the PALS staff
The PALS faculty and staff build strong, caring, and inspired relationships with the students. PALS feels like a family to many students, as they get to work with the same teachers for up to eight consecutive years. The PALS faculty consists of an array of brilliant and experienced artists, who regularly perform in the Boston area and abroad.
Andy Icochea Icochea
Artistic Director
Born and raised in Peru, Andy Icochea Icochea began piano and music theory studies at the age of 7, held his first post as an accompanist at age 14, and started conducting children’s choirs the following year. He trained at the Kodaly Institute in Lima and Peru’s National Conservatory of Music before coming to the United States to study piano performance at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, N.J.
Before joining PALS as its fourth artistic director, Icochea was Kapellmeister of the Vienna Boys Choir for six years, during which time he prepared the choir to sing at the weekly Mass at the Imperial Chapel and to perform at the Vienna State Opera. He also conducted more than 400 concerts and led the boys on tours of China, Cyprus, Germany, Guatemala, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Panama, Switzerland and the United States. Reviews typically commented not only on the performances’ musical brilliance, but also on Icochea’s spirited energy and conducting style and vibrant connection he creates with his choristers and audience . Icochea is also a composer and arranger, ranging from sacred classical to music with lyrics in indigenous Peruvian languages.
Andy now resides in Brookline with his wife Jennifer Borkowski, a flute player and researcher in instrumental pedagogy, and their two young daughters.
Read more in the Boston Globe.
Johanna Hill Simpson
Artistic Director Emerita
One of the nation’s preeminent children’s conductors, Johanna (Jody) Hill Simpson has worked with young people of all ages and levels –from kindergartners through graduate students— at Dartmouth College, Lincoln Elementary School, Harvard University and the New England Conservatory. She founded the PALS Children's Chorus in 1990 and served as Artistic Director for 16 years, during which time PALS earned the reputation as one of the finest youth ensembles in the country. She has prepared children for performances under the batons of Seiji Ozawa, James Levine, Tan Dun, James Conlan, Marek Janowski, Keith Lockhart, Benjamin Zander, Stefan Asbury, and David Hoose. She also has supervised the preparation of children for the acclaimed world premiere of Shadows of Time by Henri Dutilleux, performances of Carmen on the Common, Tosca and The Little Prince with Boston Lyric Opera, and the world premiere performance of Boris Goudenow with the Boston Early Music Festival. Jody is a champion of new music and has commissioned several major works for PALS.
She received her BA in music from Dartmouth College and her masters in choral conducting from the New England Conservatory of Music, where she studied with Lorna Cooke DeVaron. She was a member of the board of trustees of the New England Conservatory for ten years where she received an Outstanding Alumni Award in 2006. Jody is on the board of the Monadnock Music Festival, and most recently founded the Norway Pond Festival Singers and the Music on Norway Pond Concert Series. Though she retired from PALS in 2006, Jody currently serves as Artistic Director Emerita, continues to offer guidance to the current staff and chorus, and occasionally conducts PALS. Most recently, Jody hosted a VOICES concert in winter 2009 near her home in Hancock, NH, where she lives with her husband, Rick, and her standard poodle, Pearl.
Alysoun Kegel
After four outstanding seasons as PALS’ Artistic Director, Alysoun Kegel has recently relocated to Pittsburgh to pursue further studies in conducting at Carnegie Mellon University, under Maestro Robert Page.
Jill Carrier
Executive Director
Jill Carrier is a life-long New Englander. She was born in Boston and grew up in Burlington, Vermont. She graduated from Tufts University and earned a PhD in theoretical linguistics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. After a hiatus when she taught at Rutgers University in New Jersey, she returned to Boston and taught linguistics at Harvard University for nine years. She then moved from academia to industry, working on speech recognition software, most recently at Nuance Communications.
In 1999 Jill started volunteering for the youth chorus in which her daughter sang, Boston City Singers. Her role rapidly expanded to that of program manager. It was there that she discovered her love of children's choral music and a passion for helping children blossom into accomplished and confident musicians and performers who can transfer these skills into other areas of their lives. During her tenure at BCS, the chorus underwent tremendous growth. It also traveled to choral festivals in Denver and Niagara, Ontario, and it went on tour to New Zealand and Australia.
Jill has earned a Certificate in Nonprofit Management from the Institute for Nonprofit Management & Leadership at Boston University's School of Management. She joined PALS in July 2009, as its fourth executive director.
Perry Albert
Program Manager
Perry Albert received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Ithaca College. As an undergraduate, she worked as a vocal instructor and coach, and private voice teacher. She also worked as a music librarian and as an undergraduate resident assistant. Perry has extensive class room experience with elementary-school children, and one of her own favorite childhood experiences was performing in a Children's Opera Chorus. As she pursues her own performance and career goals in the arts, she is pleased to devote her energy and passion to making such experiences possible for children.
