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Meet our Professional Staff

Artistic Director, Joyce Keil

Sets the Artistic vision for the organization and is responsible for all artistic and educational activities, conducts the Concert Group, the Full Festival Concert Chorus and Young Men's Ensemble, and oversees the Music Faculty and musical direction of the other groups.

Joyce Keil, Artistic Director and co-founder of Ragazzi, has served as panelist, adjudicator and guest conductor for music teachers and choirs throughout the Western United States.

An experienced teacher, she has served on the faculties of the College of Holy Names, Notre Dame de Namur University and Lick-Wilmerding High School in San Francisco.  

She is the founder of the choral program and advanced placement music theory curriculum at Crystal Springs Uplands School.

Ms. Keil has served as Western Division Chair of the Boychoir Committee for the American Choral Directors Association and has sat on the College Board for Advanced Placement Music Exams.

Ragazzi, under Joyce Keil’s leadership, was cited in the November 22, 1998 S.F. Chronicle as one of the four elite youth choruses in the Bay Area.

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Assistant Artistic Director and Vocal Coach
Jennifer Cowgill

Assists the Artistic Director with Concert Group, the Full Festival Concert Chorus and the Young Men's Ensemble.

Jennifer Cowgill, Assistant Artistic Director, has been a soprano finalist in competitions in the Midwest and the Bay Area, including the Henry and Maria Holt Competition (honorable mention) and the National Association of Teachers of Singing, San Francisco Bay Area (winner, oratorio division) for which she received the Emerging Artist Award.  She holds degrees from the San Francisco Conservatory of Music and Illinois Wesleyan University, and teaches performing arts classes at the Harker School in San José.  Jennifer made her West Bay Opera debut singing the role of the Lady-in-Waiting in Macbeth.  Her other operatic performances in the Bay Area include the roles of Belinda (Purcell, Dido and Aeneas), Erminio (Scarlatti, Il trionfo dell’onore), and the Dew Fairy (Hansel and Gretel), as well as Pamina (Die Zauberflöte), First Niece (Peter Grimes), Zerlina (Don Giovanni), Marie (The Bartered Bride), and the title role in Ibert’s Angélique in opera scene performances. Concert performances include Bach’s Der Herr ist mein getreuer Hirt and Pergolesi’s Magnificat with the Stanford Summer Chorus and Orchestra, and Handel’s Messiah and Rutter’s Requiem with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Burlingame.  Most recently, Jennifer appeared in recital in central Italy, notably with the Bel Canto Institute in Florence and Il Teatro della Memoria in Bagnacavallo.

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Director of Ragazzi Premiere, Craig Morey

Craig Morey earned his Bachelors Degree in Music Education from Ohio State University where he majored in both voice and percussion and obtained his credential to teach public school music. While there, he served as president of the Ohio State University Symphonic Choir, studied conducting and sang under the direction of Dr. Maurice Casey, who for many years assisted Robert Shaw conducting the Cleveland Orchestra Chorus. While at Ohio State University, Craig won the Richard DeSelm Award and Scholarship for most outstanding choral musician.

Craig has traveled extensively, performing and touring with a variety of musical shows and has taught private voice and percussion lessons. He has studied voice formally with several renowned teachers including Joyce Koch of the Koch Studio in Cleveland while in high school and Bill Whitesides while at Ohio State University. Since moving to California, Craig has studied with David Rohrbaugh, director of the San Jose Opera.

Since receiving his Juris Doctor Degree and setting up his law practice, Craig has sung with the San Jose Opera, recorded with the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus, and toured internationally with the San Francisco Bay Area Chamber Choir. With his wife Kathy, Craig co-founded and still co-directs Kids Alive! and Lumina, two youth choirs based at Trinity Presbyterian church in San Carlos. He is regularly asked to guest-conduct other choirs. For Ragazzi, he has also served as Board President and for the last ten years has directed summer camp.

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Theory Director, Carol Panofsky

Directs the theory program for the entire Chorus which serves to teach the boys to read music and to understand the theoretical foundation of the music they are singing.

