Meet the Leadership
Michael Bennett - Artistic Director
Michael Bennett is a music educator, choral director, and keyboard artist. He is director of choral activities at West Lafayette Junior/Senior High School. Bennett directed the award-winning Jefferson High School Varsity Singers, who were state champions at the 2018 Indiana State School Music Association concert finals. In 2014 he was recognized for his excellent teaching by the Greater Lafayette Commerce as a Golden Apple Teacher, one of the newest teachers to the profession to have received the award.
Bennett is the director of music at St. John’s Episcopal Church, Lafayette, where he serves as organist for all services, oversees the parish’s musical offerings, directs the choir program and administers the concert series.
A native of Roanoke, Va., Bennett is a graduate of the Indiana University School of Music where he received his bachelor's degree in organ performance and the Master of Music degree in organ performance and choral conducting. His primary instructors there were William Jon Gray, Marilyn Keiser, and Larry Smith. Bennett is a member of the American Choral Director’s Association and the National Association for Music Education and serves on the Board of Directors for the Indiana Music Education Association.
As a concert organist, Bennett has performed extensively across the Midwest and East Coast, playing in cathedrals and for chapters of the American Guild of Organists in more than 10 states. He also can be heard in recording with the choirs of Vassar College, where he made his discography debut in a live performance of Mozart’s Requiem with solo organ accompaniment.
From 2004-09, Bennett was the assistant conductor and youth chorus director for the Bach Chorale Singers. As the chorale's primary conductor for the 2006-07 season, he was privileged to direct both choruses while on tour in Washington, D.C., at the Washington National Cathedral and the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception.
Email Michael Bennett.
Cindy Gerlach - Managing Director
Cindy Gerlach has worked as a local journalist, covering the arts for both the Journal & Courier and Lafayette Magazine. She earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism/magazine sequence from the University of Missouri-Columbia and her master’s degree in English from Bradley University. When her daughters were younger, she worked as the Youth Chorus & Children’s Choir coordinator for the Bach Chorale Singers, and she is the former Marketing & Communications Director for Purdue Musical Organizations.
At the Lafayette Master Chorale, she manages development and donor relations; fundraising; marketing and publicity; and community relations, in addition to running the office. She earned her certificate in Nonprofit Executive Leadership from the O’Neill School of Public and Environmental Affairs and The Fund Raising School at the Indiana University Lilly Family School of Philanthropy.
Gerlach is the Director of Communications for the Lafayette School Corporation. She has taught in the Brian Lamb School of Communications at Purdue University and writes for Greater Lafayette Magazine. She is an active volunteer and has served on the boards of the Public Schools Foundation of Tippecanoe County, the Tippecanoe Chamber Music Society and the Jazz Club. She lives near downtown Lafayette with her family, where she is passionate about her historic neighborhood, travel, reading, arts and culture, and sharing craft cocktails and wine with friends.
Email Cindy Gerlach.
Kirsi Seagraves - Lafayette Children’s Choir Director
Kirsi Seagraves teaches music at Vinton Elementary School in Lafayette, where she has secured over $8,000 worth of music materials from grants. In addition to teaching general music, Seagraves directs the third and fourh-grade choir at Vinton. The before-school choir has about 80 students each year.
She earned a bachelor’s degree in music education in 2018 from The Ohio State University in Columbus. While in Columbus, she was an intern for the Middle School Summer Singers camp sponsored by the Columbus Children’s Choir and the Ohio State Flute Camp led by Kathy Borst Jones. As a college student, she participated in a variety of ensembles including the University Chorus, Symphonic Band and Wind Symphony. Her primary instructors were Kathy Borst Jones, Scott A. Jones and Julia Shaw.
As a flutist, Segraves placed second in the Central Ohio Flute Association Competition in 2013 and performed the Mozart in G concerto with the Fort Wayne Youth Symphony in 2014. She has also performed at the National Flute Association Conference, American Bandmasters Association Conference, Indiana Music Educators Association Conference and the Ohio Music Educators Association Conference. She currently operates a private flute studio and plays with the Lafayette Citizens Band and the Lafayette Flute Club.
She was a member of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir for 11 years under the direction of Fred Meads and Jonathan Busarow. Seagraves has received certification in First Steps in Music and has completed her Orff Certification at Anderson University where she is currently pursuing her master's degree in Music Education.
Email Kirsi Seagraves.
Sarah Kavanagh - Youth Chorus Director
Sarah Kavanagh is the Music Director at Grace Lutheran. She has previously served at St. Mary Cathedral and St. Ann Church in Lafayette. Prior to beginning work in church music, she taught music at the primary, intermediate, middle school and high school levels. An active conductor, vocalist, and educator, her ensembles have had success at state, regional and national festivals. Her favorite accomplishment has been watching students continue to sing after high school and learn to use music as a vehicle to serve others and live life to the fullest.
In addition to co-directing the Lafayette Children’s Choir, she leads teh Village Melodies of Westminster Village and instructs private voice students of all ages. She recently began working for The Cantor Coach, a resource that provides vocal training to church singers across the country. She also serves on the board of directors for the Indiana Choral Directors Association. She is also a member of the Conference of Roman Catholic Cathedral Musicians as well as the Church Music Association of America.
Kavanagh is an active performer, most recently as soprano soloist with the Latino Spiritual Music Society. She has performed as a soloist for major works including Mozart's “Requiem,” Orff's “Carmina Burana” and Bernstein's “Chichester Psalms.” She has had the pleasure of performing in nine countries.
Kavanagh is a graduate of St. Joseph's College (Rensselaer, Ind.) and has been involved in choral music for 25 years. She spent much of her youth singing in the Kokomo Children’s Choir and Kokomo Youth Chorale.
Email Sarah Kavanagh.
