HVVH Staff

Dr. Hu - Founder and Artistic Director, Wappingers Location Instructor

The Hudson Valley Voices in Harmony was founded by artist director and music conductor, Dr. Stephanie Hu-Corbett. Dr. Hu is a Hudson Valley native. Originally from Wappingers Falls, she moved back after college and now resides in the Wappingers are with her husband and their two children, Lucy and Conan. She is a highly qualified, public school music educator with over 15 years of experience building a choir program in the Hudson Valley.  Dr. Hu is a graduate of the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, one of the best music schools in the country. She went on to complete her doctorate in music education from Boston University. She is passionate about music education and continues to remain connected to higher education with some adjunct work with Kent State's online music education master's program. 

As a music educator, she continues to innovate and revise her teaching. She continues to implement new ideas and lessons into her classroom including music composition, piano lessons, guitars, ukeleles, and even DJ-ing in the music classroom. Dr. Hu has mentored many new music teachers and hosted numerous student music teachers. Additionally, she has presented various sessions at the annual NYSSMA (New York State Schools Music Association) Winter Conference. She serves as the music department chairperson for her school district. Additionally, Dr. Hu is a part of the American Music Abroad staff. American Music Abroad is a renowned organization that brings high school students on tour in Europe. She will be joining the Freedom Tour this summer as one of the choir directors.

Being a member of the chorus was the reason Dr. Hu became a music teacher. It was her high school music teacher, Mrs. Melissa Gleichenhaus, high school choral director at Roy C. Ketcham High School, who mentored and encouraged Dr. Hu's interest in music. With her guidance, Dr. Hu decided that she wanted to enter the world of music education. Because of this experience, Dr. Hu has actively worked to make her choral programs a safe and special place for her students. Her choirs have continued to grow and thrive. While many schools are still working to recover from the impact of COVID-19, her chorus program has grown to over 180 students. She works to provide special musical opportunities for her students. This has led her and her choruses to perform actively all around the Hudson Valley region. They have performed on Q92.1, the Hudson Valley Renegades, Radio City Music Hall, and at the Brooklyn Nets/NY Knicks Game at the Barclay Center. Her chorus programs have received gold ratings and awards at NYSSMA Majors and the Heritage Worldstrides Music Festival in Boston, MA. 

Mr. Bennett - Middletown Location Instructor

Mr. Bennett is extremely excited and humbled to have been invited to begin working within the Hudson Valley Voices In Harmony program and to be able to work with the student members of the ensembles and alongside Dr. Stephanie Hu Corbett too! Mr. Bennett is the recently retired Director of Choirs at Middletown High School, which is a position that he has held for the past 31 years. He is also a graduate of the Middletown Schools as well. Mr. Bennett holds degrees from Orange County Community College, SUNY New Paltz, where he earned his undergraduate degree in Applied Music and Vocal Performance. He also attended the University of Connecticut and holds advanced degrees from SUNY New Paltz and Long Island University. In addition to his public school teaching, he has taught private voice instruction to a number of students around the area over the years, who have been selected to All-Eastern, All-State, Area All-State, and All-County, as well as preparing several of them for college auditions. While at Middletown High School, he directed and taught the Middletown High School Chamber Singers and Women’s Chorale ensembles, as well as the extra-curricular show choir, Pipers. Mr. Bennett was an inaugural GRAMMY Music Educator nominee and Semifinalist in 2013, has received a number of directorial and performance honors during his tenure at Middletown, and during the past four years, has been directing the Enlarged City School District of Middletown’s “Middie Music Camp” Elementary and Middle School choral ensembles. Under Mr. Bennett’s direction, the Middletown High School Choir program has grown to more than 200 members, and has consistently received Superior and Excellent ratings at contest.