Choral Director, Jessica Lardin
Jessica Lardin is in her eighth year of teaching for Fairfax County Public Schools, and her seventh year as Director of Choral Studies at Westfield High School. Prior to teaching at Westfield, she taught general music to profoundly disabled students in grades K-12 in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and then relocated to teach 7th and 8th grade chorus at Langston Hughes Middle School in Reston, Virginia. In addition to her career as a professional music educator, she has held positions as Director of Music at three different churches, where she developed thriving music programs with youth and adult volunteers.
Ms. Lardin holds a Bachelor of Science degree in Vocal and Instrumental Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and will soon complete her Master of Music Education degree at Shenandoah Conservatory. Her research interests include assessment practices in the high school choral classroom and the development of a holistic system of assessing individual students. She is sought after as a clinician and adjudicator, and is a member of the Fairfax County Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association, Chorus America, and Music Educators National Conference. Ms. Lardin’s conducting teachers include Jack Stamp, Karen Keating, and Robert Shafer.
During her tenure at Westfield, Ms. Lardin has developed a comprehensive choral program that meets the educational needs of a diverse group of students and has been recognized locally and nationally for its excellence. Ms. Lardin’s choirs consistently receive Superior ratings at festival, and have garnered accolades and top awards at music competitions across the United States. The Westfield choirs, under her direction, have performed by invitation at the Virginia Music Educator’s State Conference and for past Virginia Governor Mark Warner. In December 2006, the Chamber Singers performed as guest artists at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and at Strathmore Music Hall with The Washington Chorus. She has distinguished the Westfield Choral Program with the regular performance of choral masterworks including Vivaldi’s Gloria, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Handel’s Messiah, and Schubert’s Mass in G.
In addition to her duties at Westfield High School, Ms. Lardin is a professional soprano soloist. Selected professional solo engagements include the Mozart Requiem, Bach’s Wachet Auf Cantata BWV 140, the Fauré Requiem, and Haydn’s Die Schöpfung. She has performed on national television as a soloist with the professional choir of the Basilica of the National Shrine of the Immaculate Conception in Washington, D.C.
In March 2005, she traveled with the choir to Rome, Italy, to perform in concert and to record a CD in the beautiful acoustics of the Basilica of Santa Maria Maggiore. Ms. Lardin freelances as a soloist and professional chorister in the Washington metropolitan area.