DIANE GELLER, MME

Ms. Geller has devoted the better part of her forty-two years in music education to teaching and promoting the Kodaly Approach from the Pre-Primary through graduate levels.  She has served as a music specialist, K-6 in the Los Angeles, Vista, Fallbrook, and Capistrano Unified School Districts as well as several school districts in Oklahoma. She returned to California after serving for four years on the faculty of Silver Lake College, Manitowoc, WI, where she taught graduate and undergraduate courses in Music Education. 

She holds a Master of Music Ed. degree with a Kodály Emphasis from the University of Oklahoma, a Kodály Music Certificate from Silver Lake College, and a B.A. from California State University at Northridge. She has had extensive experience teaching children in both public and private schools in the Kodály concept of music education. For the past 34 years, Miss Geller has taught Folk Song Research, Methodology, and Solfege courses for Kodály certification at CSU Northridge, CSU LA, USC, CSU Fresno, University of Oklahoma, Azusa Pacific University, University of San Diego, and Palomar College, where she also co-directed the Palomar Youth Chorale for thirteen years.  In 2006, she received the OUTSTANDING EDUCATOR AWARD from the Organization of American Kodaly Educators.  She has the director of the Brio Chorus, one of the ensembles comprising the Children's Center Chorus, part of the Choral Arts program based at the California Center for the Arts, Escondido, founded by Joe and Dana Stanford from 2012-2020.

NIKÉ ST. CLAIR, DMA

Niké St. Clair was born and raised in Hungary.  She holds B. M. and M. M. degrees in Choral Conducting, Theory, and Music Education from the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest, Hungary.  Ms. St. Clair moved to Los Angeles to pursue her dream to receive a doctoral degree in choral conducting at the USC Thornton School of Music where she earned Masters and Doctorate degrees in Choral Conducting.

Dr. St. Clair currently teaches musicianship courses with the famed Hungarian Kodály methodology at Azusa Pacific University and California State Polytechnic University, Pomona.  At Cal Poly Pomona, her duties also include teaching Beginning Conducting, Choral Conducting and directing the Kellogg Chamber Singers and the University Concert Choir where she is the Director of Choral Activities.  In addition to her teaching duties, she is the Sanctuary Choir director at the La Verne Church of the Brethren.

During the summertime, under the auspices of the Kodály Association of Southern California, a chapter of OAKE, Dr. St. Clair serves as a master teacher applying the Kodály principles in Musicianship, Chamber Choir, and Choral Conducting.  Ms. St. Clair sings professionally with the Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic Orchestra.  As an ensemble artist, Ms. St. Clair’s select movie soundtracks include Avatar; Godzilla; Transformers 4; The Minions; Pixels; Big Hero 6; Ice Age; X-Men and many more.

MATT HANNE, MME

Matt Hanne teaches 6th-12th grade choir and Upper School Psychology at The Independent School in Wichita, KS, and is on the faculty at Newman University where he teaches applied voice. He has served on the faculty of Kodály certification programs at Morehead State University (Solfege/Musicianship), the University of Central Missouri (Solfege/Musicianship), California State University - Bakersfield (Solfege/Musicianship), and Wichita State University (Conducting, Secondary Pedagogy). Matt also earned his Kodály Certificate at WSU. He has presented at the National (NAFME, OAKE), State (KMEA) and local (USD 259) levels on various topics relating to choral rehearsal techniques and improvisation. Matt has studied in Kecskemét, Hungary at the International Kodály Seminar three times, including participating in a choral conducting Master Class with Péter Erdei. Matt is the Director of Music at Pleasant Valley United Methodist Church, and the director of the Wichita Broadway Singers. He has served the tenor section leader for the Wichita Symphony Chorus, and has frequently been a member of the Wichita Chamber Chorale.

KATHY HICKEY, DMA

Experienced music educator Katherine Hickey specializes in elementary music and pedagogy for music literacy skills. Bachelor and Master of Arts degrees in piano performance were completed at California State Universities at Los Angeles and Long Beach, including a year of study at the Liszt Academy of Music, Budapest. She earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Music Education from University of Southern California, honored as Outstanding Music Education Graduate.

A frequent presenter at local, state, national and international conferences, Dr. Hickey’s presentations include choral music, literacy skills in music, art music listening, discovery learning, and Kodály curriculum and materials. Her research activity is centered on Jenő Ádám and his role in the development of the Kodály approach. She is currently Professor of Music at the University of Redlands in California, Past President and Treasurer of the Organization of America Kodaly Educators (2004-06, 2011-2018), and current International Kodály Society Secretary-Treasurer. Dr. Hickey was honored with the OAKE Outstanding Educator award in 2019.