Carol Panofsky, Theory Director and Music Librarian, can be heard in performances of the Albany Consort, the Santa Cruz Chamber Players, and, on occasion, with the Santa Cruz County Symphony, Carmel Bach Festival, Palo Alto Chamber Orchestra, Magnificat, and Ragazzi.

She is an active free-lance musician, which has provided her with opportunities to perform on both coasts as well as in Italy, Croatia, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hong Kong, China, and Korea.

She received a Master of Music in the Performance of Early Music from the New England Conservatory of Music. She performs and teaches early music, modern oboe, and piano, and has been on the faculties at the Music School of the University of Idaho and at U.C. Santa Cruz. She has many private music students, both children and adults.

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Director Primary Groups, Kathy Morey

Kathryn Morey earned a Bachelors Degree in Music and Education from Bethany College and a second Bachelors Degree from California State University Hayward in Music Performance. Not long thereafter she was awarded a Masters Degree in Vocal Performance from San Jose State University. While in school, she performed extensively with different choirs, studied conducting with Dr. Noel Wilson and studied voice with Velma Kienel, Merlin Mitchell, Tom Acord and David Rohrbaugh, musical director of San Jose Opera.

While working on her Masters Degree, she performed regularly with San Jose Opera, winning roles in: Amahl and the Night Visitors, Beggar’s Opera, Cosi Fan Tutte, Magic Flute, Many Moons, Marriage of Figaro and Suor Angelica. She has also been featured as soprano soloist in a variety of recitals and concerts some of which include Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s St. John Passion, Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Charpentier’s Te Deum, Saint Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Orff’s Carmina Burana. Kathryn has appeared on the Berkeley Trinity Concert Series in recital with classical guitarist Mori Achen, in recital with her husband, Craig, and as soprano soloist with the Pacific String Quartet.

Kathryn frequently works as an accompanist and vocal coach and continues to maintain a busy private voice and piano studio. She co-directs two other youth choirs, Kids Alive! and Lumina, with her husband Craig. For Ragazzi, she has assisted in many ways over the years, most recently as an accompanist and vocal coach for Ragazzi summer camp.

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Director Primary Groups, Jane Rinard

Jane Rinard is thrilled to be working with Ragazzi Boys Chorus. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Comparative Literature from UC Berkeley, where she studied literature in English and French as well as music. Her Master’s Degree in Music Education with a Kodály emphasis is from Holy Names University in Oakland.

Ms. Rinard has been teaching music in the Bay Area for the past ten years. She currently teaches general music at San Francisco Day School and conducts Allegra, one of the training groups at the Peninsula Girls Chorus. She worked as the Assistant Conductor of Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir’s Concert Choir under the direction of Martina Benvenuto, from 2007 – 2009, taught private piano and voice lessons throughout the Bay Area, and served on the board of the Northern California Association of Kodály Educators.

Ms. Rinard enjoys singing music of many genres, and has performed with numerous Bay Area choirs, including Volti and the San Francisco Bach Choir. In her spare time she enjoys salsa dancing, hiking, and cooking.

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Director Primary Groups, Laura Jeanne Ruppert

Laura Jeanne Ruppert joins Ragazzi with an enthusiasm for sharing the joy of music with children.  After earning a master’s degree in music education with Kodály emphasis from Holy Names University, she began teaching choral and general music classes to preschool, elementary and middle school students at San Francisco Girl’s Chorus, Marin Girl’s Chorus, San Francisco Day School and Ring Mountain Day School.

Ms. Ruppert received a full-tuition scholarship to complete a master’s degree in vocal performance from Portland State University.  She has sung professionally with San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Portland Opera, Oregon Symphony, Portland Summerfest, Chicago Folks Operetta, and Opera Theater of Oregon.  She has been an oratorio soloist in productions of Bach’s Magnificat, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Mozart’s Missa Brevis, and Handel’s Messiah.  Her operatic and musical theater roles include Gretel (Hansel and Gretel), Pamina and Papagena (Magic Flute), Lucia (Rape of Lucretia), Elvira (Don Giovanni), Serpina (La Serva Padrona), Adele (Die Fledermaus), Hodel (Fiddler on the Roof), and Maria (Sound of Music). 

