Staff – Master Singers of Worcester

Stephan P. Barnicle, Composer

Stephan P. Barnicle, a Worcester native, taught choruses, orchestra and music technology in Connecticut High Schools from 1970 – 2004 when he retired and moved to Fayetteville, NC where he served as Director of Music Ministry at St. Patrick Catholic Church and the Artistic Director of the CANTATE Chamber Choir and the St. Patrick Music for Charity concert series for nine years.

Raised as a chorister in the St. Paul’s Cathedral Boys’ Choir, he has held a variety of positions as a church musician for more than 60 years. He began teaching Recorder and Voice to the younger boys in the Cathedral Choir School while still in high school, and has continued to teach and to play ever since that time.

Mr. Barnicle has appeared as guest soloist and conductor throughout the U.S. and in Europe. His solo roles have included several Operas, Operettas, Oratorios and recitals here and abroad. His compositions and arrangements are often programmed by festival choirs across the globe including being sung by the Worcester Chorus, the Salisbury Singers and the Master Singers of Worcester. He was the Music Director of the Visit Canada International Polychoral Festival in Montreal and Quebec for a decade.

He is a published author, poet, arranger and award winning composer whose works are published by Walton, Plymouth and Alliance publications, and has served as choral consultant for Glencoe/Macmiilan/McGraw-Hill Educational Publishing. He was named Connecticut Music Educator of the Year for 1995. He was awarded the University of Connecticut’s “Excellence in High School Teaching” award, and was honored on national television on the “Disney Channel and McDonald’s presents the American Teacher Awards.” He is listed in Who’s Who in American Education, Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in the World.

During the summer of 2013, Steve returned to Worcester and accepted the position of Music Director at the First Congregational Church of Paxton.

Edward Tyler, Artistic Director

Edward Tyler, a native of Auburn, New York, received his Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Connecticut, where he served as Graduate Assistant to Dr. Peter Bagley. He earned his Bachelor of Music Education degree from the Crane School of Music, where he studied conducting with Brock McElheran & Calvin Gage, and composition with Elliot DelBorgo.

Mr. Tyler recently retired from music education after 35 years. He was the Director of Choral Music and Drama at Manchester High School for 33 years, where he directed four choral ensembles and a handbell choir, taught courses in music theory, piano, digital music, and theatrical design, and directed the school’s dramatic and music theatre offerings for 26 years. Mr. Tyler has also taught music theory and ear training at The University of Connecticut and conducted the University Chorale at Central Connecticut State University. He has been a professional vocalist his entire adult life, as both a freelance soloist and as a member of The Woodland Scholars, CONCORA (Connecticut Choral Artists), and several church choirs in the greater Hartford area. In 2019, he was presented with a Lifetime Achievement Award by the Connecticut Chapter of The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and in 2022, his students created an annual scholarship in his honor.

Mr. Tyler is a composer of choral music with over 70 titles to his name, and he has enjoyed performances of his works by groups across the United States and Canada. During a brief hiatus from writing music, he turned his attention to educational materials and completed two textbooks: “Music Literacy for the High School Vocalist, Volumes 1-4,” and “A Comprehensive Study of Music Theory.” His music literacy books are currently being used by more than two dozen school districts in Connecticut, New York, and Pennsylvania. Mr. Tyler is a popular clinician, lecturer, and adjudicator, and has presented programs throughout New England and New York.

In his first year of retirement, he keeps finding new ways to keep himself amused, useful, and hopefully out of trouble. Away from the music world, he finds respite in dogs, travel, golf, writing, and cooking. To help sate his love of golf, he now manages a course in Westborough. As a self-taught cook, one of his “Bucket List” items is preparing something on the Food Network, and he delights in finding new recipes he can loosely follow.

Mark Bartlett, Accompanist

Mark Bartlett is an active performer, accompanist and chamber musician in the Boston area. A native of central Illinois, he received his degree in piano performance from Northwestern University, where he studied with Laurence Davis. More recently he was a student of Konstantinos Papadakis at New England Conservatory.

A lifelong choral singer, Mark was a member of the bass section of Masterworks Chorale under Allen Lannom for 20 years. During that time he served two terms on their board of directors and also filled in as rehearsal accompanist on occasion. He played his first Summer Sing with them, the Mozart C Minor Mass, in Lexington in 1992 and has returned almost every year since. In 2009 Mark became a singing member of Assabet Valley Master Singers directed by Dr. Robert Eaton, an association which continued for 8 years. He has performed as accompanist with them for several of their summer sings and regular concerts, including Carmina Burana, and Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle.

In 2011, Mark sang with New World Chorale directed by Holly Krafka for the first time, and in 2014 became their regular accompanist. In 2017 he was appointed accompanist for the Master Singers of Worcester under Edward Tyler, and in 2018 began as accompanist for the Northborough Area Community Chorus, conducted by Elinor Armsby and David Rose. His association with all three groups continues today. In the fall of 2022 he became accompanist for the Apollo Club men’s chorus under Steven Lipsett.

As a pianist in recent seasons Mark performed with the Metrowest Wind Quintet in sextets by Poulenc and Thuille, and twice in the Claflin Hill chamber series in Grafton, featuring the Copland sextet and pieces by Max Bruch. He has performed with Seele Musicale in the Beethoven Society concerts, and also given concerts of solo piano repertoire along with trios by Schubert and Mendelssohn. In June 2019 he made his choral conducting debut with New World Chorale, which included an arrangement for chorus, organ and percussion of the last 15 minutes of Mahler’s Symphony No 2.

Mark has worked in the Boston financial services industry for over thirty years, most recently as a systems analyst and project manager. When not focused on music he is an avid reader, science fiction enthusiast, and recreational runner.

2022 - 2023 Board of Directors