South Bay Children's Choir

Ms. Julie Corallo, Artistic Director, Director of Songbirds & Bel Canto

Ms. Julie Corallo, a National Board Certified Teacher, began her work with the South Bay Children’s Choir in 2006 as the musicianship teacher and the following year was invited to join the staff as an associate director. As a Kodály-certified teacher, she believes that all children can learn to read music and sing beautifully. Earning her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and her Master of Education at UCLA, she has been a music administrator with Los Angeles Unified, served as a vocal director for a number of musical theater groups, and is currently an elementary music teacher for Los Angeles Unified. Underlying each role she has played is her belief that everyone is a music maker and that developing the creative and expressive inclinations in children and adults alike is what makes them compassionate and collaborative human beings. She enjoys being a presenter for the organizations she works with, including the national non-profit organization Little Kids Rock, and serves her community through the coordination of the Annual San Pedro Music Festival, celebrating the musical achievements of the local schools in her community. In addition to providing support for music educators and providing relevant professional development as the K-12 music supervisor, she revised the Curriculum Guides for Elementary and Secondary Music and coordinated the LAUSD Elementary and Middle School Honor Music Festivals. These festivals were held at the Luckman Theatre and the Microsoft Theatre respectively and were designed to support the musical growth and achievement of students around the District. She also networked with organizations such as VH1 Save the Music, Little Kids Rock, the Grammy Museum, the Thelonious Monk Institute, the Music Center, and the Manilow Music Project to provide instruments, resources, and professional development for the students and teachers of the District. Upon completing her tenure as the K-12 music supervisor, the Los Angeles City Elementary Schools Music Association awarded her with an Honorary Life Membership, and in 2022 she was the Outstanding Music Educator award from the Southwest Division of the California Music Educators Association.

The South Bay Children’s Choir under her direction was invited to perform at the 2016 National Conference for the Organzation of Americal Kodály Educators, and she was the guest conductor for the 2015 Kodály Association of Southern California Honor Festival, the Education Through Music Los Angeles Choral Festival, and the California Association of Independent Schools Choral Festival. She has been a presenter for numerous music organizations, including Little Kids Rock, California Choral Directors Association, and the Kodály Association of Southern California, and is an active member with OAKE, ACDA and SCVA.

Judith Chan, Director of Musicianship

Judith Chan is an experienced vocal music teacher. She has taught in private and public schools in California and in Australia. Originally from Hong Kong, she grew up singing in a children’s choir where she received the foundation of musical learning based on the Kodály philosophy. She is now in her 31st year of teaching. Currently as a K-5 Vocal Music Specialist at Horace Mann School in the Beverly Hills Unified School District, she has previously taught general music and directed a choral program of multiple levels for 18 years at Beverly Vista School. Her middle school choir was selected to perform as the featured choir at the 2016 OAKE National Conference and 2017 World Strides Music Festival at Carnegie Hall. In 2019, her choir participated in the Music Celebrations Rome Choral Festival and performed in the St. Peter’s Basilica, the Sistine Chapel and the Pantheon.

Judith received the Graduate Diploma in Music Education from Queensland University of Technology in Australia where she was first trained in the Kodály pedagogy. She then completed her Master of Music Education with a Kodály Emphasis at Holy Names University. In addition, Judith served as the Kodály Musicianship instructor for the National Children’s Choir in Los Angeles for several years. She has also taught methodology and musicianship classes at the Holy Names University Summer Institute and the California State University at Bakersfield. While living in the Bay Area, she sang with the California Bach Society and the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

Judith is an active member of OAKE. She served on the National Choir Committee for six years and had students selected by audition to perform at the conference regularly. She is currently serving as the past president for OAKE Western Division.

Mr. Jake Asaro, Director of Encore Chorale

Mr. Jake Asaro is a graduate of the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at California State University Long Beach. Since graduating he has been an active choral musician in the LA and Orange County area. In 2020 he travelled around the US and Canada with VOCO, a folk vocal quintet led by choral composer and musician Moira Smiley. The tour in 2020 ended with a featured artist performance at the Southern Region ACDA conference in Mobile, Alabama. Jake can also be heard on Moira Smiley and VOCO’s most recent album, “In Our Voices.” In addition to performing with various professional vocal ensembles, Jake has also worked as a session singer in several film and video game scores, including UK film, “Dark Encounter.” As a choral director, his main focus is creating a safe environment for students to explore their authentic singing voice and learn more about themselves and the world around them through music.

Kristie Toomath, Director of the Lyric Choir

With over two decades of experience in music education, Mrs. Kristie Toomath works to empower her students through music. Before joining South Bay Children’s Choir, she spent 22 years as the Director of Music at The Willows Community School in Culver City, CA. In this role, she developed and implemented a K-8 Choral Program consisting of five choirs, annually enrolling 160 students. She curated and taught diverse genres of concert repertoire and developed the voices of individuals in the choir valuing solo singing and improvisation during rehearsals. As a General Music Teacher, she developed and led a dynamic curriculum for hands-on music-making and project-based learning, utilizing an Orff approach for DK through 4th Grade, collaborated with arts faculty to cultivate experiences for mixed-age, student-generated projects incorporating music, poetry, and dance that premiered at their annual Poetry Night.

Currently, she serves as an Online Course Facilitator for Advanced Choral Pedagogy for High School Choir and a Final Project Advisor for graduate students at Longy School of Music at Bard College in Cambridge, MA, providing learning support to a global adult population. Mrs. Toomath is also the Choral Director at Wallis Annenberg’s GenSpace in Koreatown, CA, where she fosters healthy singing through holistic warm-ups that engage the body and mind. Reimagining aging through music-making with singers aged 60-90, she collaborates with the singers to determine repertoire and teaches the art of choral singing through their diverse song choices. Additionally, she maintains her voice studio, teaching private voice lessons to Elementary and Middle School students and introducing children to various musical styles while utilizing varied techniques to develop each child’s voice and potential. In 2022, Mrs. Toomath worked remotely with Shanti Bhavan Children’s Choir and Shanticleer Choir in Tamil Nadu, India, presenting and exploring the connections between music and emotion.

She holds a Master of Music degree in Music Education from Longy School of Music at Bard College, Estill Voice Training, Music Rhapsody Certification, Orff Schulwerk Certification in Levels I-III from UNLV, and a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. Her love of curriculum design, choral conducting, and vocal pedagogy informs her creative and innovative approach inspired by the power of music to create a better world.

Eloise Porter, Director of Music Makers

Eloise Porter is a native of Los Angeles and a product of the Los Angeles Unified School District.  She holds a Masters degree from the University of Illinois in Vocal Performance and a B.A. from Occidental College in Choral Music where she studied conducting with Howard Swan.  She also received Artist-Teacher Certification through the Choral Music Experience Institute where she studied with Doreen Rao. Trained in the Kodaly method of music education, she has over 30 years of experience in the schools teaching young people from Kindergarten to college.  Taking a leadership role in the childen’s choir movement in Los Angeles, Ms. Porter founded and directed the ENCORE Children’s Chorus which flourished in Los Angeles and Burlington, Vermont for 15 years, including multiple choir levels and serving treble voices, ages 7-16.  Having retired from teaching elementary music for LAUSD, she continues her involvement in music by directing one adult church choir and singing in another, as well as directing the SBCC Meistersingers.  She also maintains a private voice and piano studio in Woodland Hills.

Ms. Carolyn Correnti, Accompanist

Ms. Carolyn Correnti, pianist, began her career as a professional piano soloist, accompanist, and teacher, when she was still in junior high school.  Her undergraduate work at Oberlin Conservatory, OH, was in Piano Performance and Music Education.  While pursuing Piano Performance Graduate Studies with Leon Fleisher in Baltimore, MD, she was on the piano faculty of both Johns Hopkins University and Peabody Conservatory Preparatory.  After moving to Los Angeles, she co-founded The Los Angeles Piano Trio, has maintained a thriving piano teaching studio, joined both the music staff at St. John Fisher Church in Palos Verdes and the piano staff at El Camino College, became certified in Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and continues to freelance as a classical pianist.

Ms. Patty Breitag, Accompanist

Patty Breitag has lived in the Los Angeles area for 25 years. She earned her Bachelor of Music degree in clarinet performance/piano minor from the University of Missouri at Kansas City Conservatory of Music and her Master of Music degree in choral conducting from California State University Long Beach. Patty was the 2016 recipient of the “Excellence in Arts Award” from the Cultural Arts Commission of Torrance and was one of the 2017 recipients of the Torrance Performing Arts Consortium (TPAC) Daily Breeze “Making A Difference Award.” She retired as the Director of Choral Activities and AP Music Theory Instructor at Diamond Bar High School, the National Grammy Signature School in Music Education for 2014, and has been a church organist and church musician for 49 years, currently serving as the Director of Music, organist and choir director at El Segundo United Methodist Church, where she has been since 1995. She is a member of the Southern California Vocal Association and the American Choral Directors Association.

Ms. Diane Simons, Founder
Retired 2020

In 1996, Ms. Diane Simons co-founded the choir with the late Dr. Jane Hardester, who retired from the choir in June 2000. Inspired by a vision of choral excellence for children and of providing choral education to children of the South Bay and surrounding communities, the founders built a program that has achieved a high degree of success. Ms. Simons earned her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Music from UCLA and has conducted choirs at both the high school and the elementary school levels, as well as teaching voice at El Camino College and in her private studio. She presents workshops for singers as well as teachers and has been active as musical director for Community Theater. In 2009 she conducted the Los Angeles Unified School District Elementary Honor Choir. She retired from teaching music in the El Segundo Unified School District in 2004 after 37 years of teaching in that district. She served on the Western Division ACDA Board as the Repertoire and Standards representative for children’s choirs from 2007 until 2013.

Mr. Bud Wayne Bisbee, Composer-in-Residence

Bud Wayne Bisbee was our “Composer in Residence” for over 20 years. A prolific writer, 80 of his compositions and arrangements have been published, and many have been used in Honor Choir performances all over the country. He attended St. Olaf College for two years, finishing a BM degree in Piano at the College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati and a Master’s degree in Composition and Choral Studies from Occidental College. He taught and conducted choirs at all levels, children through adults, in both schools and churches, including SBCC’s Concert Choir for many years. He passed away in May 2024. We are grateful to have shared the gifts of this wonderful human being.