Meet Our Staff
Patricia Cahalan Connors, Artistic Director
Patricia Cahalan Connors recently retired from her 31-year tenure as The Director of Choral Activites and Chair of the Department of Music at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. There she conducted The Women's Choir, The St. Catherine Choral Society and the Madrigal Singers and served as music director/conductor for music theater productions.
Before beginning her tenure at “St. Kate’s,” Dr. Connors taught at Manchester College (now University) in Indiana. She holds masters and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from Indiana University and the University of Iowa, respectively, and a bachelor of Music Education from Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She studied with conducting masters Don V Moses, Julius Herford and Helmuth Rilling. Dr. Connors has served as guest conductor/clinician for choral festivals including the Indiana All State Women's Choir, the Minnesota Community College Honor Choir, Star of the North Chamber Choir Festival, the Drake Choir Festival and the Marquette Chorus Festival.
Her research has involved 18th century Venetian composers, with a particular interest in the music of the ospedali. She is the editor of Miserere mei, a work in 6 movements for women's voices and string orchestra by Johann Adolph Hasse and Magnificat a 4 “da capella” by Baldassare Galuppi. She is also an accomplished pianist.
Patty has two young adult children, Elizabeth (26) and Patrick (23) (husband Russ passed away in 2011). She enjoys biking, hiking, swimming, board games, and reading.
Mary Fadden, Accompanist
Mary Fadden has accompanied the Women of Song (formerly Wayzata Women’s Chorus) for 20+ years. She loves the passion they bring to their music, their community and caring for each other, and the beauty of women’s voices united in making music.
Mary began her formal piano studies at St. Olaf College then transferred to and received a degree in Music Therapy & Piano Performance from the University of Minnesota. She is the staff accompanist at Wayzata High School, working with choirs on a daily basis and accompanying band and orchestra students for contests and auditions at various times during the school year. Mary also serves as accompanist and keyboardist at Wayzata Free Church, playing on worship team and accompanying the choir.
She maintains an active piano studio in her home in Wayzata. Her students participate in MMTA activities, where she is active in volunteer work, committee work and serves as a judge. Mary accompanies a variety of singers and works with several voice studios in the area, playing for coaching sessions, auditions and recital work. She loves the variety of ages and stages of musicians she is blessed to work with along with the mixture of 1:1 piano to playing for large ensembles—every day is different.
When she’s not teaching or playing piano, she loves spending time with her husband and 4 adult children and their families!