BOARD OF DIRECTORS
The NSAL Arizona is completely volunteer operated. We appreciate the efforts of our current board of directors:
Gail Fisher is a retired English teacher, honored community volunteer and an award-winning freelance writer, journalist, and author. She is a past chair of the Tempe Library Advisory Board, Tempe Historical Museum Advisory Board, and the Tempe Arts and Culture Commission.
A driving force to make the Tempe Center for the Arts (TCA) become a reality in 2007, Gail founded the Friends of TCA and served as the first president, followed by many years on the board.
She initiated the popular “TCA Performance with a View” series in partnership with Arizona State University’s Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. Gail also assists in the production of the “Hayden’s Ferry Chamber Music Series” performing at the TCA.
The 2007 National NSAL Conference was held at the TCA and the 2016 National NSAL Conference was held in Phoenix. Gail served two years as NSAL Recording Secretary on the National Board and is the current National 1st Vice President. A long-time member of NSAL AZ, she serves as Arizona Chapter President.
Jeremy Aye received his Master and Bachelor of Music degrees from the University of Colorado at Boulder. As a graduate student in Colorado, he taught both individual lessons to vocal performance majors as well as group voice-class for non-major singer.
He has performed in numerous operas, musicals, and concerts throughout the United States. In addition to solo work, since 2005 Jeremy sang as an extra chorister for 15 seasons with The Metropolitan Opera. In 2006, Jeremy became an adjunct voice professor at NYU Steinhardt.
Jeremy is affiliated with American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA), National Society of Arts and Letters (NSAL), National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS), and Opera America. He is on the voice faculty for Prague Summer Nights, a 4 week music festival that produces recitals, concerts and operas in the Czech Republic. The festival highlight includes a full production of Don Giovanni, in the famous Estates Theatre where Mozart premiered his masterpiece.
Jeremy’s private students range from emerging talent to professional singers who perform on the stages of Broadway and The Metropolitan Opera.
Born and bred in New York City, Janelle has been a Valley resident for over 30 years. While living in New York she was fortunate to attend “the golden years” of ballet and opera, becoming an opera standing room regular at The Metropolitan Opera and a passionate attendee of the New York City Ballet.
With Masters degrees in both Art History and Business at Columbia University, she has worked in both art galleries and in financial firms in New York, specializing in marketing and sales for investment products.
One of her true pleasures is traveling and viewing art, listening to music, and attending theater, especially in Europe and Japan. Janelle is proud to serve on the NSAL Arizona Board as Secretary and be part of its mission.
Marilyn Cabay has been a patron of the arts for many years and her interests grew with her children’s involvement. Her daughter studied at Dance Theater West and Marilyn became familiar with the work of NSAL through her participation in several dance events.
Her son sang in the Phoenix Boys Choir and also studied piano. In addition, Marilyn hosted several visiting pianists for the Bösendorfer International Piano Competition at Arizona State University, including two first-place prize winners! These experiences have been motivating, enlightening, and rewarding.
Marilyn received her doctorate degree from Arizona State University and bachelors from the University of Southern California. She has a psychology practice in Scottsdale and has taught graduate and undergraduate psychology. She is a member of the Mental Health Guild of Arizona, the Arizona Psychological Association, the American Psychological Association, and previously served on the Board of the Children’s Center for Neurodevelopmental Studies.
Devi Hajduk is a certified Martha Beck Wayfinder Skilled Life Coach with a strong interest in the arts. She has experience as a Performing Arts Teacher with the Montessori Internation School and Choreographer for Desert Foothills Theater. She holds a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from Arizona State University and worked in the ASU BioDesign Institute.
She is also a sought after professional model for television and film and has performed in productions at Desert Foothills Theater, Greasepaint Youth Theater, and Stagebrush Theatre. She’s an award-winning Ballroom Dancer and enjoys Tango, Samba, Jazz, Swing, Waltz and more. She plays the piano and sings Pop and Classical music. She enjoys in Stage of Mind Women’s Choir, cooking, and baking gingerbread houses in her free time.
She met her husband in college when she began competitive dancing. Every day she uses her Life Coaching skills for herself to have meaningful conversations and mindful connections with family and friends.
Billie grew up in a household where listening to Bach and Beethoven was as normal and satisfying as listening to George Shearing and Frank Sinatra, and where watching PBS was as enjoyable as watching “I Love Lucy.”
