The Concord Chorale is pleased to announce that they have named Kristofer Johnson as permanent Music Director, beginning with the 2011-2012 concert season. Kristofer Johnson is director of vocal and choral music at Proctor Academy in Andover, NH. He teaches studio voice and conducts the Chamber Choir, the Alice Fowler Singers, and the lyric theater productions. Under his baton, the Proctor choirs have been heard on performance tours of Great Britain, southeastern Europe, Chine, Hong Kong, and the United States.

Kris is an active recitalist, tenor soloist, and vocal clinician. In the Granite State, he has conducted the All-New England Choral Festival, performed as soloist with Manchester Choral Society and Plymouth State choirs, and hosted the National Association of Teachers of Singing regional workshop. Kris is the former assistant music director of the New Hampshire Master Chorale.

A life-long educator, Kris has taught at the Blair School of Music (Vanderbilt University), Plymouth State University, Oberlin Conservatory, Vocal Academy for High School Students and Canterbury School. Students from his programs have been accepted into the nation’s leading conservatories and schools of music. As a conductor and teacher, Kris has fostered a special interest in the fundamentals of vocal technique in the choral rehearsal.

Kris holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from Oberlin College Conservatory of Music and the Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Illinois, Champaign-Urbana. Principle conducting teachers are Don V. Moses, Hugh Floyd, Ed Maclary, and Fred Stoltzfus. Voice teachers are Jonathan Retzlaff, Ronald Hedlund, and Gerald Crawford.

Kris lives in Andover with his wife (and high school sweetheart) Janine and their two Chinook dogs. He is an avid hiker, backpacker, and cook.

Molly Wood, accompanist, is a free-lance collaborative pianist who performs regularly with vocalists, instrumentalists, chamber groups, and dancers in the New England area. A frequent performer of new music, she served as rehearsal coach and performance pianist for four years for OperaHub and Guerilla Opera, groups dedicated to performing new and accessible opera works. In the spring of 2008 she cofounded zradci, a new music ensemble dedicated to giving unique musical performances and experiences. Along with her active performance schedule, she works as a staff pianist at Boston University, plays at the Boston Ballet School, accompanies the Merrimack Concert Association's chorus, teaches at the Nashua Community Music School, and accompanies the choir and services at Arlington Street Church on piano and organ.

During the fall of 2009, Molly participated in the Oxford Lieder Mastercourse held in Oxford, England. This week-long course, designed and led by pianist Sholto Kyochand featuring soprano Sarah Walker, combined daily masterclasses and live performances. She and her partner, soprano Rebekah Alexander, worked together towards a final concert at the hall, and received a positive review about their "intelligent musicianship" in the Oxford University magazine.

During the summer of 2008 she served as Staff Pianist to the instrumental workshops and vocal program of the internationally-acclaimed high school training festival Boston University Tanglewood Institute (BUTI). Her festival participation includes staff pianist work during the summer of 2007 for the flute and clarinet workshops at BUTI, vocal coaching for the Richard Crittenden Vocal Workshop in Boston, and pianist at SongFest, an art song program for singers and collaborative pianists, held at Pepperdine University in Malibu, California.

Molly earned her Master of Music degree in collaborative piano from Boston University as a student of Shiela Kibbe. While there she played keyboards in the Boston University Wind Ensemble and the Time's Arrow New Music Ensemble, and collaborated with student composers in premiers of chamber works. Molly holds a bachelor's degree in piano performance from Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Molly's teachers include Shiela Kibbe, Robert Merfeld, Kate Boyd, Andrew Russo, Panayis Lyras, and Sarah Gierzynski. Recently she has participated in masterclasses with Malcolm Martineau, Roger Vignoles, and Eugene Asti; she has coached with vocalists under the direction of Martin Katz, Rudolf Jansen, and Marvin Hamlisch as well as worked with composers John Harbison, Jake Heggie, and Ricky Ian Gordon.