2021 Presenter Bios
Darlene Machacon
Darlene Machacon (she/her/hers) is a Filipina-American music educator, choir teacher, and piano teacher in Orange County, California. In addition to teaching, she is an active presenter, author, and co-host for her podcast Coloring the Melody, where her work focuses on challenging the status quo of music education. She received two Bachelor’s of Music degrees in Music Education and in Piano Performance and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music Education degree from VanderCook College of Music. You can learn more about her on Instagram and TikTok under the handle, @thedarlingmusicteacher.
Darlene Machacon (she/her/hers) is a Filipina-American music educator, choir teacher, and piano teacher in Orange County, California. In addition to teaching, she is an active presenter, author, and co-host for her podcast Coloring the Melody, where her work focuses on challenging the status quo of music education. She received two Bachelor’s of Music degrees in Music Education and in Piano Performance and is currently pursuing a Master’s of Music Education degree from VanderCook College of Music. You can learn more about her on Instagram and TikTok under the handle, @thedarlingmusicteacher.
Andrea Solya, DMA
Andrea Solya is Associate Director of Choral Studies and Teaching Associate Professor of Composition-Theory and Choral Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is director of the UI Women's Glee Club, UIUCs’ premier treble choir. She is also coordinator of Aural Skills, and teaches choral conducting and literature to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to her duties at the University of Illinois, she is in daily contact with middle school and high school choral singers in the Champaign-Urbana area as the director since 2006 of the Chamber Choir and Youth Chorale of the Central Illinois Children's Chorus. Her newly designed Aural Skills curriculum at the U of I is based on a Hungarian model, and stands on major pillars of the Kodály method. Each summer she teaches musicianship, conducting and choral methodology in the Master's program of the Kodály Institute at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Her research interests include the choral music of Andreas Rauch (1592-1656), as well as the art of teaching sight singing to the choral singer and beyond. She has performed and presented on national and international stages, and has been working on a critical edition of 25 motets from Andreas Rauch’s 1625 collection "Thymiaterium Musicale". Under her direction the UI Women's Glee Club has received numerous concert invitations and has undertaken memorable tours to Nashville, New Orleans, Atlanta and, most recently, to New York City. The UI Women’s Glee Club also appears on renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas's latest CD recording Astral Canticle, released in 2015 by Nimbus Records. Dr. Solya is Treble Choir Repertoire and Standards Committee Chair at ACDA-IL.
Andrea Solya is Associate Director of Choral Studies and Teaching Associate Professor of Composition-Theory and Choral Music at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where she is director of the UI Women's Glee Club, UIUCs’ premier treble choir. She is also coordinator of Aural Skills, and teaches choral conducting and literature to undergraduate and graduate students. In addition to her duties at the University of Illinois, she is in daily contact with middle school and high school choral singers in the Champaign-Urbana area as the director since 2006 of the Chamber Choir and Youth Chorale of the Central Illinois Children's Chorus. Her newly designed Aural Skills curriculum at the U of I is based on a Hungarian model, and stands on major pillars of the Kodály method. Each summer she teaches musicianship, conducting and choral methodology in the Master's program of the Kodály Institute at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio. Her research interests include the choral music of Andreas Rauch (1592-1656), as well as the art of teaching sight singing to the choral singer and beyond. She has performed and presented on national and international stages, and has been working on a critical edition of 25 motets from Andreas Rauch’s 1625 collection "Thymiaterium Musicale". Under her direction the UI Women's Glee Club has received numerous concert invitations and has undertaken memorable tours to Nashville, New Orleans, Atlanta and, most recently, to New York City. The UI Women’s Glee Club also appears on renowned composer Augusta Read Thomas's latest CD recording Astral Canticle, released in 2015 by Nimbus Records. Dr. Solya is Treble Choir Repertoire and Standards Committee Chair at ACDA-IL.
Conference schedule can be found by clicking here: 2021 Conference Schedule.
Can’t make it to the conference? No worries. The sessions will be recorded and a link for watching and rewatching will be sent out shortly after the conference concludes. This link will be live for 14 days.
Can’t make it to the conference? No worries. The sessions will be recorded and a link for watching and rewatching will be sent out shortly after the conference concludes. This link will be live for 14 days.