organ performance. Shea’s teachers have included Antonius Bittmann, Mark Trautman and Paul Hoffman.

He has pursued post-graduation studies with critically acclaimed organists Paul-Martin Maki and Gordon Turk. In 2004, Mr. Velloso was the recipient of The Elizabeth W. Durham Award for Excellence in Performance. He has performed recitals throughout the Tri-State Area and New England. He has appeared in-concert on the national public radio show “Pipedreams” and on Metuchen Television.

Shea is the Minister of Music at Faith Lutheran Church in New Providence, NJ, where he directs three choirs, coordinates the concert series, and is working on a choral scholarship program to help high school and undergraduate students who are interested in pursuing a career in church music. Shea previously served as Director of Music at United Methodist Church at Milltown and at the Presbyterian Church of Jamesburg. He is also a past dean of the American Guild of Organists.

Shea is also the director of the Highland Park Community Chorus; a 40-50 voice choir which performs a wide variety of classical choral repertoire.

In addition to his work, Shea enjoys composing choral music, woodworking, gardening, baking, and cooking. He lives with his wife and two daughters in Jamesburg, where he is in the ongoing process of restoring their Victorian era home.

Richard Fried, President
Lorraine Yoch-Lear, Vice President
Heather Woll, Treasurer
Maria Gavilanes, Secretary
Steven Heckel, Member-at-Large
Joyce Richardson, Member-at-Large
Elisa Almeida, Member-at-Large
Darryl Richardson, Member-at-Large