Vicki Linich
Vicki Linich has been singing all her life, and she loves a cappella choral singing best of all. Ms. Linich earned a master’s degree in Vocal Pedagogy and Diction from Northern Illinois University and a bachelor’s degree in Music from SUNY Potsdam. She founded the Batavia Area Summer Chorus, where she was Artistic Director from 2012-2014, and has served as the Music Director at the Congregational Church of Batavia since 2007. As a mezzo-soprano, Ms. Linich enjoys singing an eclectic variety of music, but she has a soft spot for sacred music. Favorite solo work includes Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” Bach’s “Mass in B Minor,” and Dvorak’s “Mass in D Major.”
With over 20 years of experience teaching voice and piano, Ms. Linich has worked with students of all ages, training them to best express the music which interests them the most. She loves to share the art of singing with everyone, and firmly believes that anyone can learn to sing.
Director Emeritus: Dennis Smith
With over 40 years of experience as a church choral conductor and singer, Mr. Smith led Acappellago for its first seventeen seasons as a founding member and the Music Director.
He always enjoyed presenting the works of contemporary composers and Acappellago has given the world premieres of new music from Robert Convery, Beth Anderson Harold, Robert Applebaum, Matthew Orlovich and Edie Hill as well as the Chicago area premieres of new music from Sean Doherty, Andrew Smith and Dale Trumbore.
Mr. Smith began his musical studies on the accordion at the age of 4 and switched to the Clarinet at 8. He has studied Clarinet with Robert Marcellus, Larry Combs, Clark Brody, and John Bruce Yeh and is a DePaul University School of Music graduate. Mr. Smith has been a featured soloist with the Salt Creek Sinfonietta and Wheaton Symphony Orchestra and frequently has been found playing his bass clarinet in a variety of orchestras in the Chicago area.
Mr. Smith was the coordinator of a recital series featuring the music of women composers and, as the clarinetist, his great love is presenting 20th-century chamber works unknown to the public in recital and has given a number of Chicago area premieres.
Mr. Smith’s career as a choral conductor began in 1985 with a 13 year stint as the director of the adult choir of Bethel Reformed Church in Chicago. In 1994, he took over some conducting responsibilities as the “unofficial” assistant conductor of the Downers Grove Choral Society and conducted their chamber choir in several programs. He has also sung with the Rockefeller Memorial Chapel Choir at the University of Chicago and can be found on their CD featuring songs of exultation and lamentations. From 2002 until 2005, Mr. Smith was the Music Director of the First Congregational Church of Lockport leading the Chancel Choir and the Pilgrim Handbell Choir and, from August 2006 until June 2019, he served as Music Director of the Community Congregational Church of Villa Park.
Since his move to Hilton Head Island, SC in July 2019, he has been singing in the Hilton Head Symphony Orchestra Chorus, the Mary Green Chorale, and the Sanctuary Choir of First Presbyterian Church (HHI). He is the current Music Director for Temple Oseh Shalom in Bluffton, SC, the Bass Section Leader of All Saints Episcopal Church on Hilton Head Island, and the Clarinet Section Leader of the Low Country Wind Symphony in Beaufort, SC.
