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Dr. Baruch J. Whitehead is a professor of music education at Ithaca College and the founding director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers (DCJS), an ensemble dedicated to preserving the Negro Spiritual in the concert tradition. Since 2010, he has led DCJS in performances at major venues, including the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Lincoln Center in New York City, and internationally in Toronto, Canada. In 2026, DCJS will perform Lena McLin’s Free at Last Cantata at the ACDA Eastern Conference in Providence, Rhode Island, furthering the ensemble’s mission of social justice and racial healing through music.

In 2024, Dr. Whitehead conducted research in Ghana, West Africa, at the Mbangba Cultural Center in Medie Village. In 2025, he served as Artist-in-Residence at Illinois State University in Bloomington, Illinois, where he taught music education classes, led African drumming and dance, presented workshops with Bloomington middle and high school choruses, and collaborated with the ACDA student chapter.

Dr. Whitehead established the Orff–Schulwerk certification program at Ithaca College and Marshall University and previously directed Boston University’s Orff Certification Training Course. He is also a co-founder of the Community Unity Music Education Program (CUMEP), launched in 2002 to provide accessible music and arts education rooted in inclusion and equity. Through partnerships with the Southside Community Center, he mentors Ithaca College students in teaching music that builds collaboration and respect.

A recognized scholar and advocate, Dr. Whitehead’s areas of expertise include diversity in music education, gospel music, African American sacred music, and the music of the Civil Rights Movement. He is the author of the Civil Rights Movement chapter in Music and Conflict Transformation: Harmonies and Dissonances in Geopolitics (I.B. Tauris, 2008). He has presented nationally and internationally at NAfME, NYSSMA, NJMEA, the American Orff–Schulwerk Association, the International Arts and Humanities Conference (Honolulu), the International Music Education Conference (Spain), the World Music Village (Finland), and the ISME Conference (Porto Alegre, Brazil).

As a peace activist, Dr. Whitehead has collaborated with Israeli composer Yair Dalal, bringing together youth from Muslim and Jewish communities in a peace concert. His Peace Cantata premiered at the 2006 Martin Luther King Celebration at Ithaca College. He has studied African drumming and dance in Ghana, West Africa, and remains deeply committed to global and cultural exchange through music.

His service and teaching have been recognized with numerous honors, including the 2022 Ithaca College Faculty Excellence Award for Teaching, Scholarship, and Service, the 2020 Shirley M. Collado Faculty Award for Outstanding Service to the Ithaca College Community, the 2016 Henry Highland Garnet Lodge Award, the 2015 Southside Community Spirit Award, the 2014 Martin Luther King Peacemaker Award, and the 2005 Ithaca College Excellence in Service Award.

Dr. Whitehead holds a doctorate from Capella University, an M.F.A. from the University of Florida, and B.A. and B.M.E. degrees from the University of Cincinnati.

Khyle B. Wooten (he/they), a native of Philadelphia, PA, is Assistant Professor of Music Performance and Director of Choral Activities at Ithaca College. He is also the Associate Director of the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers, an ensemble dedicated to preserving the Negro Spiritual in the concert tradition. Wooten maintains an active professional profile as a conductor, educator, clinician, researcher, and composer. Prior to joining Ithaca College, they served as Associate Director of Choral Activities at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, and previously held K–12 teaching positions with charter schools in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and Atlanta, Georgia.

At present, Wooten is engaged in ongoing research on the life and music of Lena McLin and extended choral works of Black women composers, presenting regularly at regional and national conferences. They are an inaugural fellow of the Future of Music Faculty Fellowship with the Cleveland Institute of Music. Wooten has also completed commissioned works for the 2024 ACDA Eastern Region Student & Community Honor Choir, the Cincinnati Song Initiative, and the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra MINA String Quartet. Their recent choral works include Sancta Maria (TTBB), Life and Death (TTBB), and The Dream Keeper (SA).

Wooten is the co-founder and conductor of the Sankofa Vocal Collective in Atlanta, Georgia, and serves as Director of Music for EmpoweringWord Ministries in Philadelphia, PA.

They hold degrees in music education and choral conducting from Lincoln University of Pennsylvania (B.S.), Georgia State University (M.M.), and Florida State University (Ph.D.).

Emmett Scott has been a piano collaborator with the Dorothy Cotton Jubilee Singers for the past eight years. Coming from a musical family, he and his brother Oliver are both pianists who continue to engage in diverse genres of music. Emmett’s unwavering dedication, artistry, and talent have been integral to the ensemble, helping to sustain and advance the legacy of Dorothy Cotton.

Based in Ithaca, NY, Scott teaches private piano students and works with musical theater students at SUNY Cortland. He has toured nationally with renowned bands such as Big Mean Sound Machine and Dreamt, and continues to perform with Swamp Kids and New Planets. A versatile musician, Scott is proficient in classical, jazz, folk/rock, and hip hop, and regularly collaborates with vocalists and instrumentalists across the region.

Scott earned his B.A. in Jazz Studies from Ithaca College and has since been actively involved as both an accompanist and educator in the Ithaca and Trumansburg communities. He has been a member of numerous groups, including Big Mean Sound Machine, Dreamt, the Ndor Band, Swamp Kids, the Galactic Band, and a variety of jazz ensembles and combos. Passionate about fostering a love of music in students of all levels, he incorporates theory, aural training, and sight reading into his teaching to provide a well-rounded musical education.

SOPRANO
Susan Brown
Destiny Carrion
Juliette Ramirez Corazón
Kara Eaton
Christine Evans
Anne Farrell
Frances Farrell
Nenita GapudTressler
Loretta Goss
Arabella Hartino
Lila Holmes
*Alexandra Ives
Brittany Jaromin
Susan Lang
Lorraine Maxwell
Janet Morgan
*Sabeena Mori
Brooke Oreglio
Aisosa Oviasogie
Leslie Patterson
Alanna Ramos
Savannah Schneider
Sheila Singh
Denise Wittlin-Horvath
Paula E F Younger

ALTO
Sherry Altman
Eve Austin
Laura Batten
Emily Blair
Melissa Blake
Janis Rollow Butler
Regi Carpenter
Judy Clay
Candace Collmer
Lex Correia
Karen Gellman
Valerie Graves
Jasmijn Janse
Tammy Johnson
Judy Jones
Rhoda Linton
Lyndsey Lyman
Cierra May
Carolyn McMaster
Sarah Michelle
Emma Pasko
April Peress

ALTO (con.)
Jaden Rieck
Kari Robertson
Jayna Simeon
Anna Steinkraus
Heather Stewart
Kathrynne Teeter
Emma Thomas
Carolyn Tomaino
Joanna Upton
*Penelope-Myles Voss

TENOR
Ty'vone Benners
Nash Carlisto
David Caughey
Millicent L Clarke-Maynard
Bill Fry
Vicki Gayle
Guthrie Graves
Trevor Griffiths
Jack Lewis
Morgan Linn
Joe Mukamal
Karen P Renison
*Jayar Rhoades
Susan Robinson

BASS
Julian Bingham
Caleb Cackowski
Daniel Cozort
Brian Cutler
Louis Hicks
Maxwell Kuhnel
Eric Miller
Mahmoud Madji
*Jack Patterson
*Gavin Tremblay
Martin Lowry

* - Section Leaders


BAND
Emmett Scott, Keyboard
Nellie Cordi, Bass Guitar
Michael McCoy, Drum Set