Recent Alumni Profiles

Colin Burns, MSM ’14

Colin Burns has performed with choirs throughout the United States and Europe. He has sung under conductors including Bingham Vick, Ann Howard Jones, and Scott Allen Jarrett, performing J.S. Bach’s B Minor Mass with Dr. Jarrett at Trinity Church Wall Street in New York City in 2014. While studying at Boston University, Colin served as the Director of Music and Organist for the Nahant Village Church. He was also the Artistic Director for the newly founded Kendall Square Singers at the Ragon Institute of Massachusetts General Hospital.

During 2012, Colin served as Associate Director of the Choir School at St. Peter’s in Charlotte, NC, leading three of the choirs on a week-long tour to the National Cathedral in Washington, DC.  While a student at Furman University, Colin worked with Dr. Bing Vick as the student conductor of the Furman Singers, and participated in the choir’s two-week tour of Switzerland, Austria, and Hungary.

Colin currently serves as the Associate Director of Music for Children and Youth at First Presbyterian Church in Greensboro, NC. He holds a BM in church music from Furman University and an MSM in choral conducting from Boston University.

Ginny Chilton, MDiv/MSM ’14

Ginny Chilton graduated from the University of Virginia with a BA in music and worked several years as an organist, choir director, and piano teacher before she matriculated at BU.  From 2012 to 2013 Ginny was the seminary intern at Christ Church United Methodist, Wellesley, where she was the organist as well as an occasional preacher, worship leader, and pastoral care giver. In the summer of 2013 Ginny worked as a chaplain intern at the Boston VA hospital, West Roxbury. She lives in Boston with her husband and their two cats.

Michael Dauterman, MSM ’13

During his degree program, Michael served as the Assistant Conductor of the Boston Choral Ensemble and Music Director of the First United Methodist Church in Melrose, Massachusetts.  He also sang with the Handel & Haydn Society.  He is currently on faculty at the The Westminster Schools in Atlanta, Georgia, where he teaches AP Music Theory, four choral ensembles, and various other performing arts-based courses. A native of Cincinnati, Ohio, Michael received his Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Cincinnati, College-Conservatory of Music in Music Education and Vocal Performance. He has studied and performed with such renowned conductors as Harry Christophers, Dale Warland, Simon Carrington, Dr. Ann Howard Jones, and Dr. Donald Nally. He is married to Calissa Dauterman who is who is a Master of Divinity student at the Boston University School of Theology.

Brent Erstad, MSM ’13

Brent Erstad is a Teaching Fellow in Organ and Voice at St. Paul’s School in Concord, New Hampshire where he assists with the training of three school choirs, the teaching of organ students and the daily organ playing in the Chapel of St. Peter and St. Paul. In addition to his school duties, Brent also co-manages the RSCM summer training course in Newport, Rhode Island, which hosts more than 100 young singers and organists each summer.

Prior to his appointment at St. Paul’s, Brent served as Organist and Choirmaster of historic Trinity Episcopal Church in Newport and Organ Scholar of S. Stephen’s Church in Providence. He has performed recitals at such notable venues as Trinity Church, Copley Square and The Church of the Advent in Boston as well as Busch Hall in Cambridge.  Active as a collaborative pianist, Brent has served on the accompanying staff of the Boston Conservatory and the Musical Arts Association of Cleveland—the parent organization of the Cleveland Orchestra and Choruses.

Brent completed his undergraduate studies (BM ’08) at the Cleveland Institute of Music and graduate studies (MSM ’13) at Boston University. His teachers have included Margarita Shevchenko, Peter Sykes and Mark Dwyer. He is presently a candidate for the MSEd degree at the University of Pennsylvania Graduate School of Education.

Daniel Gostin, MSM ’13

Daniel is a magna cum laude graduate of the Master of Sacred Music program at Boston University where he concentrated in choral conducting and studied with Drs. Ann Howard Jones, Scott Allen Jarrett, and Andrew Shenton. A native of New Britain, CT, he received the Bachelor of Arts degree in music with a minor in chemistry from Boston College.

