Artistic Staff
Sarah A. Michal - Artistic Director and Conductor
Sarah A Michal has proudly served as the Artistic Director and Conductor of the New Jersey Gay Men’s Chorus since January 2016. She is also the director of choirs at Drew University and is on the board of the New Jersey state chapter of the American Choral Directors’ Association. Michal holds an M.M. in Sacred Music from Westminster Choir College and a B.A. in Music Education from Fresno Pacific University. She has been a member of the Philadelphia Orchestra Symphonic Choir since its inaugural season, most recently performing Bruckner’s Te Deum conducted by Yannick
Nezet-Seguin. An accomplished choral scholar, she was a member of the critically acclaimed Westminster Choir and the award-winning early-music ensemble Westminster Kantorei. As a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir, she has performed with the Philadelphia Orchestra, the New York Philharmonic, the Vienna Philharmonic, the Vienna Chamber Orchestra, and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. She has worked closely with Dr. Joe Miller, Dr. Amanda Quist, Dr. Steve Pilkington, Dr. Roy Klassen, and Sir Simon Carrington, and was a Fellow of the 2015 Yale School of Music Norfolk Chamber Music Festival. She has a particular penchant for Baroque music and performing new works, and recently sang in the Philadelphia, PA, and Providence, RI, performances of the world tour of The Legend of Zelda: Symphony of the Goddesses. Originally from beautiful Central California, Michal enjoys teaching musicians of all ages and is a lifelong
church musician. She currently lives in Madison, NJ, with her husband, Dr. Matthew Michal, and their cat, Alexander Hamilton.
David Hughes - Accompanist
David Hughes has performed at the Kennedy Center, Amsterdam’s Muziekgebouw, and the Spanish Embassy in Washington, DC. Other engagements include a solo recital of American works at the USA Foundation of the Cité Universitaire in Paris. He can also be heard playing four different keyboard instruments on John Zorn’s violin concerto, “Contes de Fées,” on the Tzadik label.
He has a strong interest in contemporary music and received third prize in the Gaudeamus Interpreters Competition—one of the world’s premier competitions for new music—as a member of Outer Banks Duo with saxophonist Stacy Wilson. This was followed by the release of their debut CD, L'Incandescence. David is a founding member of Arcana New Music Ensemble, a Philadelphia-
based collective dedicated to performing modern music, as well as a past recipient of a fellowship to the Tanglewood Music Center and a prizewinner in the MTNA National Chamber Music Competition. During the 2014-2015 season, David was featured on Philadelphia's WRTI in an hour-long segment of solo repertoire.
David currently resides in Philadelphia where he teaches and works as a freelance musician. He holds a doctoral degree in piano performance from Indiana University.
David Stockton - Assistant Conductor
David Stockton is a new resident of New Jersey, courtesy of the United States Air Force. He grew up in Plainview, Texas where high school band and chorus led to music studies at West Texas A&M University where he earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in piano and psychology. He was commissioned as an officer in the US Navy and literally got to see the world. David continued his studies in choral conducting at Boston University with John Oliver, conductor of Boston Symphony’s Tanglewood Festival Chorus. After earning a Master of Music Degree from New England Conservatory of Music, he served as an Assistant Conductor and Music Coordinator for Sarah Caldwell’s Opera Company of Boston. He then founded and conducted the Boston Concert Opera. David completed doctoral degree studies with composer/conductor Thomas Sleeper at the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music.
Over the years David has conducted over 40 operas, operettas, and musicals in the United States and Germany. When asked about career highlights he includes:
Conducting a European-wide live broadcast from the Leipzig Gewandhaus with soprano Katia Ricciarelli and the Leipzig Radio Philharmonie;
Conducting The Nutcracker with Edward Villella and the Miami City Ballet;
Being the first to bring the operas of Janacek to Boston including Jenufa, Katya Kabanova and the American premiere of Osud (Fate);
Being named to the “Order of Paul Revere” by the Governor of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts for his significant contributions to the arts;
Most recently, working with composer Gabriela Ortiz on the creation of Can We Know the Sound of Forgiveness.