board members

NELSON SHOWALTER,
BOARD PRESIDENT, is a 1967 graduate of the Medical College of Virginia School of Pharmacy, and is actively involved in both the practice and profession of pharmacy. He is an independent community pharmacist, owner and operator of WilliamsonHughes Pharmacy in Harrisonburg and owner of the Broadway Drug Center. Nelson is the published author of several articles on innovative practices in pharmacy and has been featured in national pharmacy journals. He has been a speaker at many professional conferences and has served on numerous committees for the Virginia Pharmacists Association.

During 1989-1990 Nelson was president of the American Society of Consultant Pharmacists, and was appointed to the Advisory Board of the Medical College of Virginia School of Pharmacy. Showalter has been serving as a Pharmacist Preceptor for students of MCV since 1972. The recipient of numerous prestigious awards, he was recently appointed regional director for the American College of Apothecaries.

Showalter is active in his community, having served on the board of the Harrisonburg Chamber of Commerce, the Valley Program for Aging, and the Community Services Board, and is a charter member of the Broadway-Timberville Rotary Club. He was a two-term president of the Broadway Chamber of Commerce and was named Corporate Philanthropist of the Year in 1997. Nelson and his wife, Phyllis, reside in Broadway.

LINDA HEATWOLE BLAND,
BOARD VICE-PRESIDENT, graduated from Eastern Mennonite College in 1964 and retired from a 37-year career in literacy education in 2002, having worked in Rockingham, Shenandoah, and Harrisonburg City school divisions. She finds it both a privilege and a joy to serve on the Bach Festival Board as an alumnus of her alma mater and long-time resident of the Harrisonburg-Rockingham community. Linda is currently vice-president of the Festival Board. She is married to Dr. Sidney Bland, history professor at James Madison University, and has two grown children.

JUDY COHEN After ten years as a private tour guide and travel agent, Judy Cohen began her international work at James Madison University in 1989, directing the JMU/Commonwealth of Virginia International Internship Program and managing bookings for Madison House, JMU's student resident house in London. Currently Cohen advises students on non-JMU study abroad and internship programs, and oversees various OIP publications. Her professional travels have taken her to Western and Eastern Europe and also to Australia.

Judy graduated from Wellesley College with a major in French, and worked for the administration at Duke University before coming to Harrisonburg in 1973. When her husband, Dr. Ralph Cohen, began establishing JMU's study abroad program she assisted in setting up the semesters in London and Paris. As part of the faculty family in residence, she provided administrative assistance in London for five semesters and for two semesters in Florence. An avid supporter of the arts, Judy has contributed in a variety of ways to the growth and success of the American Shakespeare Center in Staunton, and is president of JMU's Friends of Carrier Library.

JOAN GRIFFING, concertmaster and violinist in the Festival orchestra, is currently Associate Professor of Music and Chair of the Music Department at Eastern Mennonite University where she teaches violin and viola, coaches chamber music and conducts the EMU orchestra. She is also concertmaster of the Shenandoah Symphony Orchestra, a member of the Virginia Symphony, and violinist with the Eastern Music Festival in Greensboro, North Carolina. In the spring of 1999 she premiered a Violin Concerto written for her by Terry Vosbein, composer-in-residence at Washington and Lee University.

Joan earned her Bachelor and Master of Music degrees from Indiana University where she studied with Tadeusz Wronski, and her Doctor of Musical Arts in violin performance from Ohio State University. Dr. Griffing has performed as concertmaster with the AIMS Festival Orchestra in Austria and Italy as well as with Coronado, Grand Teton, Norfolk and Spoleto Festivals in this country. Recent international appearances include a tour of Taiwan in 2004 with the Atlanta Pops Orchestra, and a series of recitals and master classes in May of 2006 in the State of Sao Paulo, Brazil with EMU pianist Dr. Paulo Steinberg.

Joan will be co-presenting a lecture recital with Bach Festival Principal Violist Diane Phoenix Neal this summer in Adelaide, Australia. She will also be performing and giving master classes in the northern part of Brazil with the newly formed Harmonia Ensemble, a group of musicians dedicated to pursuing peace and harmony in the world through international musical collaboration.

Dianne Harris moved to Harrisonburg in 1972 with her husband, Bill, a banker at the bank now known as Sun Trust. twelve years later the family moved to Northern Virginia, where Bill continued as a banker. After Bill's passing in 1996, Diane returned to Harrisonburg to be near one of her daughters and her family. She is 'passionate about piano music' because she played the piano and organ in her early years, and she loves music and the theater.

Since her return to Harrisonburg she has served on a fundraising committee with the local free clinic and is now involved with fundraising events for the March of Dimes and the SPCA. Diane also serves on the board of the Massanutten Regional Library, and of the Fort Harrison Historic House. She is am happy to be a part of the Bach Festival and to be working with the board members. She looks forward to supporting and attending all the many events of the Festival.

LISA MAST is a native of Weatherford, Ok., and choral director at Fort Defiance High School in Augusta County, Va. In addition to teaching vocal music, guitar, and handbells, Mast is also a music specialist at Clymore Elementary, working with kindergarten and first grade students.

