OUR TEAM
Artistic Team
Jonathan Thomas Madden
Artistic Director & Conductor
Jonathan Thomas Madden is a conductor, composer, and church musician from Rochester, NY. He currently serves as the Director of Music at University Presbyterian Church in Rochester Hills, MI, and is the founding Artistic Director of Solarium Vocal Ensemble.
From 2020-2025, Jon served as Minister of Music at St. Paul’s Evangelical Lutheran Church (Pittsford, NY) and served on the faculty of the Hochstein School as Assistant Director and Composer-in-Residence for the Hochstein Youth Singers. Previously, Jon also taught vocal music and choir at McQuaid Jesuit High School.
A grateful beneficiary of Rochester’s active choral scene, Jon served as Assistant Director for the choirs of Nazareth University (Brian Stevens, director), First Inversion (Lee Wright, director), and the Eastman/Christ Church Schola Cantorum (Stephen Kennedy, director). He also held membership in the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and the early music ensemble Musica Spei.
Jon’s choral compositions have been finalists in the 2022 ACDA Pearl Prize Competition (Shall We Gather at the River) and the 2023 American Prize (Music, when soft voices die). His writing for SSA ensembles has been recognized by the 2023 ACDA Focus Prize (honorable mention, The Gift to Sing) and the 2019 ACDA Brock Student Composition Competition (2nd place, The Lord is
my Light). Recent works have been composed for the Rochester Intergenerational Choir Day (2024 and 2026), Musica Spei, Minerva DeLand, and the historic University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club.
Currently, Jon is pursuing the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Michigan. He received the Masters of Music Degree in Choral Conducting from the Eastman School of Music, where he was awarded the Graduate Teaching Assistant Prize for his teaching of first-year aural skills. He earned the Bachelor of Music Degree in Composition from St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota.
Jon is proud to be a student of Anton Armstrong, Christopher Atzinger, James E. Bobb, Therees Hibbard, Timothy Mahr, Brian Preston, Eugene Rogers, S Joshua Sheppard, Janet Stadt, Emery Stevens, and William Weinert, among many other kind and generous people.
Hannah Miller
Executive Director
Hannah Miller is the founding Executive Director of Solarium Vocal Ensemble. She studied Theater and Media Arts at Brigham Young University with an emphasis in Stage and Production Management. She received a National Accommodation in Stage Management from The Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival for her work on a multi-media production of Our Town. She worked extensively in dance production, helping with the Utah Regional Ballet and Sundance Film Festival’s production, Way of the Rain.
She moved to Los Angeles, CA and worked for Millennial Choirs and Orchestras as a Production Manager. While in LA, she and her husband, Kyle, had two energetic boys. They moved to Rochester where Kyle works at The University of Rochester Lab for Laser Energetics and they had their last baby, a girl.
Hannah has sung with multiple choirs in Rochester including Vox Lusciniae, First Inversion, Scivias Medieval Ensemble, and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. She has enjoyed making excellent music and friends in the Rochester community. Her family has enjoyed exploring this beautiful part of the world and she looks forward to adding more music and beauty to Western New York.
Andrea McGaugh
Operations Manager
Passionate about connecting people to and through music, co-founder and Operations Manager Andrea McGaugh is thrilled to bring Solarium to light in the Rochester community.
An advocate for collaborative music-making and authentic storytelling in all its forms, Andrea is a dedicated concert soloist, stage performer, recitalist, and ensemble singer. Her deep love of oratorio and choral music has led to numerous engagements throughout Western New York. During the academic year, Andrea serves as the Choral Librarian in the Eastman Ensembles Library where she oversees the school's choral activities behind the scenes, and regularly sings with Rochester choirs Voices, First Inversion, Musica Spei, Scivias Medieval Ensemble, and the Christ Church Schola Cantorum. Professional highlights include performances with Source Song Festival, Blackfriars Theatre, Geneva Light Opera, Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, Ohio Light Opera, SongFest, and SouthEastern Young Artists. In addition to singing, Andrea is an avocational harpist, and enjoys dipping her pedal-changing toes into the world of orchestral repertoire as a member of the Penfield Symphony Orchestra.
Andrea is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music, where she studied voice with Kathryn Cowdrick and Jan Opalach. In her free time, she enjoys baking, settling Catan, watching football (go Bills!), spending time with family and friends, and showing everyone cute pictures of her baby niece and twin nephews.
Board of Directors
Hannah Miller, president
Andrea McGaugh, secretary
Severin Nelson, treasurer
Laurel Gildersleeve
Jonathan Thomas Madden
Staff
Joyce Tseng, social media
Michael Richardson, logo