Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy, Musical Director

   
A conductor, singer, and hornist, Jo-Anne van der Vat-Chromy is a Maryland native who has spent the last 24 years in Europe.  Formerly on the music staff of The International School of Brussels, she was most recently the Vocal Music Director at the American School of The Hague (ASH), in The Netherlands.  Her work at ASH included directing six choirs and co-directing two concert bands, as well as teaching Rock Music History, Musical Theatre and directing the 55-voice ASH Community Choir.  Jo-Anne is also the founder/music director of "Het Davidkoor", a subsidized thirty-voice Dutch women's choir who recently celebrated their eighteenth year of holistic music making.

During her career in Europe, Jo-Anne was active in AMIS - the Association of Music in International Schools.  Through AMIS, she was the invited guest conductor for three international choral festivals; the 2002 Boys Treble Choir Festival in Budapest, Hungary, the 2005 Girls Treble Choir Festival in Warsaw, Poland and the 2007 Mixed Choir Festival in Singapore.

Jo-Anne was the recipient of a Belgian-American Education Foundation Scholarship to the Royal Flemish Conservatory of Music in Brussels, Belgium.  She holds a Teacher Certification from the University of Michigan, a Masters Degree in Horn Performance from Bowling Green State University, and a Bachelors of Arts in Music from St. Mary's College of Maryland.  Her postgraduate studies have included course work in Vocal Performance, Choral Conducting, Music Education, Music Technology and Early Childhood Education.

A student of Dr. André J. Thomas, Jo-Anne is in her third year of the Ph.D. Program in Music Education/Choral Conducting at Florida State University.  Her research interests include the kinesthetic connections in conducting pedagogy, choral acoustic music measurement, and the sociological impact of choral communities on student learning.