New Hampshire Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association
Officers
Music Director – Pelham High School 
Jay Chandler began his musical career as a boy in Manchester singing in the Grace Episcopal Church Boys Choir. He studied piano and organ in high school where he also participated in the band. He attended Keene State College in the 1970's, majoring in organ and church music. He was in business for over 25 years and returned to KSC in 2002 where he received a BA in Music Theory and M. Ed in 2005. Jay is currently a doctoral student in the Ed.D program at Walden University. He has served as Organist and Music Director in a number of churches, led Cantata and Festival Choirs, Choral Seminars and Clinics, and was a Barbershopper. Jay has been active in the American Guild of Organists and has served as Dean of the Monadnock Chapter of the AGO. Jay is currently the Music Director at Pelham High School, where he directs the Bands, Chorus, and teaches. During the 2008-09 school year, he was the Music Director for a production of the Broadway show, Bye, Bye Birdie, the first musical performed at PHS in over 30 years. Jay currently serves as the NH TRI-M Honor Society Chairman for the NHMEA.
Jay and his wife, Judy, live in Peterborough and have four grown children and three grandchildren.
Vice President - Madelyn Gearheart
Director - New Hampshire Youth Chorus 
madelyngearheart@hotmail.com
Madelyn Spring Gearheart is the founder and conductor of the New Hampshire Youth Chorus and the New Hampshire Women’s Chorus. She earned a Bachelor of Music Degree from the University of New Hampshire, a Master of Science in Music Education from the University of Illinois, and a Doctorate in Music and Music Education from Teachers College, Columbia University. A lyric coloratura soprano, Dr. Gearheart performed with the Venice Opera, Teatro La Fenice, and the Verona Opera, Arena di Verona, during the seven years she lived in Italy. She has been guest conductor and vocal coach for the Summer Youth Music School at UNH and Phillips Exeter Academy. Madelyn currently operates a private voice studio and appears locally as a soloist, clinician and adjudicator. Committed to the power of music and the benefits it can provide to everyone, last Fall, Madelyn founded a women’s chorus, Voices Within, at the Strafford County Correctional Facility. Dr. Gearheart is the Artistic Director for a musical excursion in Venice, Italy, called, “Diva For A Day”, and an opera workshop in Verona, “Opera Viva!”
Explore the website for these programs at www.divaoperaviva.com.
Secretary -Treasurer - Gwendolyn Baker
Choral Director - Portsmouth Middle 
School & High School
Newsletter Editor - Joshua Desrochers
Choral Director - Goffstown High School joshua.desrochers@comcast.net
Josh Desrochers has been the Choral Director at Goffstown High School since 2003. He also assists with the band and orchestra. Under Josh's direction, Goffstown's vocal ensembles have sent students to the All-State Chorus every year since 2005. The GHS Select Vocal Ensemble was the featured choir at the All New England Choral Festival in October of 2005 and regularly performs at the University of New Hampshire's Choral Gala. Josh did his undergraduate work at the University of Miami (FL) and is currently working on his Master's degree at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst. He sings in the choir at St. Matthew's Episcopal Church in Goffstown and maintains a private voice studio. He is very active with the New Hampshire Music Educators' Association, currently serving as chairman of the Clinics/Workshops committee. He lives in Bow with his wife Jill and three children.
Repertoire and Standards ( R & S ) Chairmen -
Boy Choirs
Children's Choirs,
Colleges & University
Community Choirs
Ethnic / Multicultural
Junior High / Middle School
Male Choirs
Music in Worship
Senior High Choirs
Show Choirs,
Two - Year Colleges
Four- Year Colleges & Universities
