About Mr. Brandon Pemberton

Director of Choirs

Phone: (847)-842-3235
Email: bpemberton@barrington220.org

Bachelor of Music in Choral Music Education
University of Michigan

Master of Music in Music Education
Florida State University

Master of Education in Educational Leadership
American College of Education

Daily Class Schedule:
1st Period: Bella Voce
2nd Period: Gracenotes
3rd Period: Lunch
4th Period: Chamber Choir
5th Period: Choraliers
6th Period: Duty Period
7th Period: Intermezzo
8th Period: Plan Period
Brandon Pemberton is a passionate and enthusiastic music educator who enjoys working with students of all ages and ability levels. He earned a Bachelor of Music degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Michigan's School of Music, Theatre, and Dance, with Highest Honors. He also holds both a Master of Music Education degree from Florida State University and a Master of Educational Leadership degree from the American College of Education. 

Pemberton joined Barrington Community Unit School District 220 for the 2017-18 school year as the Director of Choirs at Barrington High School. He conducts Bella Voce, Gracenotes, Chamber Choir, Choraliers, and Intermezzo. He also serves as the vocal director of the musical, director of Madrigals, director of the Spotlight - Freshman Production, and oversees five A Cappella groups. 

Prior to his tenure at Barrington High School, Pemberton served as one of two choral directors in Leyden High School District 212, where he co-directed five curricular and several extra-curricular ensembles. He started his career in Community Unit School District 200, where he served as a middle school choral director.

For six seasons, Pemberton also served as the Assistant Music Director of the Grammy Award winning Anima-Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus, where he conducted the Treble and Concert Choruses. Through his work with Anima, he prepared singers for collaborations with the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Music of the Baroque, the Joffrey Ballet, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. He took the Concert Chorus on tour to participate in the Crescent City Choral Festival in New Orleans (2015), as well as the Serenade Choral Festival in Washington D.C. (2017).

About Mr. Riley Cook

Vocal Assistant

​Email: 
​Riley Cook is an energetic new choral music educator who loves teaching. Riley earned his Bachelor of the Arts degree in Choral Music Education from Carthage College in Kenosha Wisconsin. While singing at Carthage, he performed in prestigious concert halls and churches throughout the world with the Carthage Choir, such as Chicago’s Symphony Center, St. Peter’s Basilica in Rome, St. Mark's Basilica in Venice, Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Budapest to name a few. During the summer of 2019, Carthage Choir traveled to Spittal an der Drau Austria and competed in the world renowned 56th International Spittal an der Drau Chorwettbewerb. The choir was able to win both categories and take home the overall against 9 other countries from around the world. After graduating from Carthage in the Spring of 2020, Riley began his career in Community Unit School District 200 as Choral Director and General Music Teacher. 
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Outside of music, Riley loves to stay active by hiking, working out, camping, rock climbing, working on old rusty cars and trucks, and generally being outside. He is excited to join the choral music program at Barrington High School for the 2021-22 school year as Assistant Vocal Director. 

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About Dr. Shuyi Guan

Choral Accompanist 

Bachelor of Music
Oberlin Conservatory of Music

Master of Music
Bienen School of Music, Northwestern University

Doctor of Musical Arts
​University of Kansas



​ Shuyi Guan was born in Shenyang, China; being inspired by great musicians at the time she began her career as a pianist at the Middle School attached to Shenyang Conservatory of Music. As a pianist, she received recognition from fellow musicians as she received the Dean's Talent Award of the Oberlin Conservatory, Thaviu/ Issak Endowed Scholarship, and Eckstein Fund at Northwestern University. In addition, she also received scholarships to further improve her musicianship attending the Banff Centre in 2010, 2011, 2012. She is the winner at KU concerto competition, 2017, Other prizes she gained include the Special Prize- Best Duo at Chicago International Music Competition; First Prize of the “Schumann Cup” International Juvenile Piano Competition (Asia-Pacific Region), and the Third Prize of the 69thSteinway Juvenile Piano Competition (Northeast Region). As a soloist, she performed in many different countries putting herself under the scrutiny of various cultural standards; she played in Spain, Germany, China, Canada, U.S. She has also played in the masterclass of Robert McDonald, Nalita True, Julian Martin, Enrico Elisi, Boris Slutsky, Tamás Ungár etc. As an avid chamber musician, Shuyi collaborates regularly in performance with instrumentalists and singers in the United States, she has been working as collaborative pianist at Chicago Children’s Choir and North Park University. 
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As a piano teacher, she has taught at Lawrence Piano Studio, Organization of Piano Without Borders under the University of Kansas, Northwestern University and Oberlin Conservatory. She is the recipient of The Carol Nott Piano Pedagogy Prize at Oberlin College, 2013. Shuyi has recently obtained her Doctor of Musical Arts in Piano Performance at the University of Kansas where she studied under the tutelage of Dr. Steven Spooner. Shuyi has also studied with Alan Chow, Angela Cheng, Rosemary Platt, Dan Wen Wei in her past. 
 

