Staff and Administration
Staff and Administration
Rachel Carter-White, Executive Director and Operations Director of Project Encore™, has held the position of Executive Director of Schola Cantorum on Hudson since 2007. Ms. Carter-White’s focus has been, primarily, in the development arena. She has worked for various non-profit arts organizations including: Orchestra of St. Luke’s, Midori and Friends, and The Friends of the Budapest Festival Orchestra.
Ms. Carter-White also maintains an active performing schedule. As a dramatic soprano, she has been seen in performances with One World Symphony, California Music Festival, New York Opera Forum, Opera on Tap, and Portland Opera. A frequent recitalist, Ms. Carter-White has performed extensively in her native Virginia, North Carolina, California and New York, with works ranging from Bach to Birtwistle. An interest in contemporary music led her to collaborations with many composers in the New York area and performances with groups like Anti-Social Music and Vox Novus, and Brooklyn College’sConTempo Ensemble under the direction of Tania León.
Ms. Carter-White earned her Bachelor’s degree in vocal performance from the Manhattan School of Music, and her Master's degree in vocal performance from Brooklyn College. She lives on Long Island with her husband and son.
Karen Lea Siegel, Publications Manager, is a Documentation Specialist with Fujitsu America, Inc. where she has worked for 11 years on a wide variety of IT development and delivery projects. Ms. Siegel earned a B.A. in English Literature, magna cum laude, from Potsdam State College, where she also sang for several years in Crane Chorus of the Crane School of Music at Potsdam under the direction of N. Brock McElheran. A major highlight was singing with the chorus for the unveiling ceremony of the Statue of Liberty in 1986 as part of the Statue’s centennial celebrations (her first and last television appearance). She has been a singing member of SCH since the fall of 2001, and Publications Manager since the fall of 2005. Ms. Siegel also sings with the church choir of St. Luke’s Episcopal Church, Metuchen, New Jersey under the direction of organist and choir master Karl Watson. She resides in Edison, New Jersey with her husband Donald, a chemistry professor at Rutgers University.
Jack Whyte, Director of Marketing and Communications, is a singer, actor, dancer with an A.B. degree in Speech and Drama from The Catholic University of America. Originally from the Washington, DC area, Jack has had an extensive administrative and technical career as a "sideline" to his performance pursuits. Beginning his career as Assistant to the Artistic Producer at the then named Folger Theatre in Washington, DC (Now the Shakespeare Theatre), Jack revolutionized the administrative process of this growing organization by automating all processes from marketing to budgets using donated computer equipment. After arriving in NYC, Jack has worked as a consultant for countless law firms and investment banks with a focus on IT and Graphic/Marketing Production, and spent 16 years working as an Administrative Vice President for the former Wasserstein Perella and Co. Since then, he has continued his performance career, now has his own company, Whyteco Inc., and currently serves as the CIO of Dance New Amsterdam (DNA) in lower Manhattan, a major dance studio/theatre, as well as doing web and marketing work for numerous clients through his company. Jack is also singinng in the main group of SCH as of the 2010/2011 season, and can be reached at jackwhyte@scholaonhudson.org.