Artistic Team
Emily Isaacson
Artistic Director
Dr. Emily Isaacson is a conductor fiercely committed to reimagining classical music for today’s audience. She is founder and artistic director of Classical Uprising, a performing arts company that believes classical music must rise up, challenge current norms, and re-envision where, how, and for whom we are making music. Classical Uprising serves over 4,000 musicians and music lovers through its programs Oratorio Chorale, a symphonic chorus; Portland Bach Experience, a series of immersive music festivals; and Horizon Voices, a youth choral program for singers K-12.
One of only a handful of female conductors (and moms) in the country, Isaacson was named the 2018 Maine Artist of the Year by the Maine Arts Commission, one of 50 Mainers Leading the State by Maine Magazine, and the 2018 face of Maine’s Women’s Work. In 2008 Isaacson helped to launch Roomful of Teeth, a GRAMMY-winning new vocal music ensemble, and in 2015 and 2018 won third place in the American Prize in Choral Conducting. She has taught at Clark University, Bowdoin College, and the University of Illinois. A St. Andrews Society Scholar, Isaacson holds a master’s degree in musicology from the University of Edinburgh, Scotland; a master’s degree in conducting from the University of Oregon; and a doctorate in conducting from the University of Illinois. She lives in Portland, ME, with her husband, daughter, and son. View Emily’s Professional Website.
Maria Belva
Director, Sweetest in the Gale
Maria Belva is a professional choral conductor and private voice teacher and serves as director of Horizon Voices and Sweetest in the Gale. Before coming to Maine, she founded the Grand Monadnock Youth Choirs in Peterborough, NH, and served as the organization’s director for 20 years, from its beginning in 1997 until 2017. She was music director of the Peterborough Unitarian Universalist Church for two decades, founded a community women’s choir, and taught choral music in various private schools in New Hampshire. A life-long chorister, she sings in choirs wherever she lives. Maria has maintained a private voice studio since 1992 and is a Certified McClosky Voice Technician. She has a bachelor of arts in psychology and education from State University of New York at Potsdam and a master of music degree from University of Maine, Orono. Maria lives in Portland with her husband David. Maria loves to garden, read, hike, and to play with her grandchildren.
Scott Wheatley
Assistant Music Director
Baritone Scott Wheatley, a native of Kansas, holds degrees from the University of Missouri/Kansas City Conservatory of Music and the University of South Florida. He has performed with the Kansas City Lyric Opera, New York City Opera, Whitewater Opera, Bronx Opera, Sarasota Opera, Opera Northeast, Connecticut Grand Opera, and the Ashlawn Summer Festival companies as well as the New York Philharmonic, Vienna Philharmonic, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Cleveland Orchestra and San Francisco Symphony.
Currently, Scott is on faculty at the University of Southern Maine. He serves as music director at First Parish Unitarian Universalist Church in Portland and is the assistant music director for the Oratorio Chorale. In addition to a busy singing and teaching schedule, Scott enjoys an active career as a coach/accompanist collaborating with both singers and instrumentalists.