During his time as an undergraduate Daniel performed as clarinetist, section leader, and executive board member for the University Wind Ensemble. He also sang with the University Chorale, being featured as a soloist in several concerts and traveled with the group for engagements at St. Peter’s Basilica and the Chiesa del Gesù in Rome. He founded the university’s first early music ensemble in 2007, the Boston Collegium. As one of two inaugural recipients of the Boston College Advanced Study Grant for Fine Arts in 2008, Daniel studied conducting with renowned Boston-area conductor and organist David Carrier.

Daniel served as conducting assistant from 2009-2011 for the Newton Choral Society. He was cantor, choir section leader, and assistant to the Director of Music Ministry at St. Ignatius Church in Chestnut Hill, as well as a chorister with the Choir of Men and Boys at The Parish of All Saints, Ashmont. Daniel was one of the inaugural Conducting Fellows at Boston University Marsh Chapel in the 2011 and is currently the Chapel Choir Manager. After a summer engagement singing with the Rolling Stones (Boston Tour, June 2013), Daniel leaves for the UK in fall 2013 to study musicology and theology at Durham University.

Adam Kurihara, MSM ’12

Adam  moved to Boston from California for entrance into the Sacred Music program, studying under Ann Howard Jones (conducting), Andrew Shenton, and Peter Sykes (organ). Prior to moving to Boston, Adam studied conducting and composition at UC Santa Barbara, where he conducted the Men’s and Women’s Choruses and taught undergraduate musicianship classes.  He also directed the chorus at Cold Spring Elementary and the seasonal choirs at Santa Barbara Community Church.  In addition to these conducting endeavors, he sang baritone in the chancel choir at All-Saints by the Sea Episcopal Church and in the UCSB Chamber Choir.

In his first year in Boston, Adam sang as cantor and section leader at the Cathedral of the Holy Cross in Boston’s South End.  Adam currently works at Trinitarian Congregational Church in Wayland, MA, where he serves as Director of Music and Worship, and plays on occasion in the evening band at Park Street Church.

Besides music and worship, Adam enjoys biking around Boston, cooking, blogging [adamkurihara.wordpress.com], and playing board games.

Robert S. Potterton, III, MSM ’11, STM ’13

Robert earned his undergraduate degree in Composition and Organ Performance from Houghton College (NY) before undertaking studies at Boston University. An active composer and church musician for nearly fifteen years, he currently serves as Director of Worship Arts at St. Luke’s Lutheran Church in Dedham and as Office Administrator for two Methodist congregations in his hometown of Brockton. He is a member of the ASCAP, the Society of Saint Ambrose, and the Order of Saint Luke, and formerly served as one of the youngest chapter deans in the history of the American Guild of Organists. Recently, he has begun offering his services as a ministry consultant, particularly in the areas of worship and outreach, and will be publishing a blog, Living the Liturgy, in the Fall. He and his wife, Carissa (also a BU graduate), are expecting their first child in February 2014, and he hopes to return to academia at some point to pursue a doctorate in liturgics.

Steven Seigart, MSM ’13

A native of Syracuse, New York, Steven Seigart studied choral conducting under the tutelage of Dr. Ann Howard Jones while at BU. In Boston, Steven sings with a variety of BU’s choral ensembles, and frequently accompanies various ensembles on piano, organ, and harpsichord. He is also the Director of Music and Liturgy at Saint Margaret Mary Roman Catholic Parish in Westwood, Massachusetts, where he directs the adult choir, children’s choir, contemporary ensemble, oversees the cantor program, and plays all masses. Before moving to Boston, Steven completed his Bachelor Degree in Music, studying at the Eastman School of Music and the University of Rochester (Rochester, New York). At Eastman, Steven studied organ with David Higgs, harpischord and clavichord with Ulrika Davidsson, and improvisation, continuo, and theatre organ with William Porter. He was also the Organ Scholar at Christ Church (Episcopal), Rochester, where he directed the early music consort, the handbell choir, and played the reconstruced 1776 Casparini organ for weekly services. Steven’s interest in improvisation in a variety of styles and genres has led to his being featured on NPR’s Pipedreams Live! and several transcriptions of his improvisations being published. In 2012, Steven was a semi-finalist in the National Competition in Organ Improvisation, being one of the youngest competitors ever to advance to the semi-finals. Steven has served as the assistant choral conductor of Boston University’s Tanglewood Institute (Lenox, MA). Also active as a composer, he has written dozens of choral anthems as well as pieces for organ, harp, and handbells.  You can find out more about Steven at www.stevenseigart.com.