A proud member of
Our thanks go out to Donald Lloyd, who generously donated the costs of maintaining this website, from its inception through 2005.
Holiday Concert "North Pole Talent Show", Dec 2006
In July of 2002, a group of men banded together with a common mission: To express through excellence in men's choral music the inherent worth and dignity of all people in order to foster a global community that celebrates and embraces diversity.
With that lofty goal in mind, the men met, formed an executive council and joined Crescendo: The Tampa Bay Women's Chorus as support members. With the love and assistance of their sisters in song, these men were affectionately called the “Men of Crescendo” in their first appearances. By late September 2002, the council officially registered with the Florida Secretary of State, and announced the arrival of Una Voce: The Florida Men's Chorale under the artistic direction of John-Philip Mullinax.
Since its debut in December 2002, Una Voce has performed at events ranging from Pride celebrations in Tampa, St Petersburg, and New Port Richey, to the City of Tampa's 2003 holiday celebration; was invited to participate in the tenth anniversary concert of the Fort Worth (TX) Men's Chorus; made its international debut at the 2004 GALA Festival in Montréal, Canada; and, in February 2006, took the stage of the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City.
Additionally, Una Voce has created a small ensemble to perform for events at which the entire chorus cannot attend. The UV Rays is an auditioned group of 8 singers from the main chorale who sing an expanded repertoire with featured solos. In October 2007, the UV Rays made their GALA debut at the Annual Leadership Conference in Denver, Colorado, where their performances were met with enthusiastic standing ovations.
Now under the artistic direction of Derek Edward Weston, the future of Una Voce looks incredibly bright, with a number of exciting opportunities on the horizon, including Miami, FL in 2008 for the GALA Festival VIII. And, of course, Una Voce will continue to perform throughout the Tampa Bay area.
Artistic Director
Derek Edward Weston is one of the leading young orchestral and choral conductors in Florida. He conducted his first international professional symphony orchestra
at the age of 23, was appointed as Director of Choral Studies at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts at 24, and conductor of Una Voce: The Florida Men's Chorale at 25.
At the Center for the Arts, Derek teaches courses in vocal performance, conducting, and conducts four choruses. His Mixed Chorus frequently performs major works
with the PCCA Chamber Orchestra under his baton. During his first year of teaching, his Women's Chorale at PCCA earned Superior ratings at the Florida Vocal
Association assessment.
A native of Illinois, Derek earned his Master of Arts in Orchestral and Choral Conducting and his Bachelor of Music Education degrees from Eastern Illinois University. While at Eastern, Derek was appointed as a sabbatical replacement conductor of the Women's Chorus and served as assistant conductor of the Eastern Symphony Orchestra, Chamber Orchestra, University Mixed Chorus, Concert Choir, and Oratorio Society, all of which he conducted in performance. Derek was the first graduate student to conduct for the winner of Eastern's Annual Concerto Competition, as well as the first graduate student to conduct a major orchestral and choral masterwork in performance. One of his concerts at Eastern was reviewed in the newspaper as "a performance that sparkled from the first note to the last."
In June of 2003, Derek was selected for the Conductor's Institute of South Carolina where he was coached by Paul Vermel, Samuel Jones, Victoria Bond, Peter Jaffe, and Donald Portnoy. Later that summer, he made his first international conducting appearance with the Rosario Symphony in Rosario, Argentina, one of South America's premier professional orchestras. Derek also served as Director of Music at First United Methodist Church of Mattoon, Illinois, where he is founder and conductor of the First United Methodist Church Chorale. The Chorale had their PBS television premier in December of 2000 under his direction. He spent two summers as Music Director and Resident Conductor of the Gumball Theatre Company in Chicago where he led a semi-professional cast in several productions. Derek has been active as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator for festivals, summer music camps, and municipal ensembles, both choral and instrumental, and has sung in professional choruses.
Derek, his wife Gwenn, and son Gregory live in St. Petersburg, Florida.