She began her career as an elementary school teacher in an underserved area of Brooklyn, New York. There she witnessed, firsthand, the power of the arts.
Initially her students had low expectations of themselves. However, as the term progressed and they were introduced to the arts curriculum, their self-perceptions changed and they grew into motivated, disciplined and self-assured individuals. They were now young people on their way to pursuing goals, which seemed almost impossible just a few years prior to the introduction of the arts curriculum.
After moving to Arizona, Billie enrolled in a doctoral program in clinical psychology. Upon graduation, she established a private practice and used the evolving research to introduce art as one method to treat and heal from trauma and stress related to mental health issues. Music calmed the mind; dance served as a release from stress; and the visual arts provided space for relaxation, creativity, and receptivity to different perspectives. Language arts, poetry and laughter provided release and connection.
Billie feels that it has been her great fortune to be a participant and a guide in the transformational power of the arts. She believes in the NSAL mission of advancing opportunities for young people to perform and to follow their dreams.
Claudia Havens Kennedy moved to Phoenix with her husband, Alan, in 1970. She had completed a B.S. in Voice & Music Education at Union College and an M.M. in Vocal Performance at Wichita State University.
She taught General Music K-6 for seven years in Cartwright School District in Phoenix and for eleven years worked with the Phoenix Boys’ Choir as Training Choir Conductor and vocal coach.
She has performed recitals, oratorio and opera throughout the Southwest and had church soloist positions.
She taught voice at Illinois Wesleyan University, University of Colorado at Boulder, Arizona State University and now maintains a private voice studio in her home.
Claudia is a member of Sigma Alpha Iota and serves on the boards of National Society of Arts and Letters Arizona and the Phoenix Chorale.
She has two children and five grandchildren.
Dr. Dorothy Lincoln-Smith was a leading solo vocal artist in concert venues throughout Europe, Asia, Australia, and the U.S., with the Roger Wagner Chorale, the Los Angel Master Chorale, Bach & Madrigal Society (now Phoenix Chorale), and the Phoenix Boys Choir under the direction of the late Harvey K. Smith. Performing the role of Constanza in Mozart’s Abduction from the Seraglio with the (now) Arizona Opera was a special favorite as well as Olympia’s “Doll Song” from Offenbach’s Tales of Hoffman.
She has been a member of NSAL since 1971 having completed a term as National President in 2016 and as Chair of the Board of Trustees. Dorothy serves on the Boards of the Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, (honored in 2017 for longtime service) the Phoenix Boys Choir, (honor in 2023, for PBC 75th Anniversary), and the Metropolitan National Opera Council-AZ. She received the Arizona Governor’s Arts Award in 2020.
Dr. Lincoln-Smith earned a Bachelor of Music from Cornell College, Iowa, and in 2018 she received the Distinguished Achievement Award for service to the college, participation in community affairs, and distinguished achievement in her fields of endeavor. She received the Master of Music in 1964 and Doctorate at Arizona State University in 1973 and is a retired Professor of Voice and as soloist at First Church of Christ Scientist, Phoenix.
Unique achievements include Advanced Certification in Scuba Diving; Dorothy has completed 926 dives with the goal of reaching 1000.
Susan Silverman, NSAL-AZ Dance Chair since 1995, has directed and coordinated annual dance scholarship events on local and national levels. NSAL-AZ Dance winners have gone on to be featured with Alvin Ailey, American Ballet Theater, New York City Ballet, and many other notable companies.
Susan has been the Director of Dance Theater West Ballet Program and DTW Story Book Ballet Company since 1990. DTW focuses on classical dance forms in a non-competitive environment. Creator of long time and far-reaching collaborative dance events with Scottsdale Arts and Free Arts for Abused Children as well as touring performances at valley schools and community venues.
As long time DTW business partner and collaborator with Frances Smith Cohen, Susan was assistant director of Frances Smith Cohen’s Snow Queen and a board member of Center Dance Ensemble, Resident Dance Company of the Herberger Theater.
Susan’s early dance training and performing experience was in New York City. Later she was a member of Frances Cohen’s Kadimah Dancers in Tucson. She is a graduate of University of Arizona with emphasis on political science and history and a special certification in dance education.