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.