Knox Christian Arts Ministries

Staff

Director of Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries and Conductor of the Choir and Men’s Ensemble, holds the degree of Bachelor of Arts with Honors in Music, summa cum laude, from Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, NC.  She holds the degrees of Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts in Voice Performance from The University of Michigan.

For eight years she was Professor of Music and chair of the music program at Johnson Bible College in Knoxville, where she taught choral conducting, studio voice, and music theory and directed the college choirs and traveling ensembles.

She works periodically as the Children’s Chorus Director for the Knoxville Opera Company and for ten years was the Co-Director of the Knoxville Children’s Choir.  She has directed children’s, youth, and adult church choirs in North Carolina, Michigan, and Tennessee, most recently as the Sanctuary Choir Director at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in Knoxville.  Ensembles under her direction have sung in Chicago, Boston, New York, Orlando, and Williamsburg; and internationally in England, Poland, Austria, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Peru.

Her voice teachers have included Lorna Haywood, George Bitzas and Marjorie Stephens.  She is a former member of the Knoxville Choral Society and Chamber Chorale and the John Ribble Singers.

She is a member of Phi Beta Kappa, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.

Director of Drama and Dance, holds the degree of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Theatre from the University of Montevallo in Alabama and has been a drama teacher for twenty-three years.  She has taught and performed in San Francisco, Honolulu, Atlanta, and Birmingham.  For the last thirteen years she has been a member of the faculty at Bearden High School in Knoxville, where she founded and directs the highly successful musical theatre program, an intense professional training curriculum for young actors. She has directed sixty-five productions in her career and continues to perform, direct, and choreograph in the community.  She considers it a great joy and privilege to play a supporting role in the development of local artists!

Brad McIlwain, Director of Instrumental Ensembles, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music degree in Performance from Middle Tennessee State University in 2007. He performed extensively during his college years all over “Music City” Nashville and as far as South Korea and Mexico. In 2002, he had the opportunity to perform in the Semi-Final round of the National Trumpet Competition at George Mason University near Washington D.C. When he was not performing, he maintained a private studio of students from local middle and high schools.

In December of 2007, Brad joined the Worship Staff at Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church under the leadership of West Breedlove, Director of Music Ministries. He currently works with West and the worship staff in developing the CSPC instrumental program. This endeavor led to the conception of the Cedar Springs Music Academy in the fall of 2008 which has grown into an outreach music education program serving over 50 students in the Knoxville community.

Director of Bells of Grace, graduated cum laude with a Bachelor of Music in Education degree from the State University of New York at Fredonia.  She has taught general music grades K-6 in Maryland and grades Pre-K – 8 in Southern California.   She sang with the Folger Consort in Washington D. C. and the William Hall Chorale in Southern California and presently sings with the Knoxville Choral Society.

Paula began playing handbells in 1980 at Lake Avenue Church in Pasadena, CA, where she also was music librarian and a member of the Sanctuary Choir and directed the Kindergarten Choir of the Choir School.  In 1984 the Sanctuary Choir and Bells of Praise participated in a ministry tour of Germany, Austria and Switzerland.  The Bells of Praise also had numerous concerts and ministry opportunities throughout the Southwest.

Paula came to Cedar Springs Presbyterian Church in 1993 and continues to sing in the Sanctuary Choir and the Christian Arts Choir.

Kathleen Aspiranti, Assistant Choreographer, holds the degrees of Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance and Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, summa cum laude, from Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio.  She is a former member of the Dayton Ballet Company and the Wright State University Dance Ensemble.  She has instructed students from age three through adult in ballet, pointe, modern, jazz, tap, lyrical, musical theater, and liturgical styles.  Her choreographed pieces have won top awards at state and national competitions.

Presently, Kathleen is completing her PhD in School Psychology at the University of Tennessee and continues to perform in Ohio and Tennessee, praising and worshiping God through dance.