Louise Chernosky

Dr. Louise Chernosky is a choral and instrumental music director, pianist, and arranger. She holds a BM in Music Education and piano with high distinction from the Eastman School of Music, and received her MA in Musicology and Music Theory from SUNY Buffalo. She earned her PhD in Historical Musicology from Columbia University in 2012, where she was the editor-in-chief of the journal Current Musicology and wrote her dissertation about National Public Radio’s commissions of experimental music.

Louise is currently the staff Music Director at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Monmouth County, a vibrant, 300-member community, where she has fostered a collaborative music program for all ages, including youth and adult choirs, a ukulele ensemble, and directed larger scale choral productions with orchestra and chamber ensembles. Recent productions include Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Britten’s Ceremony of Carols, Bach’s Cantata BWV 140 (“Wachet Auf”), Vivaldi’s Gloria RV 589, and Thompson’s Frostiana.

In addition to solo work, teaching, conducting, coaching, accompanying, and academic writing, Louise is a versatile musician: she plays harpsichord, celeste, and harmonium, and has performed with Lila Muni (a Balinese Gamelan ensemble), Sladki Doumi (a Bulgarian Women’s Chorus), Charites and Columbia University’s Collegium Musicum (New York-based Early Music ensembles), Shrewsbury Chorale, and Turtle United (a contradance band focusing on American, Irish, and French-Canadian fiddle tunes). She is happy to support public school music programs in the NJ area as a guest accompanist.

Samantha Gordon is a choral conductor, music educator, and singer. Samantha grew up in Cranford and was a member of the Celebration Singers Youth Choir from 2007-2016. She currently resides in Englewood, but often visits her family and two crazy dogs (Rosie and Tucker) in Cranford.


Samantha graduated Westminster Choir College in 2020, summa cum laude, with a BM in Music Education and voice. As a professional choral singer, she has performed with the Philadelphia and Julliard Orchestra in the concert halls of Carnegie Hall, the Kimmel Center, Lincoln Center and the National Cathedral in Washington DC. She has recorded two CDs with the grammy nominated Westminster Williamson Voices: Aurora and A Scattered Light in Winter. Samantha has toured nationally and internationally with several WCC choirs, including a choral residency at Oxford University.


Currently Samantha works as a K-5 general/vocal music teacher in Clifton and is the Music Director for Hillside Avenue School musicals in Cranford. She is also a staff singer at the United Reformed Church in Somerville.