Rebecca Holt
Handbell Ensemble Director
(317) 253-6461
Instrumental Ensembles
Handbells
Led by Rebecca Holt, the Handbell Ensemble rehearses on Saturday mornings and plays in worship services approximately once a month during the program year. Moderate music-reading ability is helpful and a sense of rhythm and coordination important. No audition is required. The Ensemble is open to eighth grade students and older. Successful handbell choirs always have a sense of group spirit and mutual support with regular attendance at rehearsals crucial.
Second Winds and Second Strings
All youth and adults who have completed at least three years of study on wind, brass, string, or percussion instruments are eligible and encouraged to become a part of Second Winds and Second Strings. These intergenerational ensembles, currently meeting as one, combined chamber orchestra, comprise of volunteers from Second Presbyterian Church and the local community and plays in two to three services each semester. This ensemble is a great opportunity for youth and adults to work together to create beautiful music, enjoy fellowship, and use their gifts and talents to glorify God. As the ensembles grow, there will be opportunities for string-only and wind-only pieces!
These ensembles are open to anyone in the community—you do not need to be a member of Second Presbyterian Church to join!
Festival Orchestra
This professional orchestra draws on members of Indianapolis Symphony, Indianapolis Chamber orchestras, and other area professional organizations. The Festival Orchestra performs for special concerts in addition to enhancing festival worship services.
Festival Brass
The Brass Ensemble draws on members of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra and the Indianapolis Chamber Orchestra, as well as other freelance professionals and performs with the Sanctuary Choir at special worship services and events.
For more information, or to sign up, please contact the Music and Fine Arts office at MFA@Secondchurch.org, or (317) 253-6461, ext. 309.
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Handbell Ensemble Director
(317) 253-6461 | RHolt@SecondChurch.org
First and foremost, Rebecca Holt received Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and Lord when she was a young child. She is very thankful for His guidance in her life. She received a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Indiana University Fort Wayne. Upon graduation, she directed the children’s choirs, youth choir and the handbell ensemble at Faith Baptist Church in Fort Wayne. She moved to Indianapolis in 1984 to teach General and Choral Music at Clay Junior High School in Carmel. While there, she established the handbell program as well. She also received a Master of Music Education from Butler University.
Rebecca formerly rang with the Indianapolis Handbell Ensemble and served as the choir director at Hope Christian and Missionary Alliance Church in Indianapolis. Currently, along with directing the Handbell Ensemble here at Second, she directs the Wesleyan Ringers at St. Luke's United Methodist Church. She also stays involved with the music ministry of her home church, Northside Baptist.
Rebecca is married to Charles Holt and has three adult children: Ian, Brianna and Linnea.
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Patrick Pauloski
Director of Youth and Children's Music and Second Winds
(317) 253-6461Director of Youth and Children's Music
(317) 253-6461 | PPauloski@SecondChurch.org
Patrick Lewis Pauloski received the master degree in choral conducting from Butler University, studying with Eric Stark, John Perkins, and Michelle L. Louer. He also holds a Bachelor of Music in voice, magna cum laude, from Luther College, Decorah, IA. Pauloski, an Indianapolis native, was previously the Conducting Fellow of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, a unique fellowship that exists between the chorus and master of choral conducting program at Butler University.
Pauloski’s choral experience began when he joined the Indianapolis Children’s Choir and sang under the direction of Henry Leck and Joshua Pedde. While a student at Luther College, he sang in the Nordic Choir under the direction of Allen Hightower III. Until Fall of 2020, he served as staff bass at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Indianapolis, Indiana. He is an active member of the Indianapolis Symphonic Choir, as well as Circle City Chamber Choir–C4, which produces an annual summer choral concert as well as making other appearances throughout the Indianapolis area year-round.
Pauloski has taught pre-K through eighth grade general music in the Catholic Archdiocese of Indianapolis and was on the teaching faculty of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir from 2017-2018. He is excited to join the Music and Fine Arts staff in creating worship and performance opportunities for youth musicians.
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Dr. Michelle L. Louer
Director of Music and Fine Arts
(317) 253-6461Director of Music and Fine Arts
(317) 253-6461 | MFA@SecondChurch.org
Michelle L. Louer received the doctoral degree in choral conducting from Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, studying under Jan Harrington, Carmen Helena-Téllez and Thomas Dunn. She holds both Master of Music and Master of Divinity degrees from Yale University where she graduated summa cum laude, and a Bachelor of Music in piano and church music, magna cum laude, from Stetson University. In addition, she studied with noted conductors Fiora Contino and Joseph Flummerfelt.
Dr. Louer is in her twelfth year as the Director of Music and Fine Arts at Second Presbyterian Church where she leads a comprehensive program for children and adults, providing vocal and instrumental opportunities for education, ministry, and performance. Dr. Louer conducts the 70-voice Sanctuary Choir and the Beecher Singers (a professional chamber choir) and oversees a talented music staff that directs children and youth music, handbell ensemble, wind ensemble, and a vibrant fine arts area.
She is a former Adjunct Professor of Choral Music at Butler University, and prior to her appointment at Second, served on the faculties of University of Evansville and Oklahoma City University, and as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Kokomo (Indiana) Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for 3 years.
Dr. Louer has led the Sanctuary Choir in annual performances of choral/orchestral masterworks, including Beethoven’s Choral Fantasie with André Watts, J.S. Bach’s Johannes Passion with Alan Bennett (Evangelist), Verdi’s Requiem, Vaughan Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem, Poulenc’s Gloria, and Mendelssohn’s Elijah.
For six seasons, she served as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Bach Chorale Singers of Lafayette, Indiana where she was known for innovative programming of works such as James Whitbourn’s Annelies and a retrospective of the choral music of Leonard Bernstein. In the summer of 2016, Dr. Louer led choral groups on a performance tour through Germany and parts of the Czech Republic. Equally comfortable leading orchestras, she has conducted Dvořák’s Symphony No. 9 (“New World”), Elgar’s Cello Concerto in E minor, Prokofiev’s Symphony No. 1, and Stravinsky’s Firebird Suite (1919), and in 2018 served as Guest Conductor of the 14th Annual International Festival of the Aegean in Syros, Greece. Dr. Louer also serves on the Sacred in Opera Committee of National Opera Association.
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Dr. John Allegar
Organist and Assistant Director of Music and Fine Arts
(317) 253-6461Organist and Assistant Director, Music and Fine Arts
(317) 253-6461 x 309 | JAllegar@SecondChurch.org
Dr. John Allegar is the Organist and Assistant Director of Music & Fine Arts at Second Presbyterian Church. He coordinates and schedules soloists and instrumentalists, maintains the church’s keyboard instruments, accompanies the Beecher Singers and Sanctuary Choir, and provides musical leadership for worship services. John also assists Michelle Louer, Director of Music and Fine Arts, with the implementation of the Music and Fine Arts Series and the general supervision of Second’s music program. John received the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Performance and Literature (Organ) from the Eastman School of Music, and is past dean of the Indianapolis Chapter of the American Guild of Organists (AGO)
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Christy Herris
Coordinator of Music & Fine Arts
(317) 253-6461