Redwood Interfaith Gospel Choir
THE REDWOOD INTERFAITH GOSPEL CHOIR INSPIRES FAITH, HOPE, LOVE AND JOY THROUGH GOSPEL MUSIC.
Artistic Staff
Music Director (Interim)
Jim Hubbard began singing with the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir in 1994 and was its musical director from 2009-15 and assistant director from 2018-19. Working with former director, Karen Dumont, he assisted in direction when she was unavailable. He recalls his first directing experience, filling in at a gospel workshop in Oakland, as a fabulous but terrifying experience. He founded an ensemble of 12 members called Vocal Point which was active in the mid 1990’s. Jim took time off from the choir to form the band Homefront and produced two CDs with the band. Jim currently is in two bands, FireSign and Ticket to Ride (Beatles Tribute).
Music Director
Jenni grew up in Oakland, California, surrounded by an amazingly varied tapestry of music. Her first exposure to gospel music was listening to Mahalia Jackson with her mother when she was 5 years old. Jenni learned to play saxophone and continued to play throughout high school and college. She always loved to sing. She was part of her church choir, sang in the shower and along with the radio, but she didn't begin to take singing seriously until 2005 when she began seeking out any and every opportunity to express herself vocally. Jenni joined the Arcata Interfaith Gospel Choir in 2008 and immediately found a musical home, finding deep satisfaction in marrying her love of music with her love of God/Spirit. Jenni also fronts a funk and blues band called Jenni & David and the Sweet Soul Band and has been writing her own songs since 2006.
Jim Hubbard
Bob Ebenstein
Accompanist
Bob is interested in all kinds of music and likes accompanying singers, jamming with others at open mic, working with community groups, and especially, watching young people develop their musical skills and passion for music. He says that one of his biggest thrills is accompanying a first time soloist -- bringing out that person's ability to make a song their own. Bob's motto is, "I never met a singer I didn't like."
Bob was raised in Princeton, New Jersey where he began playing violin at the age of ten. He played in a youth theatre orchestra and credits his classical violin teacher, Helen Thompson, for instilling in him a love for music. Bob's family moved to Santa Barbara where he began playing guitar at 14 and piano at 16. Bob played piano for musical theater productions, performed on violin and viola in the local orchestra and accompanied dance classes at UC Santa Barbara.
In 1981, Bob moved to Humboldt County where he continued his classical music performances with the Humboldt and Eureka Symphony Orchestras. He has been the beloved accompanist for AIGC since 1994, has played piano in more than 40 musical theater productions over eight years for Instantaneous Theatre, and is choir director and accompanist for the First Baptist Church in Eureka.
Advising Director
Terrance Kelly has garnered extensive musical credentials in both gospel and jazz music. His operatic range and joyous emotional feel for the music make him a popular soloist as well as an accomplished director, composer, and arranger. His credits include choral arrangements on albums by Linda Ronstadt and the Kronos Quartet and gospel arrangements of popular music for TV and video soundtracks. In addition, he wrote or arranged most of the music for each of the choir’s albums. Mr. Kelly received an Emmy Award for his choral arrangement of OIGC’s KGO-TV public service announcement.
In 2005, he received the Local Heroes Award from KQED Television for his directorship of the Oakland Interfaith Youth Choir and was also honored at the Gospel Music Awards. In 2013, he was awarded the Dr. Edwin Hawkins Excellence Award.
Mr. Kelly currently serves as Minister of Magnification at Oakland’s Imani Community Church. He has traveled as far as Australia and Israel to teach gospel music and, since 1982, has served as Gospel Choir Director for Jazz Camp West, hosted by Living Jazz. In addition to his other endeavors, he is a semi-regular member of the San Francisco Opera Chorus.
His father, the late Ed Kelly, was an esteemed jazz and gospel pianist. His mother, the late Faye Kelly, was a gospel choir director and pianist.
Terrance Kelly
Jenni Simpson
Former Artistic Staff
Valetta Molofsky
Valetta Molofsky, AIGC musical director in the fall of 2019 through January 2020, has previously been an AIGC member and soloist. She also directed the AIGC Youth Choir for four years. Valetta performs and records gospel and R&B music; she is a member of the Faith Center worship team; she leads gospel singing workshops; and she directs Women in Spirit, an a cappella gospel healing group.
Kristin Kirby
Kristin joined the choir in 2004 and was a guest director from 2012-2015, becoming the musical director for AIGC for the 2018-2019 season. She has played in various musical groups and has taught guitar and piano.
Kristin has a degree in theater arts and has also been involved in a variety of musical theater productions as a writer, actor, singer and director. She thoroughly enjoyed her tenure as director of AIGC!
Louis Hoiland
Louis grew up singing along with the great music of the 1960s and 1970s. When he discovered gospel music he felt he had come home. Louis joined AIGC in 1996, was a tenor section leader, Assistant Director from 2009-2015 and director from 2015-2018. Singing in AIGC helped Louis find his voice and inspired him to develop his talents as a soloist. Among other accomplishments, Louis designed the AIGC website and promoted outreach into the Humboldt and HSU community.
Jaese Lecuyer
Originally from Ottawa, Canada, Jaese Lecuyer began singing and soloing with the AIGC in 1995. Jaese directed the AIGC in the 2008-09 season and directed the AIGC Teen Choir for the 1997-98 season. Jaese now lives in North Dakota and performs as a singer-songwriter.
Barbara Culbertson
Barbara began singing with AIGC in 1994. She has been an alto and tenor section leader and music transcriber and music arranger for many of those years. Barbara became Assistant Director in 2001 and she was Director from 2004 to 2008. Barbara was raised in a family of a cappella, hymn singing, four-part-harmonists who broke out the songbooks at every gathering. For Barbara, music is a life-long avocation.
Karen Dumont
Karen Dumont was a founding member and soloist for the AIGC and was the AIGC director for eleven years, from 1993-2004. She founded the AIGC Youth Choir in 1995 and directed it for three years. Karen grew up singing gospel music in church. She performed and recorded music solo and with numerous bands. Karen lived in Oregon and performed gospel, jazz and blues until her passing in 2018.
Lourin Plant
Lourin Plant became the founding AIGC director in 1992 while he was a Professor of Music at Humboldt State University. He left Arcata for New Jersey in 1993 and is now Assistant Professor of Voice at Rowan State University. Dr. Plant is a member of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Marian Anderson Guild, the American Choral Directors Association, and New Jersey Music Educators Association.