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Accompanist, Sarah Wannamaker

After earning a Master’s degree in organ at Iowa and teaching music theory at the University of Wisconsin, Sarah is a newcomer in the Bay Area. Her musical interests focus on twentieth century music; last year, she was a National Endowment for the Humanities scholar to study the intersection of music and politics in modernist Europe. She is currently organist at First United Methodist Church in Palo Alto. As a freelance keyboardist and harpist, Sarah has discovered the Bay Area while traveling to choral concerts, weddings, and dinner parties. In her free time, Sarah enjoys quilting, riding her motorcycle, and working towards her pilot’s license.

Accompanist, Peter Bassford

As a child, Mr. Bassford enjoyed music and was always singing. He began to study piano at age 8, but it wasn’t until he started learning clarinet through the public school music program, that music really became the primary focus of life. During his teen years, he played in bands, sang in choirs, and acted in high school musicals. At San Francisco State University, he focused his music study on piano and took degrees in Piano Performance and Music Education. After college, Mr. Bassford worked for Band of America while pursuing music through church work as an organist and choir director and through community theater both as an actor/singer and music director. Twelve years ago, Mr. Bassford changed careers and is now teaching music in the Burlingame public schools. As well as accompanying for Ragazzi, he is organist at First Presbyterian Church of Burlingame and Congregational Church of San Mateo

Accompanist, Marilyn Wells

After graduating from Arizona State University with a Bachelor’s degree in choral education, Marilyn taught high school music and humanities in Tempe before moving to the Bay Area in 1984. Marilyn created and implemented the music curriculum for a magnet school in the area, teaching all grades from K-8, and has taught elementary music at the Ocean Shore School for the past 15 years. She has also directed adult and children’s choirs including a swing choir of college students and has a private piano studio. Marilyn’s three sons all joined Ragazzi and she has accompanied the various groups as her boys moved through the program. Her other passion is quilting and sewing and to the delight of many, she has generously donated her handwork for the Ragazzi auctions.

Substitute Director, Ross Morey

Ross Morey joined Ragazzi when he was six years old, and he hasn't stopped singing since.

Ross is the founding Executive Director of the Los Angeles A Cappella Festival (LA/AF) and founder of Bruin Harmony, UCLA's all-male a cappella group. Since its inception, Bruin Harmony has appeared in a major motion picture with Warner Bros., performed throughout the Western United States, and won awards, including the UCLA Prytanean Alumnae Award for Best A Cappella Group in 2007 and 2010.

In 2009, Ross co-lauched A Cappella Records, the first all-digital record label for a cappella music, and was honored to join the Board of Directors of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America.

Currently, Ross is a private music teacher specializing in voice and piano based out of Belmont, California.

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Substitute Director, Kent L. Jue

In addition to having served as Director of one of Ragazzi’s Premiere groups, Kent has taught general music, choral music, and string orchestra to students in grades pre K-12 in independent and public schools in California and Massachusetts for the past 20 years. He has served as the Music Department Coordinator at the San Francisco Day School and has conducted Children’s and Youth Choruses for the Preparatory Division of the San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Kent has also been a member of the California Association of Independent Schools Professional Services Committee and has presented workshops on teaching music to children at regional CAIS conferences. Kent received his Masters degree in Music Education with a Kodály Emphasis from Holy Names University and his Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree from the University of the Pacific. Kent currently teaches general music and directs the choruses at The Nueva School, a pre-K-8 independent school for gifted children in Hillsborough, CA. He is certified in the methodologies of Orff-Schulwerk and Kodaly. In his free time, Kent enjoys traveling, watching live performance, and following the world of amateur figure skating.

Music Librarian, Laura Graham

Maintains the music library

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