Ricard Bordas and Margaret Kelly Cook, world-renowned artists and music educators, will serve as the Directors of Ashley Hall’s Voice Studies Program.
Ricard will direct the Upper School choral classes and ensembles. Conductor, countertenor, educator, and Grammy nominee, he graduated from the Royal Academy of Music in London and has conducted choirs and chamber groups in the United States, Spain, and Britain. He is currently Assistant Professor of Music at Charleston Southern University, Artistic Director of the Bach Society of Charleston, Director of Choral Music at First (Scots) Presbyterian Church in Charleston, Artistic Director of the Charleston Men’s Chorus, and a writer for the Spanish classical magazine Revista Musical Catalana.
Margaret will oversee the vocal studio and will also instruct the private vocal lessons. She earned a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance degree from Oberlin College and completed the postgraduate opera course at the Royal College of Music in London. An active participant on the concert stage, Cook has appeared as a guest soloist throughout England and Europe and locally with the Charleston Chamber Music Society, Charleston Symphony Orchestra, and the South Carolina Philharmonic. Margaret is highly regarded as one of the lead vocal instructors in Charleston.