Accompanist
Logan Brown attended Baylor University where he double-majored in Piano and Vocal Performance. Since then, he has been in demand as a Music Director
for theatre in many areas of the country including New York, New England, Michigan, Arkansas, Florida, and Wisconsin. In addition to his numerous and varied
musical theatre credits (from Nunsense and Little Shop of Horrors to Candide and Sweeney Todd), he is also an accomplished
accompanist/vocal coach in the classical music field, working with the Metropolitan Opera auditions, as well as for private lessons, masterclasses and recitals.
He has been in demand as a pianist for cabaret shows, where he has accompanied such singers as Mickey Rooney, Jan Chamberlin (Mr. Rooney’s wife), Ann
Morrison (known from the original Broadway production of Stephen Sondheim’s Merrily We Roll Along) and Sarasota favorite, Sharon Scott.
As a composer, he has written original music for productions of Don Juan in Hell, Voice of the Prairie, The Wind in the Willows,
and A Christmas Celebration, a sacred cantata. He has also arranged choral music for Una Voce, and Crescendo, the Tampa Bay Women's Chorus.
Logan has been the Resident Music Director at the Barter Theatre, Abingdon, VA; Theatre Bristol, Bristol, TN, where he was also the Education Director; and Players of Sarasota, Sarasota, FL, where he also taught voice classes at their School of the Performing Arts. He was on staff at Milwaukee’s Skylight Opera Theatre, working extensively on 10 productions and acting as music administrator, rehearsal accompanist, vocal coach, and also conducted performances of Hello Dolly. In addition, he was a featured orchestra member in the PBS telecast of Skylight’s production of Copland’s The Tender Land, and music directed their Midwest premiere production of The Spitfire Grill at American Folklore Theatre.
Since returning to Florida in 2003, Logan helped to create Women of Color with Ann Morrison and Sharon Scott, and was the Music Director for Always... Patsy Cline, A Christmas Carol, the Broadway hit I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change, and Holiday Cabaret. He has also worked as rehearsal accompanist for Opera Tampa. In February 2006, Logan made his debut at Carnegie Hall in New York as lead accompanist under the direction of Dr. Timothy Selig of The Turtle Creek Chorale of Dallas TX. For the last two summers, he has been on the staff with Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project, where he worked closely with well- known performers including Ben Vereen, Nancy Dussault, Patrick Wilson, Paige Davis, composer Frank Wildhorn and director Jeff Calhoun. Currently, Logan is Staff Accompanist at the Pinellas County Center for the Arts in St Petersburg, as well as holding the same position at St Petersburg College.
Artistic Interpreter for the Deaf
Daniel Holscher, a native of Detroit, received his bachelor’s degree in Linguistics from Purdue University in 1988. He continued on at Purdue as an Instructor of American
Sign Language from 1988 to 1993. In 1992 he was named Best Instructor in the department of Audiology and Speech Sciences. He worked as a freelance interpreter for the Deaf in
Indianapolis from 1993 to 1998. From 1997 to 1999 he served on the board as vice-president of the School-to-Work program for the Indiana School for the Deaf.
His interpreting credits include a lecture by Dr. Richard Leaky at Purdue University, “My Sister in this House” at the Experimental Theater at Purdue University, and “Jeffrey”
at Theater on the Square in Indianapolis. Daniel has been interpreting for Una Voce since 2006.
Una Voce Board of Directors 2007-08
| President: | Thomas O. Barker |
| Vice President: | Jonathan Scott Hartman |
| Secretary: | David A. Denis |
| Treasurer: | Harold L. Harkins |
| Members At Large: | Keith Lewis, Dakota Hardin |
| Photographer: | Michael R. Landry |
| Media Contact: | Marcus Blake |
Alex Trebek and Jerry Taggart on "Jeopardy", aired November 04 04
The UV Rays
Our small ensemble, called the UV Rays, is an auditioned group chosen from the general Una Voce membership. Led by Logan Brown, they are the ambassadors of our chorus, appearing when and where the full chorus finds it impractical to perform.
The UV Rays on TBCN "Voice of Pride", aired February 28 07