Meet the founder

Verena Lucía is a Latinx conductor, composer, pianist, singer, educator and activist.

She was born in Berlin, Germany, of Peruvian and Chilean parents. After immigrating to the U.S., Verena began her training in music and dance at the age of four at the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, MD and continued her music and dance studies at the Baltimore School for the Arts, University of Maryland, Alvin Ailey School for Dance, and the Catholic University of America.

Verena completed her Bachelor of Music degree in Piano Performance under the tutelage of Santiago Rodriguez, with a minor in Voice Performance at the University of Maryland. Upon completion of her undergraduate studies, she studied at the Alvin Ailey School for Dance in New York, while maintaining an active life as a performing musician. While in New York, she sang as a soloist with Baroque ensembles, with the New York Choral Artists, the Tallis Scholars, and as a principal singer at St. Patrick’s Cathedral. Verena received her Master’s Degree in Conducting in 2010 from the Catholic University of America in Washington D.C. under the tutelage of Dr. Leo Nestor.

Verena has previously served as Director of Music at several churches across the country. Mrs. Anders also serves as a Challenge the Stats performing artist, conductor and pianist, has sung with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Chamber Chorus, and has served as Teaching Artist with The Atlanta Music Project, an El Sistema-based music education program. She has since continued a career conducting choral and orchestral ensembles as well as teaching with special attention to social justice causes and under-represented people in classical music.

Our Accompanist

Will Buthod, pianist, organist, composer, and conductor, has worked in church ministry for the past 27 years. Buthod is known for employing a wide range of styles to fit any given situation, and is in demand in multiple areas, from Gospel to Salsa and Bluegrass. He has served congregations in New York, Paris, Phoenix, and Atlanta, as well as throughout Oklahoma and New Jersey.

As a performer, Buthod has won numerous competitions and awards, including the Albert Schweizer NationalOrgan Competition, the Tulsa Young Artist Competition, and the Charlotte Bagnall Scholarship for ChurchMusicians. He has performed with or recorded for such artists as Jimmy Heath, Denyce Graves, MartinaArroyo, Ben Vereen, Jay-Z, Fat Joe, Alicia Keys, Swizz Beatz, Mashonda, Maiysha, Autumn Rowe, Nolan Williams, James Abbington, Roland Carter, and André Thomas. He recorded a live album with Grammy-nominated performer Maiysha at the Blue Note jazz club in New York City. During his stint in Paris, France, Buthod was the pianist for the American Ambassador for several years, while serving as Organist/Assistant Choir Director at the American Cathedral and co-founding a touring gospel group.

Buthod’s gospel music background earned him a spot as pianist for the Harlem Gospel Choir, and he has played for such well-known preachers as Al Sharpton, Timothy Wright, James A. Forbes Jr., Johnny Ray Youngblood, and Albert Jamison, Jr. As a composer, he has composed over 300 works, from classical trios to R&B tunes, which are performed regularly throughout the country and abroad. Buthod’s knowledge and understanding of a variety of sacred music and its history has also made him a popular clinician and speaker.

Outside his role as Minister of Music at Holy Trinity, Buthod serves at Candler School of Theology (Emory University), as Director of the gospel choir, Candler Voices of Imani. He previously served as Chapel Organist and Musician/Lecturer for the Episcopal and Anglican Studies Program. He is the founder and co-director of Voices Found, a community choir focused on social justice. For 6 years, Buthod served as Music Director for the North Georgia Annual United Methodist Conference, the largest UMC conference in the United States. He was chosen as musician for several national conferences, including the Summer Institute for Global Pentecostal/Charismatic Studies, the Festival of Homiletics, the Hymn Society Annual Conference, the Progressive National Baptist Convention, and the the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship General Assembly, and he regularly leads music for Episcopal Diocesan events in Atlanta.

