Artistic Director - Frank A. Heller, III
Frank A. Heller, III is the Founder and Artistic Director of Voces Novae. He is in his 14th year as the Director of Music Ministries at Highland Presbyterian Church. In addition, he is a private vocal instructor and a Certified Master Teacher in Creative Motion, an innovative method of musical learning.
Mr. Heller served on the staff of the Louisville Youth Choir for 17 seasons, where he was both Artistic Director and Executive Music Director and conducted four of the nine ensembles. He has also taught voice at Bellarmine University in Louisville, as well as conducted the University Chorus at the University of Louisville. His background includes a 20-year tenure as Director of Music at Harvey Browne Memorial Presbyterian Church in Louisville, where he received regional and national recognition.
Mr. Heller holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education with a vocal emphasis from the University of Louisville and a Master’s Degree in Music Education with a choral conducting emphasis from Loyola University of New Orleans. His vocal and conducting studies have included the opportunity to work with Fletcher Smith, Philip Frohnmayer, Robert Shaw, Daniel Moe, and Larry Wyatt. Professional credits include joint efforts with Samuel Adler and John Rutter as well as participation in Creative Motion Alliance, Choristers Guild, Music Educators National Conference, Presbyterian Association of Musicians and American Choral Directors Association.
Mr. Heller has served as both President and Treasurer of the Kentucky Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. In 2000, he was honored by KCDA and chosen as their recipient of the Robert K. Baar Choral Excellence Award.
Mr. Heller is married to Donna Heller. They have three children, Jennifer, Shannon, and April; and four grandchildren, Lillyan Michelle Cook, Mason Eric Custard, Ezekiel David and Jasmine Rae Procita.
Accompanist - Dr. Louie Bailey
Louie L. Bailey, Accompanist for Voces Novae, is Minister of Music/Organist at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, where he administrates a diverse music program for all ages preschool through senior adults. He is Director of Music/Organist at The Temple Adath Israel Brith Sholom where he was previously Tenor Soloist. Dr. Bailey is an Adjunct Professor at Louisville Presbyterian Theological Seminary, where he is Chapel Organist/Choir Director; he is also Choral Conductor at Highlands Latin School, where he conducts the Lower and Upper School Choirs, Madrigal Singers and Handbell Choir. He has been affiliated with the Louisville Youth Choir since 1995, serving presently as the Conductor of the Chorale (unchanged voices grades 3-9). He has been an Adjunct Professor and Campus Supervisor at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary and served as Accompanist for the Seminary Oratorio Chorus and graduate conducting classes and lessons. He is also an accompanist at University of Louisville for trumpet classes and students and has served as an Adjunct Professor at Campbellsville University. He is the pianist for the Louisville Trio, a group that plays for weddings, receptions, etc. in the Louisville area. He also teaches piano privately at the Kentucky Country Day Fine Arts Academy, and also teaches piano, voice and organ at Crescent Hill Baptist Church..
Dr. Bailey has conducted choral workshops for children, youth, and adults in Kentucky, Massachusetts, South Carolina, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Ohio. He has performed and taught workshops, voice classes, and worship seminars in the United States as well as London, England; Kwangjou and Taejon, Korea; Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia; Mexico City, Mexico; and Toronto, Canada. In May 2003 the Louisville Youth Choir he conducted sang in Carnegie Hall in a joint concert with three other choirs from the United States and Canada. He prepared the Louisville Youth Treble Choir to sing at the Kentucky Music Educators Association conference in 2004. He also prepared the Louisville Youth Choir Chorale to sing in a joint concert at Carnegie Hall in 2008.
A native of Decatur, Georgia, Dr. Bailey is a graduate of Georgia State University with a Bachelor of Music degree (Music Education and Piano). He received the Master of Church Music degree (Vocal Performance, Organ and Music Education) and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree (Voice, Music Education and Music Theory) from The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He sang with the Robert Shaw Atlanta Symphony Chorus for two years and has done post-graduate conducting and vocal study at Westminster Choir College (Princeton and Washington Cathedral), Oberlin Conservatory, Ohio State University, the Robert Shaw Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops, University of Cincinnati and the Southern Baptist Theological Seminary. He has studied conducting or been in conducting workshops with Robert Shaw, Richard Lin, Jay Wilkey, John Dickson, Michael Lancaster, Lloyd Mims, Kent Hatteberg, Weston Noble, Z. Randall Stroope, Doreen Rao, Charlene Archebeque, Samuel Adler, Eric Nelson, Frank Heller, Rodney Eichenberger, Emily Ellsworth, Anton Armstrong, Helen Kemp, Jo-Michael Scheibe, Donald Neuen and others. His voice teachers have included Lillian Bennett Sullivan, Inge Manski Lundeen, Richard Lin, Jay Wilkey and Marilyn Mims. He studied piano with Sara Poole Espy, Hilda Corlette Gervers, and Thomas Micajah Brumby; and organ with Marjorie Robinson, Laura White, Al Washburn, James Good and Donald Hustad. He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, National Association of Teachers of Singing, Music Educators National Conference, and Kentucky Music Educators Assocation.
Prior to coming to Louisville to study, Dr. Bailey taught in the Atlanta Public Schools as an Elementary Music Specialist. He has served at Crescent Hill since 1985, coming there from Bayshore Baptist Church in Tampa, Florida. While at Crescent Hill, he has conducted such diverse works as Vivaldi’s Gloria, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio and Magnificat, Saint-Saens’ Christmas Oratorio, Mozart’s Requiem, Dubois’ Seven Last Words of Christ, Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass, Old English Madrigal Dinners, and Broadway musicals Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Cotton Patch Gospel, Godspell, and Narnia (based on C.S. Lewis’ The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe). His hobbies are reading, traveling, swimming, “beach-bumming” and ballroom dancing. He is married to June Bailey, a soprano, who directs the Elementary Choir at Crescent Hill Baptist Church, teaches preschool music classes and private piano students in a home studio. They have two adult sons, Sean and Evan, who live in Louisville, and two cats, Stranger and Chloe.
