Sarah Hughes, the OCWC’s Assistant Director since 2013, is a 2011 graduate of the Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music at Chapman University in Orange, CA. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music education with an emphasis in voice and completed her Master of Arts degree in teaching at Chapman’s College of Educational Studies in 2016.

Sarah has a long history of singing with choirs. Some of her most memorable performances include singing the soprano solos for the Mozart Requiem and Haydn’s Little Organ Mass with the Mesa Verde United Methodist Church Choir; conducting and performing with the OCWC in Chepstow Castle on their UK tour; singing Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass with the Idyllwild Festival choir; performing at the 2012 ACDA Western Division Conference with the OCWC; and singing the soprano solos for Debussy’s Salut Printemps with the Chapman Chamber Orchestra and University Singers.

Sarah’s passion for music has led her to pursue a career in teaching and conducting. She has directed high school summer choral camps, teaching styles ranging from Baroque classics to show choir pop arrangements. In addition to working with high school students, Sarah has specialized in church music for both youth and adult choirs. She is a frequent conference presenter. She currently teaches music to students in K-5th grade in Fountain Valley School District and is the Choir Director at Masuda Middle School. If she’s not swing dancing or scaling rocks and walls, you’ll find her curled up with a cup of coffee and a pair of knitting needles.

Sarah can be reached at [email protected].

Janelle Kim was born in Seoul, South Korea, but has lived most of her professional life in the United States. She began her piano studies at age 7 and won her first competition at age 15. She received her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in piano performance from California State University-Fullerton, where she studied with Eduardo Delgado and was invited to become a member of the honors society Pi Kappa Lambda. Janelle has been a featured soloist with the Orange Coast College Symphony and the Corona Symphony. Besides performing, her other main passion is teaching: she serves as a part-time instructor and accompanist at Orange Coast College and also teaches at her private piano studio. She is honored to have been the collaborative pianist to the Orange County Women’s Chorus since 2010. In 2022, she performed at Carnegie Hall with the OCWC and looks forward to many more exciting, music-making years. She has the world’s most faithful (but not the best-trained) friend in Lilo, the Mini-Goldendoodle, and she resides with her husband in Orange County.

Kirsten Leon, soprano, is a graduate of California State University, Fullerton with a Bachelor’s of Music in Vocal Performance (‘23). Her passion for music and performance first took root at the Las Vegas Academy of the Arts. Throughout her undergraduate journey, she sang under the direction of Eliza Rubenstein at Orange Coast College, and Dr. Robert Istad at CSUF with the critically acclaimed University Singers. Kirsten’s most memorable performances include Nella in Michael Ching’s Buoso’s Ghost, Rose Murrant in Kurt Weill’s Street Scene, and Marcellina in Mozart’s Le Nozze di Figaro, and the world premiere of Tarik O’Regan’s No One Can Hear Themselves Staying.

She carries her joy for music and the arts over into her role as a Guest Talent Coordinator with Disney Imagination Campus, and adores spending cuddle time with her dog, Sushi.