Ensemble Directors

Director of Bands, Supervisor of Music Education

Joseph Lill is in his 20th year as a faculty member at North Park University, where he conducts the Jazz Ensemble and Concert Band. An active performer in a variety of idioms including jazz, classical, and popular, Dr. Lill has been leading his own band, Six of One, since 1980. He has performed with such Chicago-area orchestras as the Ravinia Festival Orchestra and the Evanston Symphony, and with a variety of area big bands such as the Chicago Grandstand Big Band and those of Bill Porter and Bill O'Connell. He is frequently called on as a guest soloist, clinician, and adjudicator.

Director of Orchestras 

Tom Zelle currently serves as the Music Director of the North Park University Chamber Orchestra in Chicago. Additionally, he is active as a choral conductor, clinician, church musician, and educator. At North Park, Dr. Zelle co-directed the recent two-year residency of world reknown violinist Midori and pianist/accompanist Robert McDonald. During this residency he conducted performances of the violin concerti of Beethoven and Sibelius. As a native of Hamburg, Germany, Dr. Zelle received his initial musical training at the conservatory of Luebeck. From that institution, he holds the highest German degree in church music/organ performance.

Director of Choral Activities

Julia Davids is in her second year at North Park University as the Stephen J. Hendrickson Endowed Chair of Music. She directs the University Choir and Chamber Singers and teaches music education. As a soprano soloist, Julia is an avid performer and recitalist specializing in early music. She has co-authored a book that will be published by Waveland Press in 2012, Vocal Technique – A Guide for Conductors, Teachers, and Singers. Julia is a proud founding member of the Canadian Chamber Choir, Canada’s national choral ensemble providing a professional-level choral environment for Canadian singers, conductors, and composers. Artistic director of the CCC since 2004, she has led the ensemble on concert and workshop tours of Alberta, Ontario, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Saskatchewan and directed their debut recording, “In Good Company.” Julia is the music director of the North Shore Choral Society, a 140-voice community choir. She also serves as director of music ministries at Trinity United Methodist Church in Wilmette. A native of London, Ontario, Canada, she now resides in Skokie with her husband, baroque violinist Martin Davids, and their two children, Judith and Solomon.

Gospel Choir

Stephen Kelly started playing piano at age 4 and has been involved in music ministry for churches since the age of 8. Since graduating from Wheaton College, he has been music directing and leading worship in churches and conferences across the US and Europe. He is currently the Worship Arts Coordinator at NPU where he also teaches Integration, a music course which integrates the theory and practice of worship music. He is also on staff at Willow Creek Church in Barrington as a music director. He has been married for 6 years to Marjalene Kelly, and they have a 4yr old son named Stephen.

Women's Chorale

Tom Tropp is a music educator, conductor, editor, and recording producer. He is owner of SoundByte Studios, a music services firm specializing in CD production for choral ensembles, and Tropp Music Editions, LLC, a specialty music publishing firm, which produces critical performing editions of early eighteenth century liturgical music.

Tom graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University, with a Bachelor of Music Education degree, and from The University of Arizona, with a Master of Music degree in conducting, with a secondary emphasis in historical musicology. During his time in Tucson, he also taught in the Tucson Unified School District, and worked as the sound, recording, and lighting technician for a popular professional vocal jazz ensemble in Tucson, including two national tours and several commercial jingle recordings. Tom is presently a doctoral candidate at Northwestern University.

As a conductor, Tom is a specialist in eighteenth century sacred repertoire, and has worked as a church musician and high school music educator for over fifteen years. He is currently the Sanctuary Choir director at First Presbyterian Church of Lake Forest, in addition to conducting the North Park University Women’s Chorale.

Tom is in high demand as a lecturer, and clinician. He has conducted or recorded choirs in Canada, England, Estonia, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Mexico, and Russia, as well as throughout the United States. Tom and his wife, Anne, and daughter, Katie, reside in Lake Forest, Illinois.

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