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The choir at Church of the Foothills is a true blessing. The members regularly inspire the congregation with an assortment of music, from the new and innovative to the true and traditional. You will leave church feeling moved by the beautiful singing, instrumental pieces and joyous performances.
Elizabeth Helms has called Church of the Foothills her church home since 1987, when her husband Kenneth Helms, who was raised in the Saticoy Community Church, took the position of choir director. Following Ken’s untimely death in 2005, Elizabeth accepted the directorship, and hopes to continue to sustain and nurture Foothill’s strong choir and music program. Both Ken and Elizabeth were also active in Gold Coast Concert Chorus, where she was the principal accompanist from 2000 to 2005, under the direction of Ken. In fall of 2006 Elizabeth was hired to be Director of the Gold Coast Concert Chorus. Additionally, she is the Associate Director of the Ventura County Master Chorale and she has also performed with the Ventura Chamber Festival Orchestra, the Ventura County Chamber Orchestra, the New West Symphony, the Ventura County Symphony, the Ventura College Theatre and Music Departments, and the vocal studios of Geraldine Decker and Linda Ottsen, to name a few.
Elizabeth has taught in the Ventura College Music Department since 1991, and coordinated the College’s Private Music Lessons Program from 1990 to 2005. She directs the College Choir, the College Chamber Singers, and teaches Musicianship. She also accompanies and coaches vocal students in the California Lutheran University Music Department. In the spring of 2007 she is substituting as director for the CLU Women’s Chorale.
She received her Master of Arts in Curriculum and Instruction with a Specialization in Subject Area (Music) from California Lutheran University in August 2005. She spent a week in August in Seattle at the Tallis Scholars Summer School, a workshop that consists entirely of practicing and performing Renaissance choral music.
Elizabeth has three children. Her daughter Katherine is attending Cal Lutheran as a music major, with a double instrumental emphasis of violin and percussion. Her daughter Jessica, a graduate of Cal Lutheran, is working on her graduate degree in collaborative piano at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Her son Geoffrey, a nationally certified acupuncturist and herbalist, has returned from a year of teaching in China to begin building his practice. He specializes in the treatment of dancers and musicians. A tenor, he has also resumed his vocal studies with Geraldine Decker.
Our longtime organist and piano player is Karen MacConnell.
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