Director's Bio

Rockville Centre Choral Society

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Director's Bio-- Jean Stevenson

Jean Stevenson joined the Rockville Centre Choral Society as an alto in 1991. She first assisted Paul LaMedica and then Ken Blue in their roles as conductor and made her leadership debut here in 1996.

Jean has performed and studied music since age five. Her musical interests have multiplied through the years, including instruments- piano ,organ, oboe, saxophone, and glockenspiel-and singing in school choruses, church choirs, and a folk trio. Jean considers her long apprenticeship in music direction to be a gift of God, as well as of the patience of the directors under whose leadership she has worked. Most recently, she has attended various intensive music seminars at Westminster Choir College in New Jersey.

Jean graduated from Florida Southern College, Lakeland, with a B.A. in Speech/Drama, her other great love. And she has been performer, writer, director, accompanist and/or composer in many productions, including dinner theatre in Maryland, and in church plays and concerts here on Long Island.

In 2003 she became of Director of Music at St. James United Methodist Church in Lynbrook, where she is both organist and choir director. For seven years, Jean conducted the Long Island West District Choir, a group comprised of musicians from many local United Methodist Churches.

The Choral Society greatly appreciates Jean’s love of music and her dedication to our chorus.

ACCOMPANIST'S BIO-- YEN YEN HASS

Yen Yen Hass joined the Rockville Centre Choral Society as its accompanist in
2010. She was born and raised in Malaysia and studied music under the direction of the internationally acclaimed Royal School of Music. She comes from a family with a rich heritage of music appreciation and performance, starting piano at age nine and violin at age eleven. Her parents were both singers while her sisters were violinists. Yen Yen came to the United States in 1998 bringing with her a diverse musical background, and while mainly classical, it also includes the multi-cultural influences of Southeast Asia.

In 2003, she started her undergraduate studies in music at Nassau Community College. She graduated Magna Cum Laude with an Associate of Arts degree in May 2005. At Nassau she performed in student recitals with the chamber ensemble and in the chorus. She was invited to perform at the Presidential Awards Ceremony two years in a row.

Yen Yen received the Nassau Community College Presidential Award
from 2003-2005, Nassau County Full Time Scholarship Award 2004, New York State
Assembly Certificate of Merit 2004, Riggio Foundation Scholarship 2005, Associates in
Applied Science Music Department Scholarship 2005, and Nassau County Legislature
Certificate of Recognition Award 2005.

In 2005, Yen Yen began her studies in Music Education at The Aaron Copland School
of Music at Queens College. She performed with The Queens College Choir.
Yen Yen graduated Cum Laude from Queens College in 2008 with a B.A. in Music Education. She received the Music Departmental Award and Claire and Samuel Jacobs Award 2008. Yen Yen received her M.S. in Music Education from The Aaron Copland School of Music in February, 2011.

Currently Yen Yen is teaching elementary level general music part time in the Baldwin
Union Free School District.

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