Laurel Strielkauskas
Laurel Strielkauskas, is our musical director of Millennium Magic, the chorus without a director. She is one of MM’s founding members, along with Beth Paul, who formed Millennium in the year 2000. She has been a section leader in her previous choruses and learned the fundamental concepts of barbershop from those choruses and directors. Shortly after helping form Millennium Magic she decided to go through the director certification program which she completed in 2002. She played piano when she was younger but had not real formal musical training. The DCP was a great tool to expand her barbershop comprehension and she is so grateful for the opportunity. She takes every opportunity to learn at regional weekends and until last year (2023), she has never missed a regional educational event in her 34+ years as a Sweet Adeline.What does the director of a front line director-less chorus do you ask? She plans chorus weekly rehearsals that focus on our immediate and long term goals. She helps coordinate coaches that will help serve us on our next step in our musical journey. She corrals the music staff and she is our bass section leader. She coordinates our music selection team - no one person chooses music for Millennium Magic as we all have a say in new music but she helps keep the process moving forward. She helps review parts, ranges, and with her knowledge of everyone’s voices within the chorus, will then give strategic input to the team on new music. She works closely with the Management team to foster musical leaders within the chorus and encourage members to grow and realize their musical potential. Growing new leaders helps us chorus grow each member's skills and in turn grow the chorus's overall skills.
She lives in North Carolina, so she provides feedback and gives input in real time via our private rehearsal page and afterwards as needed. She attends rehearsals as frequently as possible and helps lead and runs rehearsals when with the chorus in person but also utilized others at all rehearsals to work on areas that are in their wheelhouse. She helps notate changes in musical interp so that everyone has clean music with all the needed changes to utilize.
She is proudly Millennium Magic’s behind the scenes Musical Director and would be nothing without the other leaders, the teams, and all the members, who week after week, continue to drive this innovative and successful concept we have demonstrated for almost 25 years. Here’s to 25 more!!