Buthod earned his Master of Arts Degree in Music from Hunter College (New York), focusing on organ and composition. He has also studied and earned certificates/diplomas from Brooklyn College, the Paris Conservatory (CNR), and Westminster Choir College. He lives in Tucker, with his wife, Verena, and their dog. When he’s not making music, he’s most likely cooking an adventurous dish or out fishing at a lake or pond.

The choir

Atlanta Choral Artists is representative of the musical and activist community of Atlanta. Our singers are educators, scientists, working musicians, faith leaders, medical workers, and much more. They span generations and backgrounds but all have the common love for music as a vehicle for good.

Meet some of our singers

  • Soprano

    Karen Kerness is a native of Upstate New York who has lived in Atlanta for 17 years. Trained as an English teacher, she has made her career preparing students for college admissions as a private tutor.  She is a proud wife and mom of three amazing boys. For her, singing has always been about the instant sense of connection and joy that comes from working closely with others to tell stories and and create beauty.

  • Soprano

    Dr. Chryston Jones has a long-time passion for health equity work, alongside music, fitness, and international relations. She has served for years as a federal employee in the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services, including the CDC Global Health Center, managing federal grants and projects focused on improving public health systems globally and domestically. Chryston also has taught as a health policy college instructor and also as a K-12 Spanish teacher in the private and public school systems, both in her hometown of Birmingham, AL and in metro Atlanta where she currently resides.

    Chryston has sung in choirs and ensembles from elementary school through college, across the genres of classical, gospel, jazz and pop. She also has participated in professional choirs for televised shows such as the Kennedy Center Honors, Christmas in Washington, and the MLK Memorial Grand Opening in DC. Chryston is also a registered yoga instructor and, additionally, loves cooking, traveling, nature, and spending time with her family and friends.

  • Tenor

    Tyrone is an Atlanta-based music educator, conductor, composer, and performing artist. He has been featured as a guest artist for projects including Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna, HBO Series The Watchmen, and the Atlanta Opera’s 96-Hour Opera competition.

    A south-Georgia native and strong advocate for arts education, Tyrone continues to enrich the lives of students and families throughout the state. He has served on the school board at Tapestry Public Charter School, as well as a member of the Advisory Review Committee of the Georgia Department of Education, tasked with revising Performance Standards for Fine Arts in Georgia K-12 schools.

    Tyrone received his BA in music at Morehouse College, studying conducting with Dr. David Morrow and voice with Tim Miller. He received his MM from Emory University.

  • Tenor

    Charles is a retired civil engineer whose avocation now is playing guitar, writing music, and singing with Atlanta Voices. Social justice and human rights themes are found in the music he sings, not only with Atlanta Voices, but also in the songs he writes and plays.

  • Bass

    Zay currently works at Georgia State as an Assistant Director of Student Life. He studied Music Technology at Georgia State University and has a strong background in being part of both choral and band ensembles. In his free time, Zay is a DJ. He also arranges acappella music and jams with a group of community musicians, including playing piano, bass guitar, and trumpet.

  • Soprano

    Arietha Lockhart, EDS is an experienced music educator, director of children and adult choirs, solo vocalist, symphonic chorister and recording artist. She got her start in professional choral music singing in the choirs of Robert Shaw at the Atlanta Symphony, Shaw's Carnegie Hall Workshops in New York and in the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in France. She works as a Training Choir Director at Atlanta Young Singers professional Children's Choir.

  • Soprano/Social Media Coordinator

    Aliyah is a professional singer based in Atlanta, Georgia. She attended Emory University and obtained dual degrees in Music Performance and Neuroscience and Behavioral Biology. 

    Aliyah has sung as an alto and/or soprano in a variety of choirs, including: the Emory Concert Choir, Collegium Vocale, Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and ASO Chamber Chorus. She currently sings as a staff Alto I at the Cathedral of St. Philip. She was previously featured as the mezzo-soprano soloist for the Cobb Summer Singers' performance of the Bach Magnificat and Saint-Saëns Christmas Oratorio and, in her free evenings, she moonlights as a jazz singer and can be found performing at jazz hotspots like Napoleon's and the Velvet Note.

