STAFF

Kenneth Nafziger, Artistic Director
Joan Winter Skerritt, Executive Director
Paul Patton, Accompanist


Kenneth Nafziger is Professor of Music at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia. At EMU, he conducts the EMU Chamber Singers, teaches courses in conducting and world music, and in the honors program and interdisciplinary studies. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Oregon. Ken also studied conducting with the renowned Bach Scholar and conductor, Helmuth Rilling in Stuttgart and Frankfurt, Germany.

In addition to his many other accomplishments, Ken has made numerous trips to Cuba, collaborating, conducting and working with musicians, choirs, and orchestras to exchange new ideas, concepts, and works of music. While there, he offered graduate classes in a large variety of topics ranging from Bach to spirituals as well as orchestral and choral conducting.

Ken is a frequent guest conductor, workshop leader, and clinician throughout North America. He was the music editor for Hymnal: A Worship Book (1992), editor of its Accompaniment Handbook (1993), and a member of the committee that produced two supplements to the hymnal. Sing the Journey (2005), and Sing the Story (2007).

Joan Winter Skerritt has been singing with Voce since 1992 and joined its governing board the same year. After completing several terms as board president, she became Voce's Executive Director in 2001. She actively promotes Voce within the greater Washington DC arts community and works to expand development opportunities for the ensemble.

Joan holds a Bachelor's degree in Social Research Methods and a Master's degree in Sociology, both from Brown University. She brings more than 20 years of proposal writing and editing experience to Voce. She has written over 50 funded state and local grant proposals for Voce Chamber Singers.

Her clients have included The CDM Group in Chevy Chase, MD; the Center for Community Education, School of Social Work at Rutgers' University; the Department of Human Services, County of Hudson, NJ; and the Santa Clara County Office of Education in San Jose, CA. Her grants have received federal, state, local and major foundation funding. Joan is the author of the Corporate Contributions Guide to Santa Clara County which was published by the Foundation Center of Santa Clara County, CA.

Paul Patton, who has received critical praise in The Washington Post, is now in his seventeenth season as Voce's accompanist. He is Organist and Director of Music at St. Ambrose Catholic Church in Annandale and formerly served in the same position at Emmaus United Church of Christ (2006-2009) and at the Church of the Holy Comforter (1995-2006), both in Vienna, and as Artistic and Musical Director of the Vienna Choral Society (2005-2009).

Paul received his Master of Music degree from the University of Southern California and his Bachelor of Music from the New England Conservatory of Music. At Yale University Divinity School and the Institute of Sacred Music he earned master degrees in Divinity and Sacred Theology. Paul also studied at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Hamburg, Germany, and with concert pianist Susan Starr in Philadelphia.

He worked for New York City Ballet (1987-1990) and the Dutch National Ballet (1979-1985) as a rehearsal and performance pianist and participated as a solo pianist in gala ballet performances in Amsterdam, Berlin, Cologne, London, Paris, and Warsaw. He also served as repetiteur at the Opera House in Bremen, Germany (1974-1976, 1978), and as faculty accompanist-coach for the San Francisco Conservatory of Music (1976-1977). As a church musician, Paul has worked in churches in California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, Virginia, as well as in England and The Netherlands. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the American Guild of Organists, the Association of Anglican Musicians, the Choristers Guild, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, and the Royal School of Church Music in America.

Paul and his wife, Susan, have two daughters, Sarah and Hannah.