President: Lyn Loewi
Lyn H. Loewi has been a church musician, teacher, and recitalist for forty years. Her interest in women composers began in 1983 with a DMA dissertation on women composers for the organ. She is a member of the AGO IDEA Committee (Inclusion, Diversity, Equity, and Accessibility,) President of the Women's Sacred Music Project, and a contributor to the database of sacred choral music by women, A Great Host of Composers. Her leading role in creating our 2023 Resounding Voices hymnal was born of a desire to honor the founders of our 2003 hymnal Voices Found. She is glad that the project has focused our understanding of what women (those who identify as women) bring to sacred song: the deconstruction of an exclusively White male view of God and a more complete vision of The Holy One. Loewi is Director of Music at Christ Church Capitol Hill in Washington D.C. She has held positions at St. John's Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, (Washington, DC), St. John's Cathedral in Denver, Colorado, St. Mary's Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception and First Presbyterian Church in Portland, Oregon, and Webster Groves Presbyterian Church in St. Louis, Missouri. She has taught at Portland State University and the University of Minnesota and played recitals at Notre Dame in Paris, in Japan, and in Germany.
Vice President: Tonya Taylor-Dorsey, Director, Archdiocese of Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir
Tonya Taylor-Dorsey is currently the Director of the Philadelphia Catholic Gospel Mass Choir, Archdiocese of Philadelphia—Office for Black Catholics, and the Minister of Music at St. Martin de Porres Church, in Philadelphia, PA. Her vocal compositions have been performed at various venues around the United States, including Juilliard, and she is noted for creating the musical score for the stage play ManShop that debuted on Philadelphia’s Avenue of the Arts. She has held workshops and webinars on such subjects as The Importance of Reading Music, Increasing the Music Ministry, and Music in the Catholic Church from an African American and Hispanic Perspective. Tonya was the first woman to serve as Musical Director of the National Black Catholic Congress, for its twelfth meeting. She holds a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Texas at San Antonio. For more information about Tonya visit her website: www.TonyaDorsey.net
Treasurer: Susan Stern, Self-Employed (Radnor, PA)
Susan Stern currently owns an executive services company, working in the Philadelphia region. She began her career as a registered nurse, taking time to raise her family. Upon return to the workforce she spent 15 years as a Business Manager of a local church. Susan has spent over 30 years volunteering for a variety of organizations, using her financial acumen skills to support the mission of the organization. She is currently serving on the Radnor Township School District Board of School Directors. First elected in 2013, she served as President for three years during the challenges posed by the pandemic. She holds a Bachelor of Science in Nursing from the University of Pennsylvania.
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Rosa Abrahams – Department Chair and Associate Professor of Music Theory, Ursinus College
Dr. Rosa Abrahams (she/her/hers) is Department Chair and Associate Professor of Music Theory at Ursinus College. Her research, informed by music cognition and music philosophy, focuses primarily on embodied musical experiences in Jewish liturgical settings and on curriculum expansion and reform in music theory pedagogy. Rosa holds a Ph.D. and an M.Mus. in music theory and cognition from Northwestern University, and a B.Mus. in music theory from the Eastman School of Music. She has served on the Women’s Sacred Music Project board since 2020.
Michelle Kardos – Director of Education, the American Guild of Organists
Dr. Michelle Kardos, DMA, MT-BC, CAGO (she/they) is an organist, educator, and music therapist based in Los Angeles, California. They serve as Director of Education for the American Guild of Organists, where they lead national programs that support organists at every stage through certifications, scholarships, and creative educational initiatives. Michelle also serves as Sub-Dean of the Los Angeles Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
Michelle is Assistant Organist at Pasadena Presbyterian Church, where she regularly collaborates with choirs and ensembles in both worship and concert settings. Their work is grounded in a deep love of sacred music and a commitment to creating meaningful, inclusive musical experiences.
She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in Sacred Music from the University of Southern California, a Master of Music in Sacred Music from Duquesne University, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Therapy from Seton Hill University. She also holds both a Pastoral Ministry Certificate and a Sacred Music Certificate from Seton Hill University. Their doctoral research, “Unheard Voices: Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion of Sacred Music in the United States,” continues to shape their work as an educator and musician, with a particular focus on expanding organ repertoire to include underrepresented composers and voices.
Michelle has served in a wide range of church music roles across California and Pennsylvania and has performed in recitals, festivals, and American Guild of Organists events throughout the United States. As both a certified organist and board-certified music therapist, they bring a thoughtful, people-centered perspective to their work.
Outside of music, Michelle enjoys gardening, playing Dungeons & Dragons, and spending time at home with their cats, Kiki and Ushi.
Louise Mundinger – Music Director, Cathedral Church of St. Paul (Boston, MA)
Louise Mundinger is the Music Director at the Cathedral Church of St. Paul, Boston and the Diocese of Massachusetts. She won the Frank Huntington Beebe award for musicians, for organ study in Germany, and is a prize winner in the San Anselmo Organ Improvisation Competition. She has been commissioned to write new music by the American Guild of Organists, The American Composers Forum, and the Diocese of Massachusetts. Her articles have appeared in The American Organist and Musforum. Louise Mundinger was awarded the Talbot Baker Teaching Award at Milton Academy. She is a past Dean of the Boston Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (BAGO), and was director of the AGO National New Music committee.
Rev. Jack Reiffer – Pastor (ret.); Treasurer, Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC
Jack Reiffer is a retired pastor and current member of St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette Square, in Washington, DC. He served for ten years on a denominational hymnal revision committee in the ‘80s and chaired the text subcommittee of that project. Jack has served as organist and choir member in several congregations. He is also a longtime singer and leader in the Gay Men’s Chorus of Washington, DC. At St. John’s Church Jack teaches an adult Bible study, chairs the pastoral care ministry team, and fills several roles in worship leadership.
Rev. Victoria Sirota – Chaplain and Canon
Victoria R. Sirota, an Episcopal priest, organist and author, has degrees from Oberlin College, Boston University, and the Harvard
University Divinity School. She has served congregations in Baltimore, Yonkers and the Cathedral of Saint John the Divine in New York
City. Former National Chaplain for the American Guild of Organists and the Association of Anglican Musicians, Rev. Dr. Sirota is
the author of articles, reviews and texts for hymns, cantatas and song cycles. She has played recitals in the United States and Europe, and
is recorded on Northeastern, Gasparo, and Albany Records. Her book Preaching to the Choir: Claiming the Role of Sacred Musician is available from Church Publishing.
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Lisa Neufeld Thomas – Founder and President Emerita of the Board
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