Lisa recently traveled with students to New York, Vermont, and Québec, where the musicians performed at Sainte Anne de Beaupré and at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, Vt. She is director and musical director for the annual school musical. Members of the Fort Defiance choral ensembles are regularly selected to the all-district and all-state choirs.

Lisa sings with the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society and serves on its board of directors. She has performed with choirs throughout the U.S., Europe, and Cuba. Her professional affiliations include the Music Educators National Conference, the Virginia Music Educators Association, the Virginia Choral Directors Association, and the American Choral Directors Association. In March 2008, that organization honored her with the Colleen Kirk Award. She was participated in the VMEA Leadership Symposium, a two-year program for young music educators. Lisa holds an Associate of Arts degree in liberal arts: music from Hesston College, (Kan.), and a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from EMU.

ADAIR MCCONNELL graduated from Bridgewater High School, attended Madison College, received a BA in English from the University of Richmond, an MA in French from George Washington University, and a Russian Teacher's Certificate from the University of Toronto, later teaching French and Russian for thirty years in Fairfax County.

Throughout Adair's life music has been an essential component. He has served as minister of music in several churches, plays organ, piano, harpsichord, and recorder, has sung in and conducted numerous choirs, and formed and conducted the Reston Chamber Orchestra. One of his special interests, early music, resulted in a job as a lecturer-demonstrator of ancient instruments at the Smithsonian. He also wrote computer training manuals for the Department of Defense and was a computer instructor and online publications coordinator at the national headquarters of AARP. Currently he is minister of music at St. Stephen's United Church of Christ in Harrisonburg and recently completed 10 years of service on the board of First Night Harrisonburg.

ELLEN NASH received a BA degree from Westhampton College, University of Richmond, and a MEd from UVA. She was a high school guidance counselor and on the admissions staff at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, both in upstate New York. After moving to Atlanta, she worked in law firm administration before starting her own business, providing relocation coordination services to law firms and other businesses and laboratory relocation services to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In 2005, Ellen and her husband, now retired, returned to Timberville where she grew up. She is active in the Broadway-Timberville Rotary Club and currently is a member of the Timberville Town Council. Attending the annual Community Concert Series at Madison College while in high school helped develop her appreciation for all forms of music, and she has been fortunate to live in and travel to cities with strong support for the Arts. She joined the Bach Festival Board in 2008 and is pleased to be in a position to promote and support the Bach Festival.

DON R. SMITH is the Director Emeritus of Muhlenberg Lutheran Church where he had served in a musical capacity from 1965 to his retirement as Minister of Music in 2007. He is a graduate of Shenandoah Conservatory of Music, the U.S. Naval School of Music, and James Madison University, where he received a Master of Arts Degree in Education with a Music Education Major. Additional studies were made with the University of Maryland Extension Classes in Frankfurt, Germany. He entered the U.S. Army band program and played French Horn with the Second Army Band at Ft. Meade, Md., and the Third Armored Division Band in Frankfurt, Germany. He served as organist for the Lutheran Chapel at Ft. Meade and the Drake/Edwards Kaserne Chapel in Frankfurt. He also was employed as a band director and instrumental instructor for the public school system for fourteen years. He was an active member of the former Blue Ridge Chapter of the American Guild of Organists and a member of the Music Educators National Conference. Don is an enthusiastic gardener; many friends enjoy the fruits of his labor.

GRETCHEN WELCH began her musical training at an early age and she was active in musical programs throughout her school years. Her college degree is in music education, but early on she began church work and has been directing church choirs ever since. She also conducted the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society for eleven years, and founded the community women's ensemble, Daughters of Song. She recently was music director for Emmanuel Episcopal Church's production of Amahl and the Night Visitors. Gretchen considers herself fortunate to do what she enjoys…making music with the choirs at Emmanuel and conducting Daughters of Song. She very much enjoys serving on the Bach Festival Board.

CAROL YETZER was born in Chicago and received a BS in Business Administration from the University of Illinois. She moved to Harrisonburg in 1964. A retired Ford dealer, Carol is a life member of the National Ski Patrol and patrolled at Massanutten for eighteen years. She is a trustee of Emmanuel Episcopal Church, serves on the board of Ft. Harrison, and volunteers on committees of the SPCA and JMU's Lifelong Learning Institute. She also chairs the Spotswood Garden Club committee that is designing and planting the gardens around the Hardesty-Higgins House. Carol states that although she has minimal music talent, she is a good listener and enjoys working with Bach Festival Board.

SHIRLEY YODER joined the Bach Festival Board following her tenure as vice president for enrollment and marketing at Eastern Mennonite University. In that capacity she often referred to the festival as one of the bright lights of the university and community. She currently serves on the committee for fundraising and advertising for the festival.
Of her life, Shirley states, "I grew up around music and in my earliest years sang and toured with choral groups. I am personally nurtured by the arts of all kinds. Music, in particular, moves me deeply. Joining the Festival Board brought together several of my personal goals for this phase of my life."

festival staff

Ken Nafziger,
Artistic Director and Conductor

Mary Kay Adams,
Executive Director, Shenandoah Bach Festival

Phil Helmuth,
Executive Director of Development for EMU

Cindy Mathews,
Music Department Office Manager