Christian O'Neill
Drama Teacher for Junior & Senior PALS and Stage Director
Chris O'Neill is a Boston-based theater & media artist/storyteller who currently describes himself as a theater director, theater & film teacher, digital videographer/editor, filmmaker, screenwriter/playwright/aspiring author, and graphic & web designer. Originally from Cranston, Rhode Island, Chris holds a BA in the Humanities from Providence College, an MA in Theatre Education from Emerson College (where he was the recipient of the 2004 Dean’s Award for the Performing Arts), and an MFA in Directing from Brooklyn College (where he received the 2007 Joel Zwick Award for Directing), as well as coursework in film, video and web design at University of Rhode Island. Since beginning his theater career (more or less accidentally) in 1997, he has lived in Providence, Boston and New York and has directed dozens of youth, community and professional theater productions. He is a founding member and a resident director for the Rhode Island Stage Ensemble, and he has worked as a Producing Director for Prospect Theater Company in New York and Managing Producer for the Playwrights Horizons Theater School at NYU. His feature films, made under his label Nicky’s Counting Productions, include They Walk Among Us and the award-winning documentary 41. Chris began working with PALS after moving back to Boston in 2011, and has since directed their productions of Seussical Jr. and Little Shop of Horrors. Chris lives in the Boston area with his wife Leah and his two year old son, Asher. For more information on Chris and his work, please visit www.christianoneill.com.
Tom Krusinski
Dance Instructor
Junior PALS
Many PALS students first met Tom Krusinski as toddlers in his classes at the Brookline Music School, where he teaches creative movement, dance, and harmonica. Tom’s bachelor of arts in psychology includes a minor in elementary education. He has trained in New York and Boston at Jacob’s Pillow, Harvard Summer Dance and Naropa Institute, and performed in modern dance and interdisciplinary events with architects, sound sculptors, poets, and visual artists. Tom was a professional dancer for 15 years working mostly in Massachusetts. During this time he also toured the USA with different dance companies. He has been teaching dance for 25 years. Non-Western disciplines such as Japanese tea ceremony, Zen archery, Aikido, Qigong and Tibetan Buddhist meditation inform both his teaching style and his choreography. His Western passions are cooking, tennis, and advanced driving techniques of cars and go-karts. He teaches at nursery and elementary schools throughout Massachusetts and is guest teacher and speaker at colleges, PTO, and teacher training events.
Kai-Ching Chang
Collaborative Pianist
Kai-Ching Chang received her BM from Soochow University in Taipei and her MM and AD at the Longy School of Music in Cambridge. Her principle teachers include Wayman Chin, Ingrid Tsung and Ju-Ying Song. As a soloist, collaborative and orchestral musician, jazz and contemporary music performer, Chang has developed a widely varied repertoire. Chang won the Longy School of Music Concerto Competition and performed Shostakovich Piano Concerto No.1 with Longy Chamber Orchestra in 2009. In 2008, Chang was a finalist in the NTDTV Piano Competition in New York City. In March, 2007, she was invited to perform as a guest artist in UMass, Dartmouth. As a collaborative pianist, Chang appeared as a performing associate in International Bowdoin Music Festival in summer in 2007. She has collaborated with Roger Tapping, Sergey Antonov, Jayne West, Dennis Shafer and Shadie Ebrahimi. In 2005, she worked as an assistant accompanist in National Symphony Orchestra of Taipei. She also appeared in The Landis Hotel and Grand Hotel and played “My Funny Valentine” and “Kiss of Fire.” She enjoys playing contemporary music and is proud to have premiered works by Joel Shank and Timothy Dusenbury. She also enjoys doing music outreach programs in senior houses and hospitals. As a collaborative pianist, Chang appeared as a performing associate at the International Bowdoin Music Festival. In 2009, she joined the group Sounds in Bloom and collaborated with artists and dancers to produce new and improvised works. An accomplished teacher, she has taught at PALS and the New School of Music in Cambridge since 2007.
Brett Hodgdon
Collaborative Pianist
Brett Hodgdon is a versatile collaborative artist, vocal coach, and teacher living in the Boston area. He has performed both song and instrumental recitals at venues and festivals throughout the United States, including The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Jordan Hall at the New England Conservatory (NEC), the Aspen Music Festival, and the Token Creek Chamber Music Festival. He has appeared with NEC’s Contemporary Ensemble for the Boston premiere of John Harbison’s Milosz Songs for soprano and piano. An avid performer of new music, Hodgdon made his New York City debut in 2008 with the Mimesis Ensemble in its opening season at Merkin Concert Hall at the Kaufmann Center. Away from the recital stage, Hodgdon is the vocal director and music advisor for Guerilla Opera, a Boston-based contemporary chamber opera company. In April 2008, he participated in the company’s world premiere performance of Andy Vores’ No Exit, and will coach the world premieres of two operas for the group’s upcoming season. Currently, he serves as a music coach for the NEC Undergraduate Opera Seminar, as well as the Opera Seminar for graduate students. He is also a pianist for Emmanuel Music (Boston), where he was named a Lorraine Hunt Lieberson Fellow for the 2008-09 season. This summer, Hodgdon performed regularly as a fellow at the Tanglewood music festival. A doctoral candidate at New England Conservatory, Hodgdon has studied collaborative piano with Irma Vallecillo and Cameron Stowe. Brett has been a collaborative pianist for Senior PALS since 2007.