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The American choral conductor, Mark Helms, was Choral Scholar at Prince of Peace Catholic Church (January 2010-December 2012). He obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Church Music summa cum laude from Furman University in Greenville, South Carolina (2009-2013). At Furman, he was a recipient of the prestigious Theodore Presser Scholarship Presser and was inducted into both Phi Beta Kappa and Pi Kappa Lambda; and studied voice with Bill Thomas, organ with Charles Tompkins, and conducting with Hugh Floyd. He served as Student Conductor of the renowned Furman Singers (August 2012-May 2013); as a Teaching Assistant in the Music Theory division (January 2012-May 2013); and as Director of Music for the University Daniel Chapel at Furman, in which he conducted the Chancel Choir and served as a substitute organist (August 2012-May 2013). He gained further experience in choral music while in Greenville through singing chant at Prince of Peace Catholic Church and by serving as an assistant conductor during an internship at Westminster Presbyterian Church.
Mark Helms obtained his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Eastman School of Music, University of Rochester, New York (2013-2015). He has studied conducting with Edward Maclary, William Weinert, Brad Lubman and Hugh Ferguson Floyd and conducted the Eastman Repertory Singers. In addition to his conducting responsibilities at Eastman, he served as Director of Choirs at Holy Cross Church in Rochester (August 2013-Jun 2015) and sang tenor with the critically-acclaimed Christ Church Schola Cantorum for weekly compline services. During the summers, he worked as Counselor at the New York State Summer School of the Arts (NYSSSA): School of Choral Studies in Albany (June 2012-July 2014), a month-long summer program for talented high-school students throughout New York state. At the school, his responsibilities included conducting a chamber choir, serving as an assistant conductor in other rehearsals, acting as a teaching assistant for music theory classes, and serving as a residence life counselor for the students. Since August 2021, he is pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Maryland, College Park (UMD).
Mark Helms is an active conductor, singer and organist. Prior to UMD, he was based in the Philadelphia area, Pennsylvania and served as Director of Chorale of Berks Youth Chorus in Reading (May 2016-Jun 2017); Director of Music Ministries at Grace Evangelical Lutheran Church in Shillington (September 2015-August 2017); Coordinator of Choral Activities and Liturgical Music at DeSales University in Center Valley (August 2017-May 2019), where he conducted three choral ensembles and taught additional courses in music; Director of Music and the Arts at Doylestown Presbyterian Church (July 2019-August 2021), where he oversaw a comprehensive music ministry involving nearly 200 participants of all ages. He is married to Bryan Holten and currently lives in Cheverly, Maryland. |
