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Melody SvennungsenMelody Svennungsen is the Vivace and Advanced Vocal Ensemble Director, as well as Artistic Director for the CCYC. She is a San Luis Obispo native with over forty years of experience in vocal and theatre performance. She appears as soloist for local choral groups including Cuesta Master Chorale and San Luis Obispo Vocal Arts Ensemble. A member of SLOVAE since 1986, Melody is Gary Lamprecht’s Assistant Director and Soprano Section Leader. She also teaches private voice lessons and musicianship to all ages. Melody’s official conducting career began 12 years ago this fall with the CCYC shortly before she earned her music degree in vocal performance at Cal Poly in 2007. As a music student, she served as assistant conductor for Dr. Davies and studied voice with both Katherine Arthur and Jackie Kreitzer. Melody is grateful for the richness and meaning that music brings to her life, and for the opportunity to facilitate the deep bonding among the CCYC singers that results from singing together.
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Lissa MeltonLissa Melton, our Cadence director, was born and raised in Texas where she received her Bachelors of Music Education from Abilene Christian University. After moving to the Seattle area, she started her career in both public school education and private studio lessons. Over the past 29 years of her career she has taught many different types of music and started two choral programs in addition to numerous choir clubs. Two years ago, Lissa and her family moved to SLO where she was hired as the music teacher/band director for Templeton Unified School District. While there, she started a choir program at Templeton Middle School. Today she boasts a large private studio in both Templeton and SLO and is eager to grow that business over the next several years in addition to helping expanding the CCYC choral program. Lissa’s husband, Duane, works for San Luis Coastal School District and they have been married for 25 years. Her grown daughters are studying at Cuesta College.
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Kelley LokensgardMinnesota native Kelley Lokensgard, our Brio and Cadenza director, has recently relocated to San Luis Obispo in search of fresh musical experiences, adventure, and a new academic path. She studied music and art at Luther College in Decorah, IA, studied at the American Institute of Music of Singing in Graz, Austria, and went on to pursue a Master's of Voice/Opera at the University of North Texas in 2016. After leaving her master's program, she decided to reroute her trajectory and pursue Speech and Language Pathology, which she is now working on at Cuesta College. Kelley has always had a passion for working with children. She has taught private voice lessons to all age groups in Iowa, Minnesota, Texas, and California, and has been a camp counselor, choir director, and youth leader since she was 14 years old. Speech Pathology was a natural professional decision, given her fierce passion for the function of the voice and her large volume of experience working with children. She does, however, crave artistic and musical outlets, and is so grateful to have found a home at the Central Coast Youth Chorus, where she hopes to inspire children to sing joyfully with one another for years to come.
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