Music Director

In June 1999, Jeffrey Brillhart was appointed the fourth Music Director of Singing City, having served as Associate Director in the 1998-99 season, when he worked closely with then Music Director Joseph Flummerfelt. As Music Director, Mr. Brillhart provides artistic leadership for a rich program of concerts, educational instruction in local schools, and outreach to diverse communities. He directs the choir and oversees all aspects of Singing City's musical initiatives. Jeffrey sang with Singing City during founder Elaine Brown's last year as director, and he shares Singing City's commitment to performance, community, and education. He has an impressive background of study, positions and achievement, begun first at age 5 with piano lessons and at age 11 with his first position as a church organist.

Mr. Brillhart's formal training was at Drake University, where he received his Bachelor of Church Music degree in 1977, and at the Eastman School of Music, where he received a Master of Performance and Literature degree in 1979. Prior to and during this time his organ study was with Frank B. Jordan, Carl Staplin, Arthur Poister and Russell Saunders. A pianist, harpsichordist, conductor and singer as well, he studied with Barbara Lister-Sink, Lenora McCroskey and Margaret Hauptmann. While at Eastman, Mr. Brillhart was active as a pianist in the studios of Jan DeGaetani, John Maloy, Thomas Paul and Peter Salaff.

A native Iowan, Jeffrey Brillhart serves as Director of Music and Fine Arts at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. Jeff directs the Senior Choir and Bryn Mawr Chamber Singers; oversees the Vespers Series and Second Sundays at Five; supervises all children and youth choirs; and coordinates the church's arts outreach and visual arts ministries. He has taken his choirs on international tours to Northern Ireland, England, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Russia, Finland, Brazil and Cuba. 

In 1993, he took a five-month study leave in Paris, France where he studied organ improvisation, the organ symphonies of Louis Vierne, and the music of Maurice Duruflé. His teachers included Olivier Latry, Philippe Lefebvre, Marie Madeleine Duruflé and Wolfgang Seifan. In 1994 he was first place prize winner in the American Guild of Organists National Competition in Organ Improvisation. Since that time, his recital tours have taken him throughout America, with engagements in San Diego, Seattle, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, Iowa City, Des Moines, Worcester, and throughout the eastern seaboard.

Jeffrey Brillhart is active with the American Guild of Organists and the American Choral Director's Association. Mr. Brillhart may be heard as organist and pianist on several Direct-to-Digital recordings. He is also listed in the International Who's Who of Musicians.

His recital tours have taken him throughout America, with engagements in San Diego, San Francisco, Seattle, Chicago, Pittsburgh, New York City, Birmingham, Iowa City, Des Moines, Worcester, and throughout the eastern seaboard. He has presented masterclasses at Curtis Institute of Music, Eastman School of Music, Westminster Choir College, Drake University, University of Iowa, and Baylor University. Since January 2005, he has been a Visiting Lecturer in Improvisation at Yale.

Executive Director

Lauren Anderson has been a member of the choir for nearly 20 years and has also served on its Board of Directors. She brings her love of the organization as well as administrative and design and marketing skills to her role as Executive Director. She began her career at NYU and has spent the last ten years at Friends School Haverford as Communications Coordinator, handling publications, marketing, web, and IT support. Her grandfather, the Rev. A. Herbert Haslam, was instrumental in the founding of Singing City in 1948.

Singing City Associate Music Director

Mr. Fisher has undergraduate degrees in music education and history, as well as a Masters in Music from Temple's Esther Boyer College of Music. He has studied conducting with Alan Harler, composition with Richard Broadhead, arranging with Alice Parker, and piano with Alexander Fiorello. In 1998, Temple University awarded him the prestigious Presser Foundation Award, which recognizes a graduate student who has the potential to make an outstanding contribution in the music world.

Fisher is a composer of musical theater. His work, Mandela, has been presented at the Tony award-winning Crossroads Theater, at the John Houseman Theater in New York City, and at the Windybrow Theatre in Johannesburg. His musical Isabelle and the Pretty-Ugly Spell has been presented at the ASCAP Musical Theater Workshop (under the direction of Stephen Schwartz), at the York Theatre, at the Actors Playhouse in Coral Gables, Florida, and at the New York Musical Theatre Festival, where it received a rave review from The New York Times.

Assitant Conductor and Accompanist

James A. Batt, with over twenty years of experience in accompanying and religious music, is proficient in both organ and piano and is well-known in the Delaware Valley for his musical talent and expertise. Mr. Batt is currently on staff as Associate Musician at the Bryn Mawr Presbyterian Church. He is also the Associate Organist at Reform Congregation Beth Or in Maple Glen and serves as Musical Director for Concert Operetta at the Academy of Vocal Arts in Philadelphia. Prior to these positions, Mr. Batt served as Minister of Music at St. Thomas’ Church, Whitemarsh, Fort Washington; Director of Music at Old Pine Street Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia; Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church, Morrisville; and Choir Director/Organist at Reform Congregation Keneseth Israel, Elkins Park.

Mr. Batt has participated in world premieres of two major choral/instrumental works and is also recorded on Arkay Records. He is on the roster as accompanist for Columbia Arts Management and accompanies professional vocalists and instrumentalists throughout the Tri-State area.

Office Manager and Choir Administrator

Victoria Baker holds an undergraduate degree from Temple University in music education and is currently pursuing a graduate degree in arts administration at Drexel University. Victoria has studied under Edwin Gordon and is certified by the Gordon Institute of Music Learning. She has participated as a teaching assistant for the Early Childhood Music Foundation of Temple University, the HOPE Partnership for Education, and music director of the Newman Center of Temple University.

Each summer, Victoria works in administration at the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary, an international summer program, located in Kingston, PA.