About Mr. Ron Arden

Private Voice Teacher
​Ron Arden is a degreed professional in voice and viola. A “renaissance man” in the truest sense, for over 30 years he has performed, taught, and conducted as an artist marked by excellence and passion.

He has been violist with the Omaha Symphony and Chamber Orchestra, Lincoln Symphony, Houston Bach Society, Houston Grand Opera, The Florida Philharmonic, and Symphony of the Americas in Fort Lauderdale, Green Bay Symphony, Wisconsin Philharmonic, and Kenosha Symphony. Vocal/acting experience includes performance as a free-lance artist in Omaha, with Houston Grand Opera, Class Act Broadway touring company of South Florida, and free lancing in greater Chicagoland.

Ron teaches private voice and viola and is a featured teacher for Road Scholar Continuing Education programs annually. He is the owner and director of the Allegro String Quartet, presently teaches voice at Barrington High School, and adult classes on Vocal Freedom in Speech and Presentation. He and his wife toured the country for over 25 years and have three
professional recordings from a concert ministry Ron created called A Cross Between – celebrating diverse music in worship.
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In 2003 Ron found, as conductor and artistic director, The Lake County Symphony Orchestra - an ensemble of professionals on Chicago’s North Shore. The LCSO is the first orchestra invited
to the Genesee Theater in Waukegan to accompany national artists there. It is a self-run, self-governed professional orchestra boasting a roster of players from Milwaukee to Chicago and specializes in fostering students and nonprofessionals in a high-quality environment.

Ron is widely sought as a music director and works as consultant on the arts in worship. Enjoying a diversity of performing and conducting experience, his reputation for instilling excellence and artistry into musicians is his deepest passion. From classical to Broadway, barbershop to gospel, Ron comfortably communicates the beauty of great music. In November of 2016, he released his first solo album “Voice of Love” to critical acclaim. It is an original commissioned collection of vocal stylings with jazz sextet.

Maestro Arden was music director/conductor of the Lake Forest Civic Orchestra in Lake Forest/Lake Bluff, Illinois until 2014. In his 7 seasons with the LFCO audiences grew, orchestra
members increased, and the overall life of the orchestra was greatly rejuvenated. With both the Lake County Symphony Orchestra and the LFCO, Ron has celebrated the gifts of local artists and partnerships with student ensembles and churches. In these celebrations he has been and continues to be an ambassador for music making that enlivens and educates the lives of others.

About Mr. John Hacker

Private Voice Teacher
John Hacker, a graduate of the University of Illinois, is an Adjunct Professor of Voice at Trinity International University; maintains a private voice studio of over 50 students in the Northwest Suburbs of Chicago; directs for Overshadowed Theater Company; serves in his church’s music ministry. His
singing has brought him to the stages of Bowen Park Opera, DuPage Opera Theater, Light Opera Works and Drury Lane Oakbrook. Chorus engagements have included performances with both Chicago Opera Theater and Chicago’s Lyric Opera. He has directed choirs at Barrington and Crystal Lake Central High
Schools and was the artistic/musical director for Schaumburg on Stage, a musical theater production company for young performers. He and his wife, Valerie, with their 5 children, Caitlin, Caleb, Cameron, Cayden, & Cara live in Hoffman Estates, Illinois.

About Dr. Judith Durocher Sidlowski

Private Voice Teacher
For thirty-five years, Dr. Durocher Sidlowski has been honing her craft and career as a choral director and music educator. With a reputation for excellence, Dr. Durocher Sidlowski brings to her teaching a unique combination of counseling, musical and performance skills. She holds a Masters degree in Vocal Performance from Bradley University and a second Masters in Counseling from Arizona State University. She completed her Ph.D. in Choral Music Education from the University of Arizona.

Before pursuing her doctoral degree, Dr. Durocher developed two of Arizona’s outstanding choir programs at Horizon High School and Pinnacle High School in the Paradise Valley School District. Dr. Durocher Sidlowski retired from Scottsdale Community College. She has sung professionally with the nationally renowned Phoenix Chorale and is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, NATS, The American Choral Directors Association, ACDA, and the Illinois Music Educators Association, ILMEA.

​During the spring of 2012, Dr. Durocher taught at Oberlin Conservatory as a sabbatical replacement in the Music Education division. Recently, Dr. Durocher Sidlowski has maintained a private voice studio in Scottsdale, Arizona and Three Lakes, Wisconsin. She was also a Voice Instructor at the Wausau Conservatory of Music, and an Adjunct professor at UWSP - Wausau, teaching the voice majors. She was also the Artistic Director of Wausau Pro Musica. Now that she and her husband have moved to Tower Lakes, she is thrilled to have the opportunity to launch a voice studio and teach voice in the choral department at Barrington H.S.