artistic staff
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Richard Cole
Music Director
Richard Cole is in his 11th season as Music
Director of the North Coast Men’s Chorus after an
exciting season featuring the Chorus with both
Bernadette Peters and Armistead Maupin, not to mention
the Cleveland Jazz and Cleveland Pops Orchestras. Not
bad for a boy from Fremont, Ohio!
He joined the
chorus as a singer in 1989 and got actively involved
from the beginning by serving on the Board for several
years. Rich was tapped as the Chorus’ interim director
for the second half of the 1997-98 season before
accepting the permanent position. In addition to the
full chorus, Rich also directs The Coastliners, NCMC’s
small ensemble.
Rich graduated from Bowling
Green State University in 1981 with a bachelor of arts
degree in music education and frequently arranges and/or
transcribes pieces of music for the Chorus. By day, Rich
works for Xerox. Between working, rehearsing,
transcribing, arranging, scheduling, and computing, Rich
finds time to enjoy a good martini with his partner,
Bryan. Rich’s enthusiasm, energy and creativity have
been a catalyst for significant growth in both the
membership of the Chorus and its audiences. |
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Robert Day
Principal Accompanist
Robert Day, after assisting with some of the
accompanying duties in the late 1990s, made his debut as
the NCMC's Principal Accompanist in the June 2000
"Touching Hearts, Changing Lives" concerts. Since then,
he has accompanied the chorus in all concerts, special
appearances, NCMC benefits, at three GALA Chorus
Festivals, and on both recently released CDs. A native
Clevelander, Bob holds a Bachelor of Music Education
degree from Otterbein College, and a Master of Music
degree in Organ Performance from The Ohio State
University. Bob is recently retired from 30 years of
public school teaching in choral music, but still serves
as Organist at The Church Of The Saviour in Cleveland
Heights. He has also served as musical director for
numerous productions in and around the Cleveland area,
and accompanies for just about anyone and everything
when time permits! |
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Patrick Wickliffe
Coastliner's Accompanist
Patrick Wickliffe holds a Master of Music in
piano performance from the Cleveland Institute of Music.
He has received merit from all institutions with which
he has been associated and has been accepted to reputed
programs and festivals of music throughout the past
twelve years including Oberlin College Conservatory
where he earned a Bachelor of Music, Interlochen Arts
Academy from 1996-2000, and the Kent/Blossom Chamber
Music Festival where he studied with Joela Jones and
other key instrumentalists of the Cleveland Orchestra in
the summer of 2007. Mr. Wickliffe has often collaborated
in the promotion of new music as well. In 2000, John
Ross, former conductor of ensembles at Interlochen Arts
Academy, hailed him as "an exceptional talent...[with]
true potential." That year he also inducted Mr.
Wickliffe into Who's Who of American High School
Students. Recent engagements include collaborating in
various showcase recitals as well as developing a
working knowledge of operatic literature of the past
three hundred years in Opera Workshops at
Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory in 2007 and 2008,
collaborating in various vocal recitals at Cleveland
State Universtiy in 2007, and accompanying and solo
recitals at the Cleveland Institute of Music in Spring
of 2006 and 2007 featuring music of the Nineteenth and
Twentieth centuries. Mr. Wickliffe performed solo
recitals at Oberlin Conservatory in 2004 and 2005
featuring a portion of Olivier Messiaen's Catalogue
D'Oiseaux and enjoyed many collaborations there,
includign an exploration of music of the Baroque era
under the tutelage of Lisa Crawford and an Oberlin
Contemporary Music Ensemble performance of Steve Reich's
Music for Eighteen Musicians in 2002 with Timothy Weiss.
Mr. Wickliffe has enjoyed incorporating vocal and choral
performance into his musical life, performing occasional
solos with the North Coast Men's Chorus and having sung
in many Oberlin Conservatory vocal ensembles including
Oberlin College Choir and Musical Union with Dr. Hugh
Floyd, and Collegium Musicum with Dr. Stephen Plank from
2000-2004. Mr. Wickliffe has also worked with Dr. Jerry
Blackstone of the University of Michigan Ann-Arbor,
members the Soli Deo Gloria Cantorum with Jackson and
Almeda Berkey, and the Omaha Chamber Singers with Dr.
David Batter. Mr. Wickliffe is currently a staff
accompanist at Baldwin-Wallace College Conservatory and
holds a series of other somewhat prominent positions in
the Cleveland musical community and beyond including
Plymouth United Church of Christ in Shaker Heights where
he is assistant organist and intern to James Riggs, and
Opera Cleveland where he is newly appointed Assistant
Chorus Master to C.M. Shearer for their 2009 season.
