our staff
Caren Jensen:
We are very fortunate to have the artistic leadership of Caren Jensen. Caren has many years of experience as a public school teacher, vocal coach and choir director. She is deeply committed to providing a musical experience that will last a lifetime. She nurtures, teaches and challenges our singers to reach their personal best.
Our Director, Caren Jensen is an enthusiastic professional music educator who continues to learn, recently nearly certification for Body-mapping for the Musician. Caren has taught in the Salem-Keizer school district and has numerous private voice students.
Debra Huddleston:
Debra Huddleston studied at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, finishing her degree in organ at the Hartt School of Music in Hartford, CT. She later returned to receive a Masters degree in Piano accompanying. Debra has accompanied choirs on European tours, performances in the White House, and in choir festivals. She has worked with many notable conductors, including Richard Proulx (Chicago Cathedral), Leo Nestor (Shrine in Washington, D.C.), Don Neuen (Chrystal Cathedral), Dale Warland (Warland Singers), James Litton (American Boy Choir), and Helmuth Rilling (Oregon Bach Festival).
Currently she is Director of Music at the First Presbyterian Church in Woodburn, and adjunct faculty at both Linfield College and George Fox University. Debra also directs the Silvertones, a mixed community choir, and the Salem Madrigal Singers. She is accompanist for Willamette Master Chorus and Willamette Girlchoir. With flutist, Sandy Duffy Norman, she has recorded a CD "Whisper in the Moonlight", and has a solo piano Christmas CD. Ms. Huddleston toured Norway with Halcyon Trio Oregon (Joan Paddock, trumpets, Jackie Van Paepeghem, soprano) in the summer of 2007, performing several concerts throughout the country, including in Troldhaugen (Edvard Grieg's home), and for the Norwegian Emmigration Center in Sletta. They have also performed in many locations throughout the West Coast. Debra resides in Woodburn, OR, with her 7'4" Bosendorfer grand piano.
Joannah Ball:
Soprano Joannah Ball is originally from Newport, OR. She graduated from Willamette University Summa Cum Laude with a B.M. in Vocal Performance. As an undergraduate she studied voice with Allison Swensen-Mitchell and piano with Jean-David Coen.
In 2008 she performed the role of Adele in Die Fledermaus with Willamette's Dramatic Vocal Arts program and in 2009 performed as Despina in Mozart's Cosi Fan Tutte. Ms. Ball has also performed in Puccini's Suor Angelica, and in scenes from Carmen, Peter Grimes, Hansel and Gretel, and The Ballad of Baby Doe. In 2009 she premiered colleague Andrew Smith's chamber opera Sympathies composed in Just Intonation. Other achievements include winning the 2008 Willamette Solo and Aria Competition and performing with the Salem Chamber Orchestra.
In addition to working at Willamette, Ms. Ball directs a youth choir with Salem's own Willamette Girlchoir and continues performing as a local soloist.