The Art Song Center for Poets and Musicians is a newly-formed organization based in San Antonio, Texas to promote and revitalize the importance of Art Song - with a specific focus on the poetry as well as the music. The organization emerged from our perception that the art song was becoming increasingly less known and recognized by poets and musicians and that it needed to be returned to the forefront of artistic consciousness in the worlds of literature and music.
ABOUT US
Artistic Staff
Dr. Cheryl Cellon Lindquist is an American pianist, collaborator, coach, and conductor. Renowned as a collaborative artist and soloist, Dr. Lindquist had performed with an array of singers, instrumentalists, choirs, chamber ensembles, and symphony orchestras throughout the United States and Europe. She maintains a private vocal coaching studio that includes numerous opera singers with both professional companies and apprentice program, university faculty and students, chamber musicians, and amateurs. Known for her versatility across a variety of musical styles and sensitive artistry, she has been called an "excellent collaborator" and an "outstanding soloist with intricate passagework." To promote and revitalize the importance of Art Song, Dr. Lindquist co-founded the Art Song Center in 2019 with pianist, scholar and author, Ruth C. Friedberg. As an advocate for music of living composers, she is also an original founding member of the new music repertory group, CMASH, and collaborates frequently with co-founder and Artistic Director, Ann Moss. As a champion os new music, she has worked with composers Jake Heggie, John Harbison, Tobias Picker, and Michael Ching. Dr. Lindquist has a versatile career and she enjoys every aspect from performing to coaching, directing and conducting.
Artistic & Executive Director
Co-founder
Cheryl Cellon Lindquist
Cyra S. Dumitru, MA, PPM has had a lifelong relationship with writing as a transformative force. An accomplished poet, she has experienced healing through poetry writing since her teenage years. Cyra is a year-round swimmer, former medical writer with several hospital systems and medical schools, former faculty member in the Department of English Literature at St. Mary’s University, and currently a therapeutic practitioner with The Ecumenical Center and one of four certified Practitioners of Poetic Medicine (PPM) actively practicing in Texas. Her poetry has been published in numerous national literary journals as well as in many regional publications and anthologies. Her poems have also appeared in publications designed for physicians, traveled on buses on city streets, been painted on the walls of City Hall, been sung in concerts as Art Songs, spoken on the local affiliate of National Public Radio, and spoken in dozens of museums and bookstores around the nation. Cyra has three book-length manuscripts: What the Body Knows, Listening to Light, Remains, and two chapbooks Elder Moon: A Memoir Told in Poems and Strange Bird. Her memoir My Brother’s Cup, which blends poetry and prose, is forthcoming with River Lily Press.
Board Member
Cyra S. Dumitru
Carlton Kilpatrick is Assistant Professor of Music in Vocal Music Education at the University of Louisiana Monroe. Prior to his appointment, he taught high school chorus in the public schools in Lake City, FL and Altamonte Springs, FL for 15 years, earning the Education Association’s Secondary Music Educator of the Year in 2018. Dr. Kilpatrick has engaged in leadership roles with the numerous music organizations including Florida Music Education Association (FMEA), Florida Vocal Association (FVA), National ACDA High School Honor Choir, and the Florida chapter of ACDA.
His research has been published in The Choral Journal and Update: Applications of Research in Music Education with a focus on on nonverbal communication in conducting and teaching, inclusive practices in music education, and LGBTQIA+ issues in music education. He has served as the Instructional Design Editor on Jason Max Ferdinand’s Teaching With Heart and in the development of two units of educational videos for the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay.​
He received his Bachelor of Music Education from the University of Florida, his Master of Music in Choral Conducting and Ph.D. in Music Education from the Florida State University.
Board Member
Carlton Kilpatrick
Malcolm Nelson is an icon in the Central Texas choral community where he served as choir director for over 37 years. He is a sought-after Music Consultant for his expertise in choral education and recruitment, and musical directing. His experience has led him to very diverse school campuses and he has been the director of several community choirs including River City Pops, Front Row Center, and the The Capital City Men's Chorus. He has participated both as cast member and as director of Musical productions in Austin and the surrounding areas. For six consecutive years, he was the Director of the Magic Cabaret Musical Revue at the Black Crook Theater in Lake City, Colorado. His choirs have performed at Carnegie Hall in New York, The St. Louis Cathedral in New Orleans, and many venues throughout Europe to include England, Sweden, Germany, Romania, Switzerland, Poland, and the former Soviet Union.
He holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Texas at Austin in Music Education with a principle in Voice and Conducting.
Board Member
Malcolm Nelson
Mezzo-soprano Susan Olson has performed as soloist with the Passion of Italy Festival Choir (Rome, Italy), San Antonio Symphony Orchestra, Symphony of the Hills, Starlight Symphony, Monroe (LA) Symphony Orchestra, the Westerville (OH) Symphony Orchestra, and the Zanesville (OH) Civic Orchestra and with many professional choral ensembles in her home state of Ohio.
Dr. Olson has performed with Alamo City Opera, Opera Piccola, San Antonio Opera, Louisiana Lyric Opera, and Opera Columbus’ Education Outreach Program.
Some of her favorite roles performed include the narrator in Moore’s Gallantry, Ruth in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Pirates of Penzance, Madame Flora in Menotti's The Medium, The Old Lady in Bernstein’s Candide, Cecilia March in Adamo's Little Women, Cousin Hebe in Gilbert and Sullivan’s H.M.S. Pinafore, and Mrs. Anderssen in Sondheim’s A Little Night Music.
Susan Olson received her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Capital University Conservatory of Music, and her Master of Arts in Vocal Pedagogy and Doctor of Musical Arts in Vocal Performance from The Ohio State University. She is currently Associate Professor of Voice at the University of Texas at San Antonio.
