Artistic Team

Mary Cunningham, Artistic Director

Artistic Director of the Halalisa Singers since 2004, creates  and directs unique and dynamic world music-themed concerts for the Lexington-based chorus originally founded by Nick Page. Following her vision to share their music across the Boston area and beyond, Halalisa continues reaching out to wider audiences to perform an ever-expanding diverse repertoire.

Mary is active as a conductor, performer and educator in the Boston area, including 10 years as Music Director of the UU Church of Reading and 6 years as Music Director of the Melrose UU Church. She is on the faculty of the Winchester Community Music School and the Powers Music School in Belmont, and conducts the Watch City Singers in Waltham. A frequent performer with Revels and long-time member of the Revels Repertory Company, she was appointed music and creative director for the musical theater ensemble In Good Company in 2013.

She has studied choral conducting with Simon Carrington at the Sarteano Workshop in Tuscany, led the Halalisa Singers in their concert tour of Ireland and toured India as flutist and vocalist with the Deborah Abel Dance Company. Mary currently sings with the New World Chorale and is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and a Credentialed Music Leader with the Unitarian Universalist Association. She obtained a Master’s in Music at the Cleveland Institute of Music after degree training in choral conducting and flute performance at the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and earning a Bachelor of Science degree in music education from Case Western Reserve University.

Trevor Berens, Accompanist

Pianist, composer, and accompanist Trevor Berens plays in many different styles, specializing in avant-garde classical music, traditional classical music, and free improvisation.

Trevor holds degrees from Loyola Marymount University (BA: Music—Piano, Composition and Psychology), California Institute of the Arts (MFA: Performer/Composer), and Lesley University (MA: Expressive Therapies with Music Therapy specialty). As a collaborator, he enjoys working with solo vocalists and instrumentalists, chamber groups, choruses, and with dancers and actors. Trevor is the founder, director, and of the contemporary classical music ensemble Sonic Liberation Players. He is a licensed music therapist and licensed mental health counselor who currently works with young children with special needs. Trevor is the Staff Pianist at the UU Church of Reading and with his wife Jessica, he runs the Berens Voice and Piano Studio out of Lincoln, MA.

Bertram Lehmann, Percussionist

With a supple and fluid style of drumming, Bertram has become a sought-after player in the region and beyond, performing Jazz, Latin and World music.

Bertram has performed at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Symphony Space, Columbia University, Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Jazz Gallery in New York City, Boston Symphony Hall, the Boston Globe Jazz Festival, Scullers, the Regattabar, MIT, the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston, and has appeared on over 65 public television stations nationwide. He is an Assistant Professor in the Percussion and Ear Training departments at Berklee College of Music, and also teaches at Phillips Academy in Andover