This is Mr. Wickliffe's third season with the North
Coast Men's Chorus and his second season as accompanist
to the Coastliners. |
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Michael Rich
Technical Director
Michael Rich has been working in the theater
both professionally and non-professionally for over 30
years. Performing many duties including Stage Manager,
Master Electrician, Lighting Designer, Vari*Lite™
Programmer and Technical Director. Some credits are:
Cassidy: Songs for a New World, Jesus Christ Superstar,
Evita; Cleveland Opera: Die Fledermaus, Showboat, Il
Trovatore, Carousel, The Daughter of the Regiment,
Rigoletto, Cavalleria Rusticana/Pagliacci, The Magic
Flute. Michael has also worked with The Cleveland Ballet
Dancing Wheels, Cleveland Opera on Tour, CIM Opera, The
Ohio Ballet, and the Tom Everett Dance Company. Other
credits include, Driving Miss Daisy, Peter Pan, The
Phantom of the Opera, Hair, Fiddler on the Roof, A
Christmas Carol, Oliver! and West Side Story. Michael
has been lighting designer and Technical Director for
the North Coast Men’s Chorus for the past five seasons,
and looks forward to keeping the stage awash in color
and magic!
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Lora Workman
Choreographer
Lora Workman, our incomparable choreographer
is a graduate of Baldwin-Wallace Conservatory of Music.
She has worn many theatrical hats throughout the Greater
Cleveland area. She has performed in The Best Little
Whorehouse in Texas with Barbara Eden, The Student
Prince with Jerome Hines, Gentlemen Prefer Blondes with
Loni Anderson and at Cedar Point Amusement Park, and
with The 24-Hour Project at Dobama Theatre this past
summer. Most recently, she created The Cleveland Cabaret
Project and directed and produced the Cleveland Premiere
of Miss Gulch Returns, both which played in Kennedy's at
Playhouse Square Center. She also directed the
critically acclaimed The Will Rogers Follies at Berea
Summer Theatre and Songs for A New World at Paul W.
Cassidy Theatre, but is probably best known in this area
for her choreography and has worked on shows at The Beck
Center for the Arts (Annie & When Pigs Fly,) Cassidy
Theatre (Little Me, Working) and Huntington Theatre
(Cabaret), in addition to her continued work with the
North Coast Men 's Chorus. Her hilarious choreography
and staging of "Nutcracker Suite" in NCMC's Sugar Plum
Fairies earned her our ultimate award: "Queen of the
Fairies." By day, Lora is the Educators' Liaison at
Playhouse Square where she assists over 50,000 students
and teachers with the Discovery Theatre Series, Career
Days for Junior and Senior High School Students
coordinating the Rising Star Talent contest which occurs
during Centerfest in September. |
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Doug Braun
ASL Interpreter
Doug Braun has been part of the NCMC since
its inception. Braun graduated from Oberlin College in
1984. He completed the sign language interpreter
training program at Cleveland State University and
interprets at the Chorus’ performances. In 1991 Braun
earned his Master’s Degree in Social Work from the
Mandel School of Applied Social Sciences at Case Western
Reserve University. He is an openly gay Social Worker
with the Benjamin Rose Institute. Part of his job
includes working with Gray Pride, a social group for
gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender people over age
50. He is also active in the community and is a founding
member of Heights Families for Equality, the
organization that established a Domestic Partner
Registry in Cleveland Heights. |
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Denise Leslie
Stage Manager
Denise Leslie, affectionately known as
"Fluffy" to the chorus, is excited to be serving once
again as their Secretary. Although she has often served
as a volunteer secretary for church organizations, and
has been active in various capacities in community
theaters since 1977, she especially enjoys volunteering
for the Chorus. While the guys are on stage, she is the
one, as their Stage Manager, tending to their needs
backstage and preparing for the next "shtick", prop
need, or scene change. She is also the Chorus Volunteer
Coordinator and archivist. During the week, Denise is a
registered dietitian at Lutheran Hospital. She is a
church council member and liaison/chairperson of the
very active Peace and Justice Ministry of Hope Lutheran
Church in Cleveland Heights and the convener of the
Cleveland Chapter of Lutherans Concerned, a chapter of
the international Lutheran organization that advocates
within the church for GLBT people of faith and their
families. |
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