©1998-2008
The DeKalb Choral Guild, Inc.
All Rights Reserved.

Our Professional Music Staff

Bryan F. Black
Director of Music and Conductor

Mr. Black holds the Bachelor of Music in organ and church music from Samford University and received the Master of Music in choral conducting from The Florida State University where he studied with acclaimed pedagogue Rodney Eichenberger. He additionally was granted the Zertifikat Deutsch als Fremdsprache awarded by the Goethe-Institut in Berlin.

Now in his eighth season as conductor of the DeKalb Choral Guild, he previously served Embry Hills UMC as Director of Music and toured with the Chancel Choir, most recently to Norway in 1999. He taught on the Georgia State University faculty for a number of years and conducted the Chapel Choir as a visiting professor at the Candler School of Theology, Emory University.

Photography courtesy of Javier Diazgranados.

Professionally, he sang with the ASO Chamber Chorus under the late Robert Shaw—including his final performance of Bach’s Mass in b-minor at Carnegie Hall. Black is also active as an adjudicator and arts advocate having served as vice-president of the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra’s board of directors and as Music and Worship R&S chair for Georgia ACDA. He is presently the Director of Music for the 3,500 member First United Methodist Church of Marietta where he conducts five choirs and coordinates an active, growing music program.

In May of 2003 he was named a "Lexus Leader of the Arts" by Public Broadcasting Atlanta for his contributions to the city’s cultural life. During the summer of 2004, Black was nominated for a "cultural ambassadorship" by the Goethe-Institut of Atlanta and awarded a scholarship to study German language, literature and history in Weimar.

Leanne Elmer Hermann
Accompanist

Mrs. Herrmann has served as the Accompanist for the DeKalb Choral Guild since 1988. She is a graduate of the Oberlin Conservatory of Music and holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance. She works throughout the metro Atlanta area as a free-lance accompanist and chamber music pianist. Ms. Herrmann is currently the accompanist for the Collegium Vocale and the Summer Singers of Atlanta. She is the staff pianist for Paideia School. Ms. Herrmann has recently taken on the post of organist at Northwest Presbyterian Church. She has appeared in concert with the Gwinnett Festival Singers, the Gwinnett Young Singers, the Young Singers of Callanwolde and the William Baker Singers.