Artistic Staff
Managing Artistic Director
Jayson Snipes became Artistic Director of Piedmont Chamber Singers in 2015. He is a native of Winston-Salem, NC, and received a B.M. in Music Education, and M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. He studied organ, voice, and conducting.
Jayson has accompanied for several organizations in the area, and in 2011 was the festival organist for the Midwest MusicFest in Lake Mills, Wisconsin. He also has experience in music notation, engraving, and has worked as an engraver and editor for local music publishers.
Jayson was conductor of The Moramus Chorale from 2008–2015, a non-auditioned mixed chorus that specializes in performing early music of the early American Moravian tradition. He was also the choral director at Lexington Middle School from 2012 until December 2016. Currently, he serves as Director of Traditional Music at Maple Springs United Methodist Church in Winston-Salem.
Assistant Conductor
Charli Mills has enjoyed a varied musical career as a performer, conductor, teacher, and church musician. As a performer, she has particularly enjoyed singing with the Magnolia Baroque and Salem Bach Festivals in Winston-Salem. In October 2020, she made her opera debut as Sadie in the Piedmont Opera’s production of Carlisle Floyd’s Slow Dusk, where she was praised for her “effervescent tone and imaginative phrasing” (Voix de Arts) and “beautiful dynamic nuance” (CVNC). In addition to her own singing, Charli enjoys cultivating the musicianship of others, having worked as an adjunct instructor at three universities teaching voice, choir, and general music. Charli has earned Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Church Music and an Advanced Graduate Certificate in Worship Studies. She has pursued further training with the Seraphic Fire Professional Choral Institute at the Aspen Music Festival and School (2019), Classic Lyric Arts Italy (2021), and the Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop (2022). She currently works as Director of Traditional Worship Arts at Mt. Tabor United Methodist Church and performs as a freelance vocalist specializing in early and sacred music.
Accompanist
Norris Norwood is the accompanist for the Piedmont Chamber Singers He has established himself nationally and internationally as a pianist and organist in a wide range of venues as soloist, chamber musician, and collaborator.
He received his BM in Piano Performance from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. He also continued graduate studies at UNCSA and later served on the collaborative pianist staff.
In addition to chamber music appearances throughout the southeastern US and festivals in New York and Michigan, Mr. Norwood has performed locally with:
- Winston-Salem and Greensboro Symphonies
- Piedmont Opera
- Bel Canto Company
He has also recorded for both NC and SC Public Radio.
As organist, he has played services at Southwark and Exeter Cathedrals and concerts in Westminster Central Hall as guest artist with The London International Choral Festival.
Currently a freelance pianist, Mr. Norwood is also the organist at Memorial United Methodist Church in Thomasville. He serves as staff pianist at both Guilford College and Wake Forest University. A member of the Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Arts and Health Committee which advocates for arts in healing, he is also collaborative pianist with the WFUBMC Chorale as a result of his membership on the Wake Forest Baptist Health’s Arts and Health Committee which advocates for arts in healing.