    In addition to performance, Aliyah is passionate about music education and mentorship; she conducted the Grady Ponce Center staff and patient choir for two years and worked as a music mentor at the Songs for Kids Foundation for three years. 

    When she isn't singing, Aliyah enjoys playing tennis and finding new places to hike around Atlanta.

  • Alto

    Marcia Kochel is a middle school librarian and mom of two teenagers. She also sings with Voices for Now, a small a cappella choir, and loves singing for a good cause.

  • Bass

    Matthew Samuels is a bass with over 23 years of choral experience. His love for choral music began at the age of nine, when he joined the Atlanta Boy Choir, an experience that introduced him to the power of ensemble singing and took him to perform at Carnegie Hall and for Mass at the Vatican. Throughout high school, he was an active member of the All-State Choir and was nominated for the Governor’s Honors Program for vocal performance.

    He continued his choral journey at Florida State University, singing with the University Singers under Dr. Kevin Fenton, and later at Georgia State University, performing with the GSU Singers under Dr. Deanna Joseph. Along the way, he studied voice under Katherine Ciesinski and Katherine Hartgrove. He was also a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus during the 2012-2013 season, further deepening his appreciation for large-scale choral works.

    Over the past 12 years, Matthew has served as a staff singer at various churches and musical institutions across Atlanta. In 2017, he was honored to be a finalist for a position with the United States Army Chorus. He has also had the opportunity to sing alongside Josh Groban and collaborate with smaller ensembles in a range of musical settings.

    Beyond music, Matthew is a devoted husband and father of four. He and his wife recently celebrated their 10th wedding anniversary and live in Lawrenceville, Georgia.

  • Soprano

    Anna Ree is an avid choral musician in the Atlanta area. In addition to joyous work with Atlanta Voices, she currently sings for the Cathedral of Christ the King as an alto staff singer as well as for both the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus as an alto ensemble member. She has been lucky enough to participate in two of the past years with Atlanta Voices (formerly the Challenge the Stats choir), once in 2023 for the Juneteenth performance and in 2025 for Sounds of Home concert. Outside of performance spaces, Ree is a clinical research coordinator at the Atlanta VA Healthcare System, working in labs with Drs. Amy Rodriguez and Anna Woodbury on treatment communication avenues for post-stroke aphasia (Rodriguez Aphasia Lab) and pain management options for chronic pain, specifically fibromyalgia (Woodbury Pain Lab). She's passionate about the intersection of music and treatment methods, recently publishing an academic article titled "Research on music-based interventions for aphasia: a scoping review" with the journal Aphasiology.

  • Soprano

    Susan Ray is thrilled to be part of Atlanta Voices – the mission, the people, the sounds are a gift.  She grew up in Decatur, GA and studied voice in high school (with Elizabeth Rice and at GA Governor’s Honors summer program) and college (John Kennedy Hanks at Duke University).  Church choirs (Decatur First UMC as a youth and now Saint Mark UMC) have sustained her; her musical life has been enriched by singing with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus since 2017.  Her favorite musical theater roles (in reverse chronological order): Mother Abbess in Sound of Music (Saint Mark Drama), Luisa in The Fantastiks (Hoof-n-Horn), Maria in West Side Story (Hoof-n-Horn), Lucy in You’re a Good Man Charlie Brown (Shamrock High School).  

    Susan is a Professor of Medicine in the Division of Infectious Diseases at Emory University School of Medicine.  Her academic and clinical pursuits are centered on the epidemiology, prevention, and treatment of infectious diseases affecting the urban, indigent, minority population served by Grady Health System; she is the Hospital Epidemiologist for Grady Health System.  Dr. Ray has been an investigator with the GA EIP since 1997 and is currently engaged in surveillance of invasive Staphylococcus aureus and for health care associated infections.  Dr Ray has been the medical consultant to the GA Dept of Public Health TB program since 2010. 

    Susan and her partner, Julie, have 2 children (ages 26 and 28) and love to kayak, hike, bike and enjoy nature.