Personnel
Steven L. Bell, Artistic Director
Teresa-Marie Gotanco, Pianist
Artistic Director Steven L. Bell
He recently retired as the Director of Vocal Music at Teaneck High School and Instructional Leader of the THS Department of Fine and Performing Arts where he conducted the Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir, and the Madrigal Singers. He also taught AP Music Theory, and directed and musical directed the school’s annual musical. He has also taught Choral Methods at Montclair State University. Previously he taught music at Leonia Middle School, the Dwight School in Manhattan, and elementary and junior high schools in Teaneck. In his role as Musical Director, Mr. Bell has been nominated four times as Outstanding High School Musical Director by the Papermill Playhouse’s Rising Star Awards, and has won this distinction in 2004 for his production of Company at Fair Lawn High School.
Mr. Bell holds a Master Teacher Certification and Artist/Teacher Diploma from the CME Institute for Choral Music Education under Doreen Rao. He earned a Bachelors degree in Organ Performance and a Masters degree in Music Education at Carnegie-Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. While an undergraduate at C-MU, he was selected to conduct at the annual Graduate Concerto Concert and also lead the school’s Cameron Choir. Mr. Bell has also performed as Tenor Soloist at Temple Rodef Shalom and Calvary Episcopal Church both in Pittsburgh, and with the Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra.
Locally, Mr. Bell has sung with the Bel Canto Opera in New York and has served as musical director for many community and children’s theater groups including OnStage, Inc. and the Bergen County Players. He is a Past-President of both organizations. His credits at the Bergen County Players include director of Curtains, The King and I, Urinetown, Lucky Stiff, Gypsy, Epic Proportions, Jerry’s Girls, Don’t Dress for Dinner and Baby, musical director for Sweeney Todd, The Most Happy Fella, Something’s Afoot, and The 1940’s Radio Hour, and star of The Full Monty, A Year With Frog and Toad, City of Angels, Anything Goes, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum, They’re Playing Our Song, The Pajama Game and Into the Woods. In 2007 he won a Perry Award as Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical for his role in Follies.
Mr. Bell is the Past-President for the North Jersey School Music Educators (NJMEA Region I), and the Music Educators of Bergen County (MEBCI) and had served for many years as a member of the New Jersey All-State Choral Procedures Committee. He is the former Repertoire and Standards Chairman for Community Choirs for the State of New Jersey American Choral Directors Association. He has conducted the All-State Junior High Festival Honors Choir, Bergen County High School Honors Choir, the Bergen County Middle School Chorus, and North Jersey Region I Junior High School Mixed Chorus, and served as accompanist for the Bergen County Middle School Chorus, North Jersey Region I Junior High School Treble Choir and the New Jersey All-State Mixed Chorus. He is listed in both Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Teachers.
Chorus Pianist Teresa-Marie Gotanco
Born and raised in New Jersey, Teresa-Marie Gotanco is a music educator, director, and performer based in north New Jersey. She is currently in her first year building the music program at Oak Knoll School of the Holy Child in Summit, New Jersey.
Prior to her involvement at Oak Knoll, Ms. Gotanco enjoyed an extensive career as an accomplished pianist, traveling around the New York/New Jersey region to play for various churches, choral performances, and musicals. Among the musicals she has played for are Once on this Island, The Hunchback of Notre Dame (for which she also served as Choirmaster and Assistant Musical Director), Sweeney Todd, and Cats. With a passion for voice science, vocal health, and authentic expression in performance, she has led choirs, taught voice classes, and provided vocal coaching to clients from all walks of life — from beginners, to college students, to emerging professionals. One of her favorite engagements was working as a coach and accompanist with Barnard College, working with students on repertoire from many genres: pop, jazz, musical theater, and opera.
Ms. Gotanco has also worked as a professional vocalist since 2018, when she made her professional singing debut as a soprano concertist and soloist with the Princeton Baroque Chorus. In 2019, Ms. Gotanco was featured as part of a septet at Carnegie Hall under the baton of Mr. John Rutter, and during that summer, she had the privilege of performing at the Apollo Theater in Syros, Greece, during the Festival of the Aegean. While there, she was able to hone her craft as an operatic coloratura soprano, performing iconic pieces such as the famous Queen of the Night’s aria from Mozart’s The Magic Flute and the Doll’s song from Offenbach’s The Tales of Hoffmann.
Ms. Gotanco holds a Bachelor of the Arts in Music from Rutgers University.
E-mail: teresa.marie.gotanco@gmail.com