Staff

photos: Keren and Camera

Chattanooga Boys Choir Staff

Vincent Oakes, Executive / Artistic Director

Vincent Oakes is in his twentieth year as Artistic Director of the Chattanooga Boys Choir. He earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Florida and Master of Sacred Music degree in Choral Conducting from Emory University, studying under James Morrow and Eric Nelson. In addition to teaching public school choral music and serving churches in Florida, Georgia, and Tennessee, he has also served as music director of the Emory University Exodus Singers and the Candler School of Theology Youth Theological Initiative. A frequent choral clinician and guest conductor of honor and festival choirs, recent conducting engagements have included the Vocalizze Choral Festival in Portugal, the ACDA International Conductors Exchange Program in Cuba, the Bangkok International Choral Festival in Thailand, and honor choirs throughout the United States. Mr. Oakes has also been a conductor and clinician at the Lake Junaluska, Massenetta Springs, and Montreat worship music conferences and a clinician on conducting, choral literacy and musicianship, and working with the adolescent singing voice. He has published articles and reviews in Choral Journal and has authored chapter on child and adolescent voices in the textbooks Choral Pedagogy by Robert Sataloff and Brenda Smith and Class Voice: Fundamental Skills for Lifelong Singing by Ron Burrichter and Brenda Smith.

Mr. Oakes is an active member of National Association for Music Education and the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), of which he served as Southern Division Chair of Boychoir Repertoire & Standards from 2005-2011. He is a Past-President of Tennessee ACDA and served as President of ACDA’s eleven-state Southern Region from 2019-2021, chairing its Lift Every Voice conference in Mobile, AL in 2020. Mr. Oakes is also the Chair of the Fine Arts Department and Director of Choral Music at the Baylor School in Chattanooga, where he conducts four student ensembles and the faculty choir. He received Baylor’s 2016 Ireland Chair for Distinguished Teaching and the Belz-Lipman Award for Excellence in Holocaust Education from the Tennessee Holocaust Commission in 2021.

Judy Brittingham, Director of Training Choirs
Mrs. Brittingham earned her Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga and a Master of Administration degree from Lincoln Memorial University. Mrs Brittingham retired from Hamilton County Schools after teaching elementary music for 32 years. She has been affiliated with the CBC since 1979, and also served for over twenty years as Children’s Ministry Director and Children’s Choir Director at Hickory Valley Community Church in Chattanooga. She currently currently serves as a member of Ridgedale Baptist orchestra and staff member of the Children’s Choir Married to Robert Brittingham, they have two children, Taylor (a CBC alum) and Anna and one granddaughter, Billie.

Christine Hassevoort, Music Theory Lab Instructor
Mrs. Hassevoort has a Master of Music degree in voice. She is a classical singer who has performed several operatic roles with the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera, Opera Tennessee, and others. Christine also has been a featured soloist twice for the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera’s Holiday Pops concert, as well as several Pops in the Park concerts. She has soloed in many oratorio productions, including Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9, Haydn’s Creation and Lord Nelson Mass, Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem, and Orff’s Carmina Burana. She teaches voice and music classes at Covenant College, Chattanooga State Community College and Ridgedale Baptist School of Fine Arts. She is married to Darrin and has a son (Ian) who sings in the CBC, and a daughter (Sophia) who is a college student.

Gabrielle Haston, Associate Director
Mrs. Haston earned her Bachelor of Music Education and Masters of Secondary Education in The Arts at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. She has been the middle and high school choral director at Dade County High School and Dade Middle for the past fifteen years and serves as Fine Arts Department Chair at both schools. Mrs. Haston is active in the Georgia Music Educators Association and has served as the choral chair for GMEA District VII, organizer and conductor for district and county level honor chorus events. Mrs. Haston is a member of the Georgia Music Educators Association. Married to Nathaniel Haston they have two children, Caedmon(current CBC Handel singer) and Selah.

Sonya Henry, Outreach Program Director
Mrs. Sonya Henry received her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Music Education from
Tennessee Technological University. Mrs. Henry has taught elementary and middle school music in Hamilton County Schools. She has sang with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera Chorus, Bach Chorale, Chattanooga Spiritual Ensemble and is a featured soloist with the Chattanooga Choral Society for the Preservation of African-American Song. She is the Music Minister and Good News Club Coordinator at Phillips Temple C.M.E. Church. Married to Reverend Robert Henry, Jr., they have three children: Olivia, Anthony and Michele.

Jenny Parker, Collaborative Pianist
A North Caroline native, Mrs. Parker received her Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano Pedagogy and Piano Performance, and her Masters of Music degree in Accompanying from East Carolina University in Greenville, NC. She has taught private piano lessons for 28 years in various locations in North Carolina and Tennessee. She taught Kindermusik classes for 13 years, and has also directed children’s choirs in various churches for 28 years. Mrs. Parker has served as a collaborative pianist for churches, colleges, schools, community choirs, choral festivals, individual performers, and the University of Tennessee in Chattanooga. She is currently serving as pianist at First Baptist Church of Chattanooga, pianist for the Chattanooga Boys Choir, and as a Collaborative Pianist and Music Dept Admin at Covenant College on Lookout Mt, GA. She resides on Signal Mountain with her husband Jeff and two daughters, Jordyn & Jocelyn.

Stephanie R. Randall, Training Choirs Collaborative Pianist
Mrs. Randall earned her Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga, where she sang with the UTC Chamber Singers and Chattanooga Singers. Mrs. Randall has taught many piano students and accompanied many student recitals and area choral programs. She is married to Chattanooga Boy Choir alumnus, Andrew Randall. Stephanie is currently working from home raising her two young children, building two businesses, and leading worship in her church.

Stephanie Randall, Music Education Coordinator
Mrs. Randall holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga. Previously a K-12 music teacher in the Hamilton County Schools, she has also taught music to home school students and led children church choirs. Mrs. Randall has been the lead CBC Computer Music Theory Lab instructor since its inception in 2003. Her musical experiences include previous memberships in the Chattanooga Bach Choir, the Chattanooga Symphony and Opera Chorus, the Roueche’ Chorale, and a variety of leadership roles in church music. Married to CBC Alumus George Randall, Jr., they have three sons: Andrew, Matthew, and Christopher (all proudly CBC Alumni)

Kristen Wiram, Associate Director
Mrs. Wiram earned the Bachelor of Music Education degree from the University of Tennessee-Chattanooga and the Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Emory University. Mrs. Wiram has been a featured soloist with the Chattanooga Symphony & Opera, Choral Arts of Chattanooga, and the Atlanta Sacred Chorale. Previously the Director of Choral Activities at Ooltewah High School and Red Bank Middle School, she is currently Choral Director at Signal Mountain Middle-High School. Mrs. Wiram is currently serving as President of the East Tennesse Vocal Association.