Choral Music

We offer St. Andrew's students three different avenues by which to practice and perform choral music: Foundations of Singing, the Andrean Ensemble, and Noxontones. Foundations of Singing and the Andrean Ensemble are our for-credit choral music courses, while Noxontones is an extracurricular a capella group. Foundations of Singing is open to all students regardless of prior experience, while students must have the permission of the instructor to join the Andrean Ensemble and to audition for Noxontones. Private voice lessons for any student are also available as scheduling allows.

Touring with the Andrean Ensemble was invaluable: it allowed me to connect to the pieces in our repertoire more profoundly. Whether we were singing an open worship service in St. Stephen’s Cathedral, Vienna, or an intimate recital at a conservatory in Slovakia, performing in diverse venues helped teach us as a choir musical nuances that can only be understood through traveling. My tours with the Andrean Ensemble were some of the most enjoyable times of both my high school and musical careers.

Andrean Ensemble Alum

Andrean Ensemble

The Andrean Ensemble is designed to develop the complete choral singer, and to cultivate a lifelong ability and love for music-making. Everything we do is designed to ensure that singers grow as individuals, as choral singers, and as interpreters of music. Graduates of the Andrean Ensemble program often go on to sing in some of the finest collegiate ensembles in the country. Repertoire comprises both larger works, such as Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Bach cantatas, and selections from Handel’s Messiah, as well as sacred and secular choral music from the Medieval to the present day, and from around the world.

As a singer in the Andrean Ensemble, students are given:

individual vocal instruction once every other week; developing their vocal technique, sight-singing, and aural skills,
specific and individualized practice of music theory and ear training skills using Musition and Auralia software,
the opportunity to perform frequently on campus and throughout the mid-Atlantic region, and
national and international choral tours and recordings in alternate years (most recently, to Cuba in 2015-16, and Bermuda in 2017-2018; a planned trip to sing in Croatia was cancelled in March 2020), and the opportunity to perform in notable venues throughout the country and the world.

Andrean Ensemble is open to students in all Forms with audition and permission. Andrean Ensemble is a yearlong, half-credit course that meets for two to three class periods per week. Students with little or no previous singing experience are encouraged to begin their vocal musical education in our Founder’s Choir course. Please contact Director of Choral Music Quinn Kerrane at qkerrane@standrews-de.org with questions about placement.

Recent Andrean Ensemble Performances

Arts Weekend 2023

Service of Lessons & Carols 2022

Parents Weekend 2022

Arts Weekend 2022

Parents Weekend 2022

Arts Weekend 2021

The Andrean Ensemble has performed in:

The White House
Cathedral of St. John the Divine—New York City
St. Paul's Church—K Street, Washington, D.C.
St. Stephen's Cathedral—Vienna, Austria
Bratislava Conservatory—Slovakia
Iglesia de Jesus de Miramar—Havana, Cuba

Noxontones

The Noxontones is a popular coed a cappella ensemble of 18 singers that rehearses twice weekly in the evenings and performs a number of times throughout the year. The focus of Noxontones is the American collegiate a cappella literature, including arrangements done especially for the group by the director. Noxontones is an extracurricular activity, not a for-credit course, and is open to all students by audition.

Arts Weekend 2021

Arts Day 2020 (Virtual)

Foundations of Singing

Our Foundations of Singing course is open to all students regardless of prior vocal experience, and focuses on building individual vocal technique and ensemble singing skills. Students learn basics of healthy singing through performance of a wide range of musical styles, as well as weekly small group or individual voice lessons, and sight singing and theory practice using Auralia and Musition software. Students perform at Arts Weekend, singing with both the Andrean Ensemble and Noxontones. This course also prepares singers who would like to audition to sing in the Andrean Ensemble or Noxontones the following year.

Private Lesson Faculty

Private voice lessons are available for all students (whether or not they participate in our of our choral music ensembles) for an additional fee. Students may take private voice lessons during the school day, evenings, or on weekends. Interested students should contact Quinn Kerrane at qkerrane@standrews-de.org.

Quinn Kerrane is St. Andrew's Director of Choral and Vocal Music. She joined the Music Department in 2004 as a private voice teacher and choral director of the Noxontones.

As a performer, Quinn specialized in Baroque and Renaissance music. She worked as a soloist with early music chamber groups in Colorado and Boston, and performed as a soloist and section leader at St. John Episcopal Cathedral, Denver, and Christ Church, Boston. While living in Boston Quinn also sang with early music choral groups Boston Bach, and Schola Cantorum, including performances at the Boston Early Music Festival and Bach festivals in New York.

Quinn also has varied experience as an elementary and middle school teacher. She taught for two years at a public school in Middletown, and two years in Colorado public schools. She earned her bachelor’s in music at the University of Delaware, and a graduate degree in pedagogy and vocal performance at the University of Colorado.

Gary Seydell has performed in regional opera houses throughout the United States and Italy and has been a soloist with several orchestras including the Buffalo Philharmonic, the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, Delaware Symphony Orchestra, Newark Symphony, Northern Kentucky Symphony and the Wheeling Symphony.

Mr. Seydell holds a Bachelor of Arts in Voice from the University of Delaware, a Master of Music in Vocal Performance and an Artist Diploma in Opera from The University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music.

Mr. Seydell currently holds the position of Assistant Director of Academic Advising at Wilmington University and has been adjunct professor of voice at the University of Delaware and Visiting Assistant Professor at The State University of New York (SUNY) College at Fredonia. He is a regular soloist for Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia and performs regularly throughout Delaware, Maryland, Pennsylvania and New Jersey. He has maintained a professional singing career for the last 20 years while working in higher education.