About the Director

Danica A. Buckley
Music Director

Danica A. Buckley has been artistic director and conductor of the Choral Art Society since 2005. Under her five-year leadership, the chorus has performed a sold-out performance of Mendelssohn's St. Paul in 2009, for the 200th birthday of Mendelssohn and the 50th anniversary of the Choral Art Society, and a variety of concerts that have included Viennese composers, carols from around the world, and music of Great Britain, from the nineteenth and twentieth centuries, includingVaughn Williams' Hodie. Future seasons will include masterworks of Bach, Handel, Mozart, Brahms, and Grieg, as well as lighter works.

She also directs the Simmons College Concert Choir and is a frequent guest conductor with the Nantucket Community Music Center Chorus. She is also Music Director at First Parish in Brookline.

In addition to leading myriad choral rehearsals and performances, she is an adjunct professor of English composition and literature at Wentworth Institute of Technology and music history at Simmons College.

Ms. Buckley holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the Boston Conservatory where she studied with Dr. William Cutter. In the summer program at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, she studied conducting with Dr. Andrew Megill and vocal health science with Dr. Scott McCoy.

In 1987, while earning a Master of Arts in English at North Carolina State University in Raleigh, she founded The Tompkins Chorale, comprised of fellow graduate students, her own undergraduate students, and professors. During this time, she also studied voice at Meredith College with Jacquelyn Culpepper and Catherine Charlton. At Brevard Music Center she studied opera with Arnold Voketaitis and Ross Magoulas. She was also a soprano soloist at Pullen Baptist Church, performing under the direction of and studying conducting with Michael Hawn.

She moved to Vermont in 1988 to conduct Brigadoon at her alma mater, Norwich University, from which she had earned a Bachelor of Arts in English in 1985. She remained in Vermont until 1995, conducting the Northeast Kingdom Chorus, the Mad River Chorale (which she founded), the Warren United Church Choir, and several musicals in the community and at Green Mountain Valley School where she founded the chorus. She also performed as a soprano in several productions and workshops with the Vermont Opera Theater.

In 1995 she moved to Pennsylvania to teach at Mercersburg Academy where she taught English and was assistant conductor of the choir.

From 1996-2002, she taught English and music at Cape Cod Academy, founded the Osterville Community Chorus, and served as soprano soloist and assistant conductor at St. Peter's Episcopal Church.

Ms. Buckley is an active member of Chorus America and the American Choral Directors Association.

Susan Gilleece Reilley
Accompanist

Susan Gilleece Reilley has been the accompanist of the Choral Art Society since 2002. She is also the accompanist of the Braintree Choral Society and has performed with the Bridgewater State College Choir. She has accompanied soloists throughout the South Shore and Boston areas, including soloists with the Bel Canto Opera Company and The Quincy Symphony Orchestra.

In 2005 she accompanied the District Festival Boys Choir, under the direction of Dr. Richard Bunbury. In 2003, Susan performed with composer and singer Edward Milham in a recital of his compositions as well as Poulenc's Chanson Gaillardes, Brahms' Gesange, and works by Shostakovich.

Recent choral performances include Dvorak's Stabat Mater, Bach's Christmas Oratorio, Ralph Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana and Leonard Bernstein's Chichester Psalms.

With a love of musical theater since age 15, she started her own theater company, C&G Productions. In addition to her own company, she has directed and performed with numerous companies including The Company Theatre of Norwell and Fiddlehead Theatre of Norwood.

Susan studied piano with Marlene Dubois and Robert Brown, Emeritus Conductor of the Quincy Symphony Orchestra. She has served as Musical Director at Foxborough High School and is currently an instructor for the Piano Conservatory Program in the Braintree Public Schools.