Aaron Garber is currently the Director of Church Music at College Lutheran Church in Salem, Virginia.  He is also the Founder, Conductor, and Music Director of the Salem Choral Society.

Aaron Garber believes in promoting good choral music throughout the area and beyond. As a conductor, he has directed many concerts which have included major works such as the Dubois Seven Last Words, the Pinkham Christmas Cantata, Handel’s Messiah, the Rutter Gloria, the Vivaldi Gloria, and the world premieres of his own major works, Job, Mary, the Mother of Jesus and Mass for Peace.

Mr. Garber won the 2001 Raymond W. Brock Student Composition Contest, a national contest held in conjunction with the American Choral Directors Association. The winning composition, Stabat Mater, an a cappella choral work, was premiered at the ACDA National Convention in San Antonio, Texas in March, 2001. He is published by Concordia Publishing House and Yelton Rhodes Publishers.

Additionally, Aaron is an accomplished composer. He will make his Carnegie Hall debut as a conductor and composer in 2008 featuring the world premiere of his Magnificat, which is scored for full orchestra, chorus, and soprano soloist. This event is produced by MidAmerica Productions.

Aaron was recently named the 2007 Young Alumnus of the Year from Bridgewater College and was also chosen for Who’s Who in America for 2007. In addition, the City of Salem named May 6, 2007 “Aaron Garber Day.”

Aaron can be reached at Director@JeffersonChoralSociety.org

Rose M. Peak has been the accompanist for JCS since 1998.  A graduate of Radford University with a B.S. Degree in Music Education, Ms. Peak is a certified independent music teacher and piano instructor in Rustburg.

She serves as a national adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers, a division of the American College of Musicians, and is active in the Virginia Federation of Music Clubs, American Guild of Organists, the Music Teachers National Association, and is a Hall of Fame member of the NGPT.  She has toured with JCS on its three most recent tours to

The Jefferson Youth Chorale was created in 2005 to encourage the youth of the Central Virginia area to become interested in and participate in choral singing beyond the opportunities afforded by local churches.  Peggy Haas-Howell was asked to organize and direct this group of young singers and has done so since the inception of the group.  They perform in at least one major concert per season with the Jefferson Choral Society. 

Peggy Hass-Howell is the Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg and is an internationally known organ recitalist who

has won top prizes in many organ playing competitions, including the National Organ Playing Competition of the American Guild of Organists, and St. Alban’s International Organ Interpretation Competition in England. She has recorded for the BBC, for Sender Freies Berlin, for the Finnish Broadcasting Service, and for Raven Recordings.

 She graduated from Susquehanna University with a Bachelor of Arts in Church Music degree (magna cum laude), and from Union Theological Seminary with a Master of Sacred Music degree. She also attended the Academy of Music and Performing Arts in Hamburg, Germany.

 She taught organ for ten years at Peabody Conservatory of Johns Hopkins University before moving to Lynchburg in 1996. Since coming to Lynchburg she has conducted at Sweet Briar College, Randolph-Macon Woman’s College, and been music Director for the Glass Theatre.  She also accompanies the JCS during concerts on the organ.

 She recently has been appointed as the conductor of Cantate and the Children’s and Youth Choir of Central Virginia.  With the Jefferson Youth Chorale this combined group has performed at the Jefferson Choral Society’s annual Christmas concert, as well as a musical performance of just the Youth Choruses.