Meet the Chorale Members

Member since 2023

Heidi enjoys doing music with her husband Mike (tenor in the Chorale). She has four grown kids and when she isn’t singing she enjoys art, yoga, quilting, reading, playing the piano, and being with family and friends.

Member since 2024

Member since 1990

Linda is a retired music teacher and CEO of Habitat for Humanity. She has directed Cedar Valley Singers and the Met Chorale Chamber Singers. She plays piano and is the choir director at First Christian Church in Cedar Falls.

Member since 2024

Member since 2019

Angela is a social worker and have worked at Operation Threshold for 12 years. She loves dice and board games, crafts of all sorts, and nature. Angela is a loyal Hippopotamus fan and collect them as I find treasures. She’s married and a loyal Mom of 3 kids with paws.

Member since 2024

Member since 2023

After teaching High School Spanish for four years, Courtney is back in Cedar Falls as the education coordinator for the Job Foundation. She is very happy to be in a choir and singing again!

Member since 2024

Member since 2023

Karen has a music composition degree from the University of Northern Iowa and a music therapy degree from the University of Iowa. She worked as a board-certified music therapist for 10 years, 9 of them at lowa City Hospice. Karen loves songwriting/composing, singing, playing guitar, piano, and world drums, baking, being with her family, and anything space- or flight-related!

Member since 2015

Faith is a retired government Nurse with the DIA. She loves to read and do ALL crafts (especially needlepoint). Faith is very involved in her church as a Deacon and she cares for (and recieves love from) four rescue animals: two cats and two dogs.

Member since 2024

Member since 2003

Laura studied plant ecology and produces native prairie seed for the Tallgrass Prairie Center at UNI. She and her husband Michael (who sings baritone)  are parents of three grown sons. She enjoys walking, gardening, nature photography, reading, baking, and making things from foraged natural materials.

Member since 2023

Member since 2023

Megan graduated from UNI where she studied music education and Spanish. She taught for 3 years in Albuquerque, 3 years in Marshalltown, and is now a K-2nd grade music teacher in Independence. She lives in Waterloo with my husband Jordan and is working on her master’s degree at Lakeland University.

Member since 1976

Sherry sang 41 consecutive years without missing a concert, spent four years of “hit and miss,” and has been back full-time since 2022. She says, “I love, love, love rehearsing and performing the Choral Classics.” And thanks to the Met Chorale, Sherry has performed 35 of the top 38! When not singing, Sherry spends a lot of time reading; mysteries are her favorite. 

Member since 1994

Brenda graduated from UNI with a BA in Music and soon discovered that owning a full-service music store was a greater passion than teaching. She loves her family and music, and her hobbies are movies, movies, movies, and gardening. 

Member since 2024

Priscilla studied organ with Dr. Carl Staplin at Drake University. She has been active in organ guild chapters in IA and MN and recently joined the Cedar Valley chapter of the American Guild of Organists. Priscilla was a member of choral groups in the Twin Cities, Mason City, and Ames, and owned a business focused on safety compliance and regulations before moving to Sumner, IA in 2021. She enjoys accompanying vocal students, the occasional “Sing-ins" at the Koselig-Clocktower in downtown Sumner, and is an organist/pianist for two area churches. She has two adult children, six grandchildren and abundant interests. 

Member since 2012

Diane is a proud graduate of UNI in French and Anthropology. As a “Master Gardener”, she loves to be outdoors in any season (and yes, she does talk to her plants). She enjoys her husband Jack and their kids and grandkids.

Member since 1967

Joanne serves on the Met Chorale Board as Treasurer, Archivist/Historian, and Finance/By-Laws Oversight. She is an active member (and retired Parish Secretary/Office Manager) at Immanuel Lutheran Church and serves as a delegate of Valley Lutheran School. She and her husband Warren (married since 1968) love their 5 children and 5 grandchildren.

Member since 2006

Prudy loves singing and playing piano for Larry, her husband of 59 years.

Member since 2024

Member since 2020

Mary Kay’s first season with the chorale every rehearsal was on zoom, a very interesting experience since she could only hear herself! She is a retired administrative dietitian who worked with USDA child nutrition programs in Iowa. Mary Kay has lots of interests, including cooking, fiber arts, gardening, and reading. 

Member since 2008

Donna retired after teaching English at Peet Junior High for 44 years and at Denver (IA) High School for 3 years before that! She raised two sons here in the Cedar Valley with her husband Dan, and she enjoys puzzles, motorcycles, hiking, gardening, and singing with the Met Chorale.

Member since 2024

Member since 2024

Member since 2023

While at UNI, Natalie studied vocal performance, sang choral music, and worked as a church choir section leader. After graduating in 2013, she lived in Albuquerque for 2 years; Des Moines for 2 more; and Tampa for 5 years, where she worked as a senior administrative assistant and sang with the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay. In 2020, she and her husband moved back to Cedar Falls, where they live with their two cats. Natalie is currently employed as a senior project manager.

Member since 2024

Calista is graduating with a Choral/General Music Education degree from UNI in May 2024. When she isn't singing, she enjoys reading, journaling, and spending quality time with her boyfriend, Kolten, her cat, Boo, and many cherished friends. 

