In Memoriam

Dr. Michele Holt is a graduate of the University of Rhode Island where she received both a Bachelor of Music and a Masters of Arts in Music Education.  She received a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting at the Hartt School of Music where she completed research in Laban Movement Theory and its application to choral conducting and performance.  Michele has studied conducting with James Jordan, Rodney Eichenberger, Elaine Brown, Howard Swan, Gerald Mack, Peter Bagley and Allen Lannom. Dr. Holt served as Director of Choral Activities at Providence College from 1997-2009 and as Professor in Residence at the University of Connecticut from 2009-2012. Currently, Dr. Holt is Coordinator of Music Education at the University of Rhode Island where she also teaches Choral Conducting. 

Michele has conducted All State and Regional Festivals in Connecticut, New York, Vermont, New Hampshire, Maine, Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Florida and has been clinician to numerous choral adjudication festivals, including the Manhattan Choral Festival, East Tennessee Vocal Association and Florida Vocal Arts Association. In 2012-13, she conducted the Suffolk County Music Festival Chorus in Long Island, New York as well as the Massachusetts Eastern District Chorus. She has been an active adjudicator for All State auditions throughout the New England area and has been a clinician at both state and divisional conferences. Michele has presented sessions at several state and regional conferences including NAfME National Convention held in Minneapolis, MN, the Massachusetts, Rhode Island and Connecticut Music Educators State Conferences, as well as the NAfME Eastern Division Bi-Annual Conference held in Providence, Rhode Island.

Dr. Holt is a very active member of the American Choral Directors Association and is Past National President having served from 2003-2005.  She has been on the steering committee for two national conferences in Los Angeles and San Antonio. She is currently the Executive Director of the Massachusetts Music Educators Association and is also Past President of both Rhode Island ACDA and ACDA Eastern Division.  As President of Rhode Island ACDA, she was instrumental in helping to establish ACDA’s visibility at RI state conferences by providing ACDA-sponsored choral clinics and reading sessions in the state. As President of the Eastern Division, Michele acted as coordinator for the highly successful Eastern Division Convention held in Providence, RI. Beginning in 1986, Michele served on eight consecutive division convention planning committees including conventions held in Philadelphia, Boston, Washington, Baltimore and Providence. 

Dr. Holt’s recent publication, The School Choral Program published by GIA has been a successful contribution to the field of secondary music education and has also been a contributing author to the third edition of Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir published by GIA in 2011.