Music Staff
Dr. Elisa Bickers
Co-Director of Music at Mission Campus
Elisa Williams Bickers (DMA, FAGO) is the associate director of music and principal organist at Village Presbyterian Church. She accompanies the Village Choir and Chamber Choir and leads the Village Ringers handbell ensemble. Additionally, she is the keyboardist for the Bach Aria Soloists, a Kansas City chamber music ensemble devoted to performing the works of Bach and composers inspired by him. She performs regularly in recital as a solo and collaborative organist, harpsichordist, and pianist, and has served on the faculties of the UMKC Conservatory and Washburn University as instructor of organ and harpsichord. She serves on the National New Music and Nominating committees for the American Guild of Organists.
Dr. Bickers and the pipe organ committee ushered in Village's new pipe organ, built by Richards, Fowkes & Co., in 2016. It is a landmark instrument that leads worship beautifully and has earned international acclaim.
A native of Clinton, Maryland, Dr. Bickers began her organ studies at age twelve with the Potomac Organ Institute. She has degrees in church music and organ performance from Texas Christian University and the University of Kansas. Her teachers have included Dale Krider, Joseph Butler and Michael Bauer.
Dr. Bickers received first prize and the hymn playing prize in the graduate division of the 2006 William Hall competition. In 2007, she was a quarter-finalist in the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, and a semifinalist in the 2010 NYACOP. In 2009, she traveled to Lübeck, Germany to compete in the International Buxtehude Competition. She was awarded the 2009 Carlin Award for excellence in teaching, the highest honor possible for graduate students at KU. In 2016, Dr. Bickers earned the Fellowship certification from the American Guild of Organists, one of the organization’s top honors.
Dr. Bickers makes her home in Overland Park with husband Rob and daughter Isabel. She enjoys digging in the dirt, home food preservation and ridiculous TV shows.
[email protected]
913-671-2339
Dr. Bickers and the pipe organ committee ushered in Village's new pipe organ, built by Richards, Fowkes & Co., in 2016. It is a landmark instrument that leads worship beautifully and has earned international acclaim.
A native of Clinton, Maryland, Dr. Bickers began her organ studies at age twelve with the Potomac Organ Institute. She has degrees in church music and organ performance from Texas Christian University and the University of Kansas. Her teachers have included Dale Krider, Joseph Butler and Michael Bauer.
Dr. Bickers received first prize and the hymn playing prize in the graduate division of the 2006 William Hall competition. In 2007, she was a quarter-finalist in the American Guild of Organists’ National Young Artists Competition in Organ Performance, and a semifinalist in the 2010 NYACOP. In 2009, she traveled to Lübeck, Germany to compete in the International Buxtehude Competition. She was awarded the 2009 Carlin Award for excellence in teaching, the highest honor possible for graduate students at KU. In 2016, Dr. Bickers earned the Fellowship certification from the American Guild of Organists, one of the organization’s top honors.
Dr. Bickers makes her home in Overland Park with husband Rob and daughter Isabel. She enjoys digging in the dirt, home food preservation and ridiculous TV shows.
[email protected]
913-671-2339
Dr. Joshua Maize
Co-Director of Music
Joshua Maize is a conductor, vocalist and teacher in the Kansas City area. He is associate director of music at Village Presbyterian Church, where he assists in the leadership of a large, vibrant music ministry. At Village Presbyterian Church, he directs the principal adult chorus, the Village Choir, as well as the Village Chamber Choir and the Village Voices youth choir.
Joshua holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and a doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance and a master’s degree in musicology and church music from the University of Kansas. He was an Ellen Battell Stoeckel Vocal Fellow at Yale University. Joshua has worked in Presbyterian and Episcopal congregations in Missouri, Kansas and Texas where he has established and grown choral and instrumental ensembles for people of all ages. He has served on faculty at the Conservatory of Music and Dance (UMKC) and currently serves as the sub-dean for the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
He has worked extensively as a choral conductor and vocalist, performing throughout the United States and Europe. Joshua has appeared on the rosters of the Norfolk Chamber Choir, Spire Chamber Choir and Te Deum Chamber Choir. He is a member of the American Choral Directors’ Association, Association of Anglican Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music and the American Guild of Organists.
[email protected]
913-671-2304
Joshua holds a bachelor’s degree in music education and a doctor of musical arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory of Music and Dance and a master’s degree in musicology and church music from the University of Kansas. He was an Ellen Battell Stoeckel Vocal Fellow at Yale University. Joshua has worked in Presbyterian and Episcopal congregations in Missouri, Kansas and Texas where he has established and grown choral and instrumental ensembles for people of all ages. He has served on faculty at the Conservatory of Music and Dance (UMKC) and currently serves as the sub-dean for the Greater Kansas City Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.
He has worked extensively as a choral conductor and vocalist, performing throughout the United States and Europe. Joshua has appeared on the rosters of the Norfolk Chamber Choir, Spire Chamber Choir and Te Deum Chamber Choir. He is a member of the American Choral Directors’ Association, Association of Anglican Musicians, the Presbyterian Association of Musicians, the Royal School of Church Music and the American Guild of Organists.
[email protected]
913-671-2304
Theo Musick
Music Ministry Coordinator
Theodore Musick is a percussionist and music educator in Kansas City, Kansas. He holds percussion performance degrees from the University of Kansas (MM) and Washburn University (BM). He has studied with Michael Compitello, Tom Morgan and Keith Mallory. He is the assistant band director & percussion instructor at St. James Academy in Lenexa, Kansas and the music coordinator at Village Presbyterian Church in Prairie Village, Kansas.
