Artistic & Adminstrative Staff
Thomas Lloyd,The Shirley K. Piercy Artistic Director
Thomas Lloyd was named Artistic Director of the Bucks County Choral Society in the year 2000. Active as a conductor, composer, and singer, he also serves as Canon for Music and the Arts at the Philadelphia Episcopal Cathedral (since 2010). He is Emeritus Professor of Music at Haverford College, where he directed the combined Choral and Vocal Studies Program for Haverford and Bryn Mawr Colleges from 1996-2018. The premier recording of his 70-minute choral-theater work Bonhoeffer was nominated for a 2017 Grammy in the Best Choral Performance category. As a singer, he has remained active as a tenor soloist in his role as cantor at the Cathedral and as a recitalist with Lyric Fest of Philadelphia.
Lloyd was named as the recipient of the 2024 Elaine Brown Award for Choral Excellence by the ACDA of Pennsylvania for lifetime achievement in the choral field. He has led twelve international choir tours involving collaborative concerts with local choirs.
His Haverford/Bryn Mawr chamber choir has shared concerts with host choirs in Mexico, Turkey, Ghana, Poland, Costa Rica, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela, as well as with the HBCU choirs of Howard, Lincoln, and Fisk Universities. He has led the Bucks County Choral Society on tours to Estonia (for the Estonia Song Fest), Russia, Romania, Hungary, Slovenia, Brazil, and Cuba.
Choirs under Lloyd’s direction have performed at conferences of Chorus America and the American Choral Directors Association. He also founded a nationally recognized “Singing for Seniors” program with the Bucks County Choral Society, bringing together senior choirs from all over the county for biannual festivals, with revered children’s choir conductor Helen Kemp as co-leader.
Lloyd has published and presented scholarly articles on topics including the African-American spiritual, sacred jazz for choirs, teaching sacred music in secular contexts, the music of Hans Gal, and cross-cultural tour collaborations. He has been featured on public television and radio throughout the Philadelphia region, most recently in a segment on WHYY's Friday Arts program. Lloyd holds degrees from the Oberlin Conservatory (BM bassoon), Yale Divinity School (MAR pastoral theology), and the Yale School of Music (MM voice and opera).
He also studied at the Tanglewood, Blossom, and Salzburg festivals. Following a ten-year interlude as an IT manager on Wall Street, where he rose to the level of Vice President at Prudential Securities, Lloyd returned to music in the doctoral program in conducting at the University of Illinois, where he completed the DMA in 1994. Thomas Lloyd's son, Jeremy, is also a Platinum Recording Artist as founding producer/composer of the electronic R&B band Marian Hill
For a complete listing of Lloyd’s compositions and articles, see http://www.thomaslloydmusic.com
Assistant Conductor - Susan Johnson
Susan Johnson has been a member of the Bucks County Choral Society since 1990. In August of 2019, she was asked to assume the position of Assistant Conductor in addition to her duties as Soprano Section Leader, a post that she has held since 2002.
Susan has also served on the Artistic Committee, as Chairman of the Outreach Committee and Vice President of the Choral Society. Singing in the Choir has been a family passion. She is proud to have followed in the footsteps of her father and mother-in-law, Wilbur and Norma Johnson, who joined the Choral Society shortly after it was founded. Her husband Edward, and daughter Amy, also sing with the Choir.
Prior to her retirement as a music educator of 32 years, Susan taught in the Council Rock School District, the Centennial School District, and Williamsport Area School District as an elementary and junior high school classroom, choral and instrumental teacher.
She has also held numerous positions as a director of music/organist with several churches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. Susan is also the current director of the Pine Run Village Voices, a choral ensemble from the Pine Run Retirement Community in Doylestown.
Accompanist - Timothy Harrell
Timothy Harrell is organist and choirmaster of Trinity Episcopal Church in Solebury, PA. He is a native of Portsmouth, Virginia, and is a graduate of Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA, with a B.S. in organ performance having studied with Dr. Charles Vogan. He also earned a Master of Music degree with dual majors in organ performance and church music at Westminster Choir College, where he studied with Joan Lippincott. Previous positions held before Trinity Solebury include: Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Trenton, NJ, St. John’s Episcopal Church in Olympia, WA, director of music and organist at Doylestown Presbyterian Church, organist at First United Church of Christ, Quakertown, PA, and organist at Cradock Baptist Church, Portsmouth, VA. Timothy also served as University Organist at Lehigh University in Bethlehem, PA for eleven years. In addition, he is a member of the male a capella group, Cordus Mundi.
Choir Section Leaders
Sopranos: Susan Johnson
Altos: Ruth Warneck
Tenors: George Caucci
Basses: Steve Rowe
Information Systems Consultant - Michelle Mueller
Michelle Mueller has sung with BCCS since 1996. She manages data systems for fundraising, marketing, and administrative purposes and serves on marketing, fundraising, and finance committees. In addition to her role as BCCS data systems consultant, she teaches business and computer courses for Strayer University, and is a business systems consultant for Waters Heating & Cooling, Doylestown. Before coming to Doylestown, she grew up on a South Dakota farm, served in the U.S. Army in Thailand during the Viet Nam War, and worked for Mobil Exploration & Production in Dallas, Texas. She has a B.S. degree in Geological Engineering from South Dakota School of Mines & Technology, a M.B.A. degree from the University of Texas at Arlington, and a M.S.degree in Information Systems from Drexel University. Her diverse work roles have included farm hand, silver miner, army engineer officer, exploration geophysicist, computer group supervisor, scientific research advisor, marketing vice president, software engineer, data systems consultant, business manager, and adjunct professor. She has two grown children who also live in Doylestown.
Bookkeeper - Heather Beyer
Heather Beyer is an accountant/bookkeeper for various clients in both the nonprofit and private sectors. She also holds the position of Financial Controller at KBZ Communications Inc, a distributor of Cisco telecommunications equipment. She has a Bachelors Degree in Business Administration from Gettysburg College.
Heather lives in Doylestown with her husband and 3 children. In her spare time she enjoys family ski trips, playing tennis and gardening.