Member since 2010

Carol is a retired elementary teacher who loves volunteering at the Gallagher-Bluedorn and the Oster Regent. She enjoys reading, playing piano, studying languages, and traveling. And singing!

Member since 2001

Laurie has a degree from UNI in vocal music education and taught middle and high school choir. She currently teaches private voice and piano. She plays and sings for church services, weddings, and funerals and also sings with Agnus Dei Ministries in Waterloo, serving as vocal coach to the ensemble as well. Laurie enjoys gardening, biking, live music/theater, and travelling, and her favorite time of the year is Iowa Irish Fest in downtown Waterloo every August!

Member since 2021

Mike is the Music and Arts Pastor at Cedar Valley Church in Waterloo. He and his wife Heidi love doing music and theatre together and did their best to share that joy with their four kids (now grown). Mike enjoys anything he can do if he can be surrounded with artists, and he’s learning to love yard work. But if you want a long conversation, ask him about They Might Be Giants.

Nate is a retired judge who enjoys playing guitar and singing with his church group (as well as on his own). He enjoys riding bicycles, going on walks, riding a couple of (British only) motorcycles, doing a little woodworking, and traveling to visit his two daughters and their families.

Member since 2007

David has sung in church choirs and community choruses since he was in 8th grade and has done solo work at many churches in the Cedar Valley. His favorite concerts with the Met Chorale have been the Requiem settings of Brahms, Mozart, and Faure, as well as Handel's Messiah, where he was the tenor soloist.

Member since 2019

Philip has been a a church choir director for 34 years, a music educator in four states (IN, IL, IA, and SD) serving in schools from elementary to post-secondary, and he played trombone briefly for the Ringling Brothers Circus!

Member since 2024

Member since 1972

Ken has been the choir director at Unity Presbyterian Church in Waterloo since 1968. After teaching K-12 (and briefly K-6) choir and band, Ken served as the band director at Peet Jr. High School in Cedar Falls for 29 years. He enjoys ushering at the Gallagher Bluedorn and bussing tables at Pizza Ranch.

Member since 2023

Michael is the 6th-8th grade vocal director at George Washington Carver Academy. He is excited to sing with the Met Chorale for the first time!

Member since 2013

Sam is an attorney at Swisher & Cohrt, P.L.C. and is planning to retire in at the end of 2023. He and his wife Amy have 3 grown children and two dogs still at home. He enjoys photography, golf, family ancestry, reading, history, and travel. 

Member since 2023

Hugh is a Middle School music teacher at Bunger Middle School in Evansdale. He also works as an organist and accompanist around the Cedar Valley.

Member since 2023

Seth moved to the Cedar Valley to study Instrumental Music Education and History at UNI. As a percussionist, Seth appeared on the UNI Wind Ensemble's 2020 album "Inspired By Art," traveled to Brazil with the Northern Iowa Symphony Orchestra, and participated in parades in Rome and Dublin with the Panther Marching Band. He plans to continue his education studying musicology once his wife finishes her studies in Seminary. Seth lives in Evansdale with his wife Abbie, and their two cats Llewellyn and Fintan. Seth joined as a singer in 2023, but he actually performed with them in 2015 during a collaboration between the Chorale and the UNI Symphonic Band.

Member since 2022

Member since 2023

Paul spends most of his time being involved with organizations in the Cedar Valley that promote Inclusion in all settings for all people. He also finds some time to do consulting and training for businesses and organizations in Iowa through his small business, All Learn LLC. Paul Greene has enjoyed a lifetime of singing and is delighted to be a part of this inclusive choir.

Member since 2018

Jim retired in 2022 as a professor of Biology at UNI. He was born and raised on a dairy farm in southern MN, Jim has enjoyed singing in many choirs over the years and has been a member of the shell rock swing show from 1995 to present. Jim also enjoys fishing, repairing/rebuilding cars and houses, and contract bridge.   

Member since 2024

Member since 1990

After retiring from teaching, Jim is now a carpenter.

Menber since 1996

Tim was born in Cedar Rapids but he’s lived in Waterloo since age 16. He graduated from UNI where he was a member of the UNI Singers for 4 years. After college Tim joined the Met Chorale because he missed singing in a choir. He works at Mercy One and is an avid bicyclist as well as a Master Gardener (check out "Tim's Garden" at Cedar Valley Arboretum, the hosta garden in his front yard, or the tree nursery in his backyard!). If you attend an outdoor festival, band concert, or other musical happening in the Cedar Valley, you’ll probably see Tim there.

Member since 2024

Member since 2009

Michael is a microbiologist/virologist by training. He met his spouse Laura (a soprano in the Met Chorale) in Kansas and they love horses, music, and prairies. They have 3 adult offspring, 2 of whom got them involved in Drum Corps International. Michael grew up in the Los Angeles/Santa Barbara area and before completing college he travelled internationally a bit, living in Bavaria then driving a car to India! He currently teaches and does research at UNI/Biology. Michael I plays double-bass jazz standards with fellow Met chorale baritone Roland Ganter on piano.

He’s a Rotarian and also a member of the 'Cephalopods' who meet Thursdays at the Octopus on College Hill.