ARTISTIC DIRECTOR and BOARD OF DIRECTORS
John Nettles
Artistic Director
John Nettles, a San Diego native, has been involved in the local art scene for multiple decades. After getting a degree in musical theatre, he immediately began his studies in classical music, studying with guitarist Robert Wetzel and singing with San Diego Opera. He began conducting and arranging while developing performing arts programs in local schools. He has spent
much of his recent career as a conductor and composer. He is Artistic Director of Pacific Coast Chorale, Assistant Director of Center Chorale and is the founding Music Director for City Ballet of San Diego, where he has participated in many world premiere works involving orchestra, chorus and dancers. He continues to teach music for Vista Unified and was a teaching artist for San Diego Opera and