Choir
Dr. Rick Piersall
Rick Piersall is the Department Chair for the Department of Music. Rick is a co-founder of the South Dakota Vocal Arts Festival and has directed operas at Stephen F. Austin State University, Houston Baptist University, and the University of South Dakota. He has appeared in leading roles with the Utah Lyric Opera, Center for Contemporary Opera, Des Moines Metro Opera, Longleaf Opera, El Paso Opera, Opera at Lehigh, Opera Fort Collins, Opera Iowa, Opera North, Amarillo Opera and the Abilene Opera Association. Among his roles are Mozart’s Figaro, Reverend Olin Blitch in Susannah, the title character in The Boor by Argento, Don Fernando in Beethoven’s Fidelio, and Tony in the musical The Most Happy Fella.
Samuel Cook
Samuel Cook is ACU’s Artist in Residence and has performed operatic and solo vocal repertoire throughout the United States and Europe. He attended the Johns Hopkins University Peabody Conservatory of Music and Indiana University and pursued advanced training with Carlo Bergonzi and Renata Tebaldi in Busseto, Italy. Among Cook’s operatic roles are the Duke (Rigoletto), Nemorino (L’Elisior d’Amore), Narciso (Il Turoc in Italia), Count Almaviva (Il Barbiere di Sivilia), Belmonte (Die Entführung aus dem Serail), Alfredo (La traviata) and Don José (Carmen). Along with his operatic roles, Cook has performed internationally as a sensitive song and lieder recitalist whose programs encompass an intriguing and varied repertoire from Bach’s oratorios and passions to Liszt’s romantic Sonetti di Petrarca to a rich and heart rendering solo recital of Negro spirituals.
Jeff Goolsby
Jeffery Goolsby is Director of Choral Studies at Abilene Christian University, where he conducts the A Cappella Chorus, University Chorale, and Chamber Singers. He teaches courses in choral conducting and choral methods and supervises the choral music education program. Prior to joining the ACU faculty, he taught for ten years in successful high school choral music programs in the Dallas and Houston areas. He is in demand as a clinician, consultant, and adjudicator throughout the state and has served in numerous regional and state capacities with TMEA, ACDA, and UIL. He holds the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Abilene Christian University, where he was named a University Scholar; the Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Louisiana State University; and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from Texas Tech University. Professional affiliations include TMEA, TCDA, ACDA, NCCO, TMAA, and Pi Kappa Lambda.
Brandon Houghtalen
Brandon Houghtalen is the Associate Director of Bands and an Assistant Professor of Music at Abilene Christian University, where he directs the Big Purple Marching Band, Basketball Band, conducting the Concert Band and supervises the instrumental music education program and studio horn. Additionally, he is the hornist of the Key City Winds woodwind quintet. He previously held conducting positions at the Georgia Institute of Technology, the University of New Mexico, and in the public schools of Fayette County, Georgia. Houghtalen earned degrees in music education and conducting from the University of Tennessee, University of Colorado, and Arizona State University, where his primary conducting teachers include Gary Hill and Allan McMurray. He is an active member of the Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Bandmasters Association, National Band Association, and the College Band Directors National Association. In 2015, Houghtalen was a featured clinician of the First National Band Camp of Guatemala and also joined the faculty of the Tennessee Governor’s School for the Arts. An active arranger, his editions of the music of W.C. Handy, James Reese Europe, and the 369th Infantry Regiment Band have been performed throughout the country.
Mike Rogers
Mike Rogers is Assistant Professor of music and serves as the music theory/ear training coordinator as well as the Director of Jazz Studies for the school of music. Rogers holds a PhD in music theory from the University of North Texas, a master’s degree in Music Education/Jazz Studies from the University of North Texas, and a bachelor’s degree in music education from Texas Christian University. Rogers has performed with the Dallas Jazz Orchestra, Pete Peterson and the Collection Jazz Orchestra, the Harvey Anderson Big Band among others. Before teaching music theory, Rogers was a Texas UIL Sweepstakes band director, having taught schools throughout central Texas. An active member of the Society for Music Theory and the Texas Society for Music Theory, he has presented papers at various regional music theory conferences across the United States. Dr. Rogers’s research interests include jazz tonality, jazz pedagogy, music theory pedagogy and ear training pedagogy. He serves as chief arranger, editor, and music director for the Acappella “Praise and Harmony” series.