As a performer, Theodore is the principal percussionist with the Fountain City Brass Band, the current North American and U.S. Open champions. He won the Best Featured Soloist Prize at the U.S. Open Brass Band Championship with Xylophonia and was hailed as performing with “a truly witty bit of xylophone magic” by 4barsrest, the brass band magazine. He recorded Xylophonia on Fountain City’s album Over the Rainbow. He regularly performs with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and in the KC Metro area.
913-671-2344
[email protected]
As a performer, Theodore is the principal percussionist with the Fountain City Brass Band, the current North American and U.S. Open champions. He won the Best Featured Soloist Prize at the U.S. Open Brass Band Championship with Xylophonia and was hailed as performing with “a truly witty bit of xylophone magic” by 4barsrest, the brass band magazine. He recorded Xylophonia on Fountain City’s album Over the Rainbow. He regularly performs with the Topeka Symphony Orchestra and in the KC Metro area.
913-671-2344
[email protected]
Dr. Langston Hemenway
Director of Village Brass and the Kansas City Wind Symphony
Dr. Hemenway is director of Village Brass. He also serves as the director of instrumental studies at William Jewell College in Liberty, Missouri. He earned his doctorate in instrumental conducting from the University of Michigan, his masters in conducting from the University of Kansas, and his bachelors in music education from the University of Oklahoma. Before being hired in summer 2021, Langston was already a beloved part of the Village family for his visionary and dynamic leadership of the all-volunteer Kansas City Wind Symphony, a Village Arts Alliance ensemble.
[email protected]
913-671-2385
[email protected]
913-671-2385
Jenny Hull
Children’s Music Coordinator
Jenny Hull is the coordinator of Morning Stars, the Village Church Children's Music and Worship program. She has been leading the oldest children's choir since 2008.
A cellist, Jenny received her undergraduate degree in music from Illinois State University in 1995. She received her Master’s in Education from the University of Kansas in 2002. After her children were born, she became a certified Kindermusik instructor, and started her work with Village Church in the music department, directing the children's choir. In 2007, Jenny began working at the Village Church Child and Family Development Center, where she now serves as assistant director. She also teaches preschool music classes and directs Village’s yearly drama camp for elementary students each summer.
Jenny and her husband Brad live in Overland Park with their two children, Brady and Katie.
[email protected]
913-671-2385
A cellist, Jenny received her undergraduate degree in music from Illinois State University in 1995. She received her Master’s in Education from the University of Kansas in 2002. After her children were born, she became a certified Kindermusik instructor, and started her work with Village Church in the music department, directing the children's choir. In 2007, Jenny began working at the Village Church Child and Family Development Center, where she now serves as assistant director. She also teaches preschool music classes and directs Village’s yearly drama camp for elementary students each summer.
Jenny and her husband Brad live in Overland Park with their two children, Brady and Katie.
[email protected]
913-671-2385
Becky & Nathan Bliss
Music Directors for The Gathering
Becky and Nathan Bliss serve as musical directors for The Gathering service at the Village Church Mission Campus in Prairie Village, Kansas. Both Kansas City natives, Nathan moved to Overland Park from Philadelphia in high school and attended Shawnee Mission North. Becky grew up at Village Church and attended Shawnee Mission East, followed by the University of Kansas where she studied opera and graduated with a degree in vocal performance.
Nathan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music with a dual bachelor’s degree in jazz composition and saxophone performance. Soon after, he completed the Master Recording Program II at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, Arizona and moved to Los Angeles where he worked in recording studios and taught himself to play guitar.
Introduced by a booking agent in Kansas City in 2005 after college, Becky and Nathan both eventually moved to Brooklyn, got married, and started the indie folk band, Barnaby Bright. After the release of their first full-length album in 2009, they began touring extensively all over the world, playing roughly 150 shows a year. After six years of steady touring, releasing three full-length albums, winning several international songwriting awards and gracing such notable stages as Lincoln Center and NPR’s Mountain Stage, they returned to Kansas City and were thrilled to accept the position as musical directors for The Gathering, an alternative worship service at 5 p.m. Sundays in Friendship Hall at the Village Church Mission Campus.
They currently live in Prairie Village with their newborn daughter Everly and two rescue cats from Brooklyn, Lenny and Booger Cookie. Nathan is teaching private music lessons and is an AV technician for Village. Becky also works as our Young Adult Ministry coordinator, is a certified Pure Barre instructor and runs a small vegan, gluten-free dessert business.
[email protected]
[email protected]
Nathan graduated Magna Cum Laude from Boston’s prestigious Berklee College of Music with a dual bachelor’s degree in jazz composition and saxophone performance. Soon after, he completed the Master Recording Program II at the Conservatory of Recording Arts & Sciences in Tempe, Arizona and moved to Los Angeles where he worked in recording studios and taught himself to play guitar.
Introduced by a booking agent in Kansas City in 2005 after college, Becky and Nathan both eventually moved to Brooklyn, got married, and started the indie folk band, Barnaby Bright. After the release of their first full-length album in 2009, they began touring extensively all over the world, playing roughly 150 shows a year. After six years of steady touring, releasing three full-length albums, winning several international songwriting awards and gracing such notable stages as Lincoln Center and NPR’s Mountain Stage, they returned to Kansas City and were thrilled to accept the position as musical directors for The Gathering, an alternative worship service at 5 p.m. Sundays in Friendship Hall at the Village Church Mission Campus.
They currently live in Prairie Village with their newborn daughter Everly and two rescue cats from Brooklyn, Lenny and Booger Cookie. Nathan is teaching private music lessons and is an AV technician for Village. Becky also works as our Young Adult Ministry coordinator, is a certified Pure Barre instructor and runs a small vegan, gluten-free dessert business.
[email protected]
[email protected]