Staff

Betsy Calhoun
Director of Music
222-2636 (ext. 20), betsy@saint-john.org

Betsy is Director of Music at St. John’s Episcopal Church.  She received the BMus degree from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville (1980), the M.M. in Organ Performance from The Florida State University School of Music (1984), and the DM degree in Organ and Church Music at Indiana University School of Music (2003).  While at Indiana, she served as Assistant Organist at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis. Prior to her work at St. John’s, Betsy was Organist/Director of Music at St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church, Tampa, FL from 1987 - 1990. An active member of the Royal School of Church Music, Betsy currently serves on the RSCM America Board of Directors.

Elizabeth LaJeunesse, Organist and Choir Assistant

Elizabeth, a Tallahassee native, is Organist and Choir Assistant at St. John's Episcopal Church, Tallahassee. She holds degrees in Choral Music Education (B.Mus.Ed.) and Organ Performance (M.M.) from Florida State University, where she studied with Carolyn Bridger (piano) and Michael Corzine (organ). Elizabeth also serves as accompanist for the FSU Chamber Choir, the Tallahassee Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and the Florida High choral department.

Roger Ponder, Organist

 Roger holds a Master of Sacred Music degree from the School of Sacred Music, Union Theological Seminary, New York, where he studied organ with John Huston.  He received his doctorate in multilingual and multicultural education, specifically in English as a second language, at Florida State University. Roger started teaching English as a Second Language nearly forty years ago, and worked with international teaching assistants at FSU for over seventeen years. In the early 1990's he resumed his musical life, and has played at St. John's since 1994.  He currently is organist for the 8:00 service, and assists the staff by playing occasional funerals and weddings.

Michael Norris, Organist

Michael joined the staff at St. John’s in September of 2009 as organist for the 5:30 PM service. After completing his Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Samford University in piano, organ and choral conducting, Mike held full time Director of Church Music positions in Georgia and Virginia prior to his move to Florida in 1995. He served four years as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Tallahassee Civic Chorale, and as an adjunct instructor in the music department at Tallahassee Community College.

In addition to his full-time job as the Senior Program Director at Florida Campus Compact, Mike volunteers as music director for Theatre A La Carte, Tallahassee Little Theatre, and Theatre TCC. On Sunday mornings Mike works as the Director of Music and organist at First Presbyterian Church in Havana. Mike also works with the Tallahassee Symphony organization as Chorus Master for the Symphony Chorus.

 Christian Crocker, Organist

Christian, from Spartanburg, SC, has been a staff singer at St. John's since the fall of 2009, and will begin service as a Choral and Organ Scholar at St. John's in the Fall of 2012. He is a senior in the College of Music, FSU, majoring in organ performance; he also studies voice and sings in the FSU Chamber Choir. In 2009 he won the Southeastern Regional NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing) First Year Men's category, was selected for the honors recital in 2010, and was awarded the Janice Harsanyi Scholarship from the Tallahassee Music Guild in 2009. In 2011 he was an RSCM Organ Scholar at the Charlotte course. Christian is currently Dean of the Tallahassee Chapter, American Guild of Organists, and has been selected to sing with the Oregon Bach Festival Choir in the summer of 2012.

 Kathleen White, Chorister Assistant

Kathleen is currently pursuing her Bachelor's Degree in Choral Music Education at Florida State University.  She has had a long time interest in choral activities, and was a member of her church choir for ten years where she had the opportunity to participate in the Royal School of Church Music summer programs.  Her choir was a member of Pueri Cantores and traveled to Rome, Italy in 2011 to sing at a Papal Mass.  She was a member of the 2007 tampa Bay Children's Chorus and traveled to Vancouver to participate in an international song festival.  She is currently a member of the Florida State University Singers, Cantores Music Antiquae, and has participated in various operas at FSU. She has taught music at a number of summer camps and is excited to be working with the talented choristers at St. John's.