Dr. Greg Straughn, PhD
Dr. Greg Straughn has taught music history and theory courses at Abilene Christian University since 2000. He holds a masters and doctorate in Musicology from the University of North Texas. In his professional career, he has performed as a cellist with the Abilene Philharmonic Orchestra and the Denton and Dallas Bach Societies. His scholarly work has centered on nineteenth-century opera, specifically Wagner’s Parsifal and the ensemble structures in the works of Jules Massenet. Since 2009, he has held a variety of administrative roles at ACU, including Honors Dean, Associate Provost for General Education, Interim Provost, and, currently, Dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Susan Teel
Susan Teel joined the Abilene Christian University music faculty in 1997 where she serves as instructor of music education, musicology, and strings. She holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree with piano emphasis from Abilene Christian University and a Master of Music Education degree from The University of Georgia and joined the ACU faculty after teaching fourteen years in public and private elementary schools in Abilene. Mrs. Teel and her husband, Allen, have performed for thousands of area elementary students under the auspices of Young Audiences, Inc., a locally administered national organization that sponsors arts in the schools. Their duo, Strike Two, used a wide array of percussion instruments to teach students about musical styles from around the world. She also plays viola, violin, or piano in the ACU Orchestra as needed and is the accompanist for the Chorus Abilene Children’s Chorus.
David Amlung joined the music faculty at Abilene Christian University in 2015. He previously held faculty positions at Middle Tennessee State University and Indiana State University and was an Associate Instructor of Trumpet at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music for two years. Amlung is a dedicated teacher and has maintained extensive private studios in the Oklahoma City (OK), Cincinnati (OH), Bloomington (IN), and Nashville (TN) areas.
Dr. Jeffrey Cottrell, adjunct professor of low brass, is an active performer, teacher and award-winning composer. At Hardin Simmons University, he serves as the associate dean of the School of Music, and teaches trombone, euphonium, and tuba, as well as composition, computer music, and the HSU Jazz Ensemble.
Originally from Brazil, Cellist Neemias Santosbegan musical studies at the age of 9. Before moving to Texas, Neemias attended Penn State University. He was a member of the graduate string quartet that toured Argentina, and principal cellist of the Baroque Ensemble. At Penn State he served as a teaching assistant, and received numerous scholarships, and received a Masters Degree. Neemias has won numerous orchestra auditions in Brazil, Portugal, and the US, and has toured as a soloist and chamber musician throughout Europe and South America.
Oboist Susetta Dunn Rockett currently sits in the Janeen Holms Gilliam Chair (second oboe/English horn) with the Lubbock Symphony Orchestra. She is also the Concert Series Coordinator at the Church of the Heavenly Rest in Abilene, TX.
Dr. Janelle Ott is adjunct professor of Bassoon at Abilene Christian University. In addition to her collegiate duties, Dr. Ott works directly with middle school and high school students in Abilene and Wiley. She also maintains a large private studio in the Dallas-Fort Worth area. Recent orchestral engagements include the Abilene Philharmonic, Midland Odessa Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Summer Musicals at Bass Hall, Shreveport Symphony, and Texarkana Symphony. She is a member of Key City Winds, the Artists-In-Residence of the Heavenly Rest Chamber Concert Series.
Kevin Smith currently serves as the Executive Director of the Abilene Philharmonic Association, and adjunct double bass instructor at Abilene Christian University. With a direct linage to the Guarneri violin makers, Mr. Smith has had a deep appreciation for orchestral music since a young age. He began his double bass studies at the age of ten and his early teachers included Cliff Wallach Greenberg, Serge Dor, and Gabriel Torres. Mr. Smith went on to earn his undergraduate degree from Florida State University where he studied with the distinguished Associate Professor of Double Bass, Melanie Punter. With a growing performance career, he has performed in numerous concerts with the Broward Symphony Orchestra, New River Orchestra, EChO (Electronic Chamber Orchestra), Rokafonik Philharmonik, and served as principal for the University Symphony Orchestra and FSU Opera at Florida State.
Erin E. Weberis Adjunct Professor of Violin and Viola at Abilene Christian University and recently finished a season with the Midland-Odessa Symphony & Chorale as Principal Second Violin and Second Violin of the Permian Basin String Quartet. She earned her Master of Music degree from Texas Tech University as a teaching assistant under Professor Annie Chalex Boyle and her Bachelor of Music degree from Southwestern University, where she studied with Dr. Eri Lee Lam. While at Texas Tech University, Erin performed outreach concerts in West Texas communities as a member of the Texas Tech University String Quartet and served the Texas Tech University String Project as a violin instructor and graphic designer.
Alex Carpenter, a native of Abilene, Texas, has been teaching music since 2011. She received her Bachelor of Music in flute performance and music theory/composition from Hardin-Simmons University in 2014 and her Master of Music in the same concentrations from Southern Illinois University Carbondale in 2019. She has taken lessons and participated in masterclasses with flutists such as Demarre McGill, Mark Sparks, Richard Sherman, and Jonathan Keeble. She has won honors in multiple solo/chamber competitions and has premiered numerous new works. While in Illinois she founded the Southern Illinois Junior Flute Choir, giving local middle and high school students the opportunity to perform flute-specific repertoire with their peers and occasional performances alongside the Southern Illinois Flute Choir, made up of amateur community members and college students. She currently is adjunct of instructor of flute at Abilene Christian University, as well as Hardin Simmons University and McMurry University.