Brush Up Your Messiah Workshop Resources

David J. Xiques is professor of music in the School of Music at San Francisco State University where he teaches ear training and musicianship classes and directs the University Chorus and oversees the choral program.  His teaching experience includes 15 years in K-12 choral, junior and high school band, choral, and general music classes.  A Kodály specialist, he is a former instructor at the Kodály Summer Certification Program at New York University in New York City.  He is also a professional singer, tenor, with the SF Symphony Chorus where he also serves as assistant chorus director.  Mr. Xiques is a frequent choral clinician and presenter at professional music conferences.

As assistant chorus director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, he prepared the Grammy Award winning ensemble for performances of Mozart’s Mass in C Minor for Ingo Metzmacher, conductor. He also prepared the Chorus for the North American premier of John Adams’ A Flowering Tree for Maestro Adams who conducted the performances.

Mr. Xiques is author of Solfege and Sonority: Teaching Music Reading to Choral Singers, published by Oxford University Press. He also has several choral arrangements published by Alliance Music Publications.

Mr. Xiques earned his MM in Music Education with Kodály Emphasis degree from Holy Names University in Oakland, CA where he was also a member of the faculty, and BS in Music Education from Millersville University in Millersville, PA.  He has studied ear training and musicianship extensively with Erzsébet Hegyi of the Liszt Academy in Budapest, and conducting with Vance George of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, as well as members of the 1995 Chorus America faculty at Saranac Lake, NY.

Having completed her degree in vocal performance at Trinity College of Music in London, Elizabeth Susskind continued her studies at the St. Louis Conservatory of Music and worked as a professional singer with both the St. Louis Symphony and Opera Theatre of St. Louis.  She and her family moved to the Bay Area in 1989, and since then she has been an active member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus for well over 20 years, working with such luminaries at Vance George and Ragnar Bohlin. Elizabeth has also sung with smaller groups such as Bay Choral Guild and Sine Nomine, as well as Midsummer Mozart under Bay Area favorite, the late George Cleve.

Mezzo-soprano Karen Carle Irwin grew up in Stockton, California, and graduated from Pacific Union College with a degree in Music Education, and obtained a Master's Degree from San Francisco Conservatory of Music in Vocal Performance. Karen has sung leading and supporting roles with many Bay Area opera companies. Currently Karen is a professional member of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus and is Music Director at St. John's Presbyterian Church in San Francisco. She teaches privately in her home where she lives with her husband, Jim.

Will Skaff is a Bay Area music educator, singer, composer and clinician. He currently teaches general music and chorus at The Hamlin School in San Francisco and is also one of the directors at the Peninsula Girls Chorus in Burlingame. He enjoys being a featured soloist and section leader with the Lesbian Gay Chorus of San Francisco, and still sings on occasion with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus. He has degrees in Music Education and Choral Conducting and earned his certification in the Kodály method from New York University. He currently serves on the board of the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators.