Director, Finley Woolston
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Finley Woolston
176 Trudie Lane
Jacksonville, North Carolina 28540
910-324-6864 (Home) 910-358-2997 (Cell) finley@ec.rr.com
Finley Woolston devotes himself to music after a career in both the United States Marine Corps and the United States Navy. He sang with the Saratoga Potsdam Chorus in Saratoga, New York in conjunction with the Philadelphia Orchestra. He studied conducting with Professor Brock McHelerhan of the Crane School of Music. He was a cum laude vocal performance major at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. He is the Music Director of The Crystal Coast Choral Society, a community chorus based in Swansboro, NC, and The Joyful Band of Singers, an auditioned chamber choir formed as needed for special events. He retired after 25 years as Music Director of Richlands United Methodist Church, Richlands, NC. He sings tenor with Schola Cantorum, the official choir of the Episcopal Diocese of East Carolina. He has prepared choruses for performances in Carnegie Hall and Avery Fisher Hall in New York City, as well as personally singing in chorus for many concerts at both locations. He is a member of The Jonathan Griffith Singers, a professional chorus based in New York City, and performed on tour in Turkey in 2015. In 2017, he joined that ensemble to perform the Requiem of Giuseppi Verdi in Barcelona, Spain. In 2019 Woolston was with the Jonathan Griffith singers in Abbey Road Studios for a recording of Handel’s Messiah with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra. Woolston serves on the Board of Directors for the Carolina Chamber Music Festival and the East Carolina Musical Arts and Education Foundation. He is often asked to act as host and master of ceremonies for various charitable events in Eastern North Carolina. His voice was heard for 25 years on Public Radio East, WTEB, 89.3 FM as a weekday morning classical music announcer. He continues as producer and host of The Choral Tradition heard Sundays at 3:00 p.m. on Public Radio East Classical, 91.5 and 90.3.
