Vivace Youth Chorus - Our Board Members

Meet the Board of Directors

Fred Oliver

Fred has been a Realtor in Willow Glen since 2002. He currently is with Coldwell Banker. Prior to real estate he was in the telecom industry for 25 years working sales and business development with companies that included ROLM and IBM. Fred has lived in San Jose since 1980 and is married to Lizanne who is a 4th Grade teacher. He has one daughter Rebecca, a son-in-law, Jeff, and a 4 year old grandson, Matthew.

For the last 40 years 'on and off' he has been a trumpet player and has also been a choral singer since college. Fred is currently singing in the Stone Church of Willow Glen Choir and is a member of the San Jose Symphonic Choir. He served in past years on the Willow Glen Business Association Board as chairman of a number of Committees, including "Dancin' on the Avenue" and "Our Avenue."

Kevin Raymond

Kevin Raymond has been a board member with Vivace since 2008. He and his family are residents of San Jose. Kevin began his appreciation for music at an early age, playing the drums professionally as a teenager in his home town of Saratoga Springs NY. He continues to drum with several bands throughout the Bay Area as a hobby.

Working at Apple, Inc., Kevin makes time to support his love of music; attending concerts, participating in local jam sessions, and keeping current on the performances of his favorite musicians. His daughter started singing with Vivace Youth Chorus during the inaugural year as a participant of the summer camp program. Kevin has been an active supporter ever since and now enjoys the benefits of both of his children participating in the Vivace programs. His wife Susan is also very involved with Vivace.

Alan Spool

Alan is a PhD Chemist now employed as an engineer using analytical techniques to solve problems in disk drive technology (research, development and manufacturing). He has been working in the Materials Laboratory of what was IBM's disk drive division and is since 2003 Hitachi Global Storage Technologies Inc. for 21 years, and has become an expert in the technique of Secondary Ion Mass Spectrometry (SIMS).

His interest in music goes back to his childhood where music education was expected, but became more important as he became involved as a musician's gadfly when through happenstance and common interest he became friends with a community of music majors in college. It was in Boston that he met his wife, Peggy, (the Artistic Director of Vivace Youth Chorus of San Jose) when he moved there and reconnected with college friends who turned out to be her roommates.

When a group of parents joined forces to create a children's chorus for San Jose, and asked Peggy to be its director, Alan joined the Board as Treasurer, got the organization incorporated, and obtained 501C(3) status for the organization. The success of Vivace, and the good it does for the children of San Jose who are lucky enough to become involved with it gives him as much pride as anything he has done in his life.

Janice Goertz

Janice is a life-long musician who grew up singing and playing various instruments with her family at home, in church, at school and on long car trips. She has a BA in English Literature with a minor in Music from Lewis and Clark College and an MS in Child Development from Iowa State University. She sings in the choir at Stone Church and in San Jose Symphonic Choir.

Janice's roots are in Washington, Oregon and California though she has also lived in Iowa, New York and Bogota, Colombia. She is married to Mel and they have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. Janice taught nursery school, kindergarten and first grade for 37+ years, and retired in 2002. Now she is a volunteer reader for Reach Out and Read, and serves on the Boards of San Jose Symphonic Choir and the Valley Medical Center Volunteer Auxiliary.

Jaci Hall

Learning to play the flute in grade school, Jaci participated in high school and college bands and orchestras graduating with a Minor in Music from San Jose State University. She used music extensively in her teaching career developing a Music Math unit where her second and third graders were taught music basics and wrote their own music. Flute performance was a regular part of Jaci's life and eventually so was learning and performing the Northumbrian Small Bagpipes while her son, Bruce Cotter, was learning to play the Great Highland Bagpipes. Bruce makes his living as a professional piper, performing and teaching bagpipes in San Jose and the Bay Area.

After retirement Jaci became involved with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation accepting an invitation to be in a small group of arts interested people within the foundation. They formed The Donor Circle for the Arts which focuses on awarding grants to emerging arts/artists/audiences. Jaci founded the Jewell Arts Program through the foundation which supports the arts in public schools. She is active in The San Jose Music Study Club helping to expand its support of young musicians through scholarships at SJSU and its Young Artist Awards. A more recent focus has been to commission local composers who have created new works for Vivace. She has served 2 years on the Vivace board and is very pleased to be part of the Vivace musical family.

Darby Dye

Darby has been part of the Vivace family since her daughter Bryn Parry joined the Intermediate Choir as a third grader in 2004. Having discovered as an adult that she sang reasonably well as an alto in the choir of Saint Mark's Episcopal Church in Palo Alto, Darby wishes she had had the opportunity to "learn to sing" as a child in a chorus like Vivace, and regrets all the years missed that she could have been singing. Darby has been a concert manager for choir performances and helped coordinate costumes for Vivace's 2009 performances of The Pied Piper. As a board member, she hopes to be able to give back to the organization that has been a big part of her family's life for so many years.

A native of Oklahoma City, Darby has lived in the Bay Area since coming here to attend college in 1979. She is married to Gron Parry, a Weber carburetor expert. Darby is Director of Investor Relations for Identive Group, a small public company based in Santa Ana and Munich, and is fortunate to be able to work from her home office.

Dan Raby

Dan Raby is new to the Vivace board but not new to Vivace as taking pictures of the choruses has been something that has been an enjoyable hobby. Music, photography and woodworking are what Dan likes to do in his retirement. Music started early in Dan's life beginning with piano lessons while in grammar school through 7th grade when he moved from Southern California to Mariposa, CA to finish high school. High school choir, playing the bass drum and singing in the church choir are cherished times during these years. Men's Glee Club at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo was the next phase in his life of music.

There have been many church choirs where he sang after college until finally arriving at Stone Presbyterian Church where he found a home surrounded by wonderful music and being introduced to Vivace. Dan's wife Jean has great musical talents and started up a handbell choir after she joined Stone. Jean also plays the piano and organ besides singing in the church choir. Additionally, Jean is a member of a Sweet Adeline barbershop chorus. Dan enjoys taking the pictures for Sweet Adelines, the church and now, Vivace. He has a complete wood shop in his garage and likes to make pens and pencils plus build the occasional piece of furniture. Dan worked 24 years at the Great America Theme Park as foreman in one of the maintenance shops. He was asked by two existing board members if he would consider being on the board. With his experience at Great America and serving 3 years as B & G. Elder at another Presbyterian Church, his experience should add to the already great staff.