About ACCA
Founded in 2001 by Liz Barrett, All Children's Chorus of Annapolis (ACCA) is a community chorus that strives for vocal excellence, diversity in our membership, and making a difference in the lives of our children by teaching them the rewards of hard work, team play and service to the community. A non-profit 501(c)(3) Maryland corporation, ACCA has an Artistic Director, Business Manager, Voice Teacher and Accompanist. The corporation is governed by a Board of Directors.
We are proud of our comprehensive vocal education program that includes regular individual vocal instruction for each child. Our weekly rehearsals focus on vocal technique, ear training, Kodály solfege exercises, and performance discipline. Approximately twelve or more performances during the school year are held at various locations throughout the area. Highlight performances include a recent tour to Paris, singing with the Barenaked Ladies at the Meyerhoff Symphony Hall, Holiday Sing at the Hippodrome, formal concerts with Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Annapolis Opera and Opera AACC, singing at the U. S. Naval Academy Chapel, participation at area festivals, the annual Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial Breakfast, the Young Voices of Maryland Choral Festival, the Boys and Girls Club, celebrations for local VIP’s, sing-a-longs, memorial celebrations, and outreach concerts. Civic-minded professional area musicians will accompany the children from time to time.
The members of ACCA are serious about their music. There are three levels for children ages 7 to 18: Training Chorus, Treble Chorus and Chamber Singers. The artistic directors select music carefully to ensure the artistic merit, the challenge to the children, and a diversity of styles. The music transcends cultural and theological boundaries, from old Welsh folksongs to the classics of the old masters to the best of contemporary composers. The Chorus has been cited by the County Executive for a commitment to excellence and diversity. Members of the chorus have been selected to participate in the highly regarded All-State Choruses, Honor Choirs of the American Choral Directors Association conferences, as well as having landed roles with most regional theater companies including Washington National Opera. ACCA is the pride of Annapolis.
We welcome and actively seek children from different racial, ethnic and cultural backgrounds and neighborhoods. Our children attend different places of worship and schools in Annapolis and the surrounding areas. Our music provides the choristers the opportunity to sing in different languages and across the boundaries of other cultures and theologies. Membership is by audition. Our funds are raised through tuition, fundraising projects, an annual fundraising concert, and private and corporate donations.
Managing Artistic Director, Julie Culotta,
earned her Bachelor of Music degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Maryland. As the Artistic Director of All Children’s Chorus of Annapolis, she directs all 3 ensembles; the Training Chorus, Treble Chorus and Chamber Singers. Mrs. Culotta began her work with ACCA in April of 2006 as a rehearsal assistant and in the fall of 2007, she became the Assistant Director of ACCA. Her addition to the Artistic Staff allowed ACCA the ability to expand into multiple ensembles to better serve the students of different ages and musical ability levels. In the fall of 2007, Mrs. Culotta began the Chamber Singers for ACCA’s most advanced choristers, age 13-18, and in 2008, she started the Training Chorus to give beginning singers an introduction to choral singing and ACCA. In addition to her work with All Children’s Chorus of Annapolis, Mrs. Culotta currently serves as the Director of Choral Music at North Harford Middle School in Harford County, Maryland. At North Harford, she teaches over 220 sixth, seventh and eighth grade students in 3 different choral ensembles. Her choirs have received Superior and Excellent ratings at both County and State Choral Adjudications. She also teaches piano and guitar to 8th grade general music students.
Prior to her to teaching at North Harford Middle School, Mrs. Culotta was an active member of the University of Maryland, performing with the highly regarded Chamber Singers, directing a female classical vocal ensemble, Femmes de Chanson, and directing the music for the Catholic Student Center’s student masses held on campus. Her primary vocal teachers and coaches include Dr. Martha Randall and Dr. Ed Maclary.
The daughter of two musicians, Mrs. Culotta’s passion for choral music developed at an early age as she sang in the Frederick Children’s Chorus under the direction of Mrs. Judy DuBose. She began in the FCC Training Chorus at age 10 and continued singing with the Frederick Chamber Singers until her graduation from Middletown High School.
Mrs. Culotta is also an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Conference, and the Maryland Music Educator’s Association. She currently resides in Bel Air, MD with her husband Dave.
Accompanist, Dana Nichole Scott, a talented musician, is a collaborative pianist and conductor in the DC and Baltimore area. She recently conducted the premier of Moia in el Closet at the Gala Theatre in DC and was host and accompanist for Washington National Opera’s High School Institute at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Among many other theatrical productions, Ms. Scott performed Suor Angelica with Little Patuxent Opera Institute, Magic Flute with Opera AACC, Gallentry with Harbor Opera at the Walters Art Museum, and was rehearsal pianist for The Boys from Syracuse with Center Stage. At the Kennedy Center, Ms. Scott worked as a rehearsal pianist with Jerry Herman, Christine Baranski, and Jeff McCarthy in Mame. She served two seasons as the Music Director for FBN Production’s The Three Little Pigs, an opera outreach program in S.C. Ms Scott also performs with Arundel Vocal Arts Society, Bach in Baltimore, and Opera AACC. She can be heard at Germano’s Trattoria with Ms. Branda Lock and is the pianist/organist at Emmanuel United Methodist Church. Ms. Scott is the piano instructor, jazz ensemble director, and staff accompanist for the Saint James School in Hagerstown. She also has a small private studio in the Laurel area.
Ms. Scott received high collaborative marks in the D.C. Vocal Arts Society Competition, and was a semi-finalist in the 2007 William Garrison Piano Competition. As a soloist, she is a winner of the Sidney DeKnight Piano Competition (PA), a national competition committed to promoting aspiring ethnic musicians. She was a frequent soloist with the Imperial Symphony Orchestra in Lakeland, FL, and was a recitalist on the Mary Baker Eddy Library Millenium and James George Charitable Trust Series in Boston, MA.
Ms. Scott received her Master of Music degree in Ensemble Arts: Vocal Accompanying from Peabody with Eileen Cornett. She completed her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from New England Conservatory of Music.
Founding Director (Retired), Liz Barrett has had a lifelong involvement in volunteer service, music and performance in the Annapolis area. A graduate of Mount Holyoke College, she continues her study of music, and sings with choral groups, women’s ensembles, and church choirs. She has served on the Boards of Annapolis Opera, Colonial Players, and Children’s Theater of Annapolis, and has
Facing retirement, she wanted to give back to the community while working at something she enjoys. She founded the Chorus in 2001 and has never looked back. Helping these children strive for excellence in choral singing has given her satisfaction beyond anything she could have imagined. She feels blessed that her life is so meaningful.
Liz was awarded the 2009 Martin Luther King Humanitarian Award from the Human Relations Commission of the City of Annapolis, and she is a 2008 recipient of the YWCA Tribute to Women and Industry (TWIN) award. A member of the American Choral Directors Association, she has received an award of merit for volunteerism by the Junior League of Annapolis and for commitment to diversity from the Dr Martin Luther King Jr. Annual Breakfast Committee. With a lifelong commitment to social justice, she has received numerous executive citations, including a recent one from Congressman Chris Van Hollen, for her work with the Chorus and to combat racism by furthering the work of Dr Martin Luther King. She was featured as the Capital's Volunteer of the Week.
Board of Directors:
Darren Burns, Chairman of the Board
Stephen Logansmith, Treasurer
Liz Barrett, Founder/Director, Retired
Bronte Jones, Member-at-Large
Lauren Smith, Member-at-Large
Christiana Logansmith, Member-at-Large
Tom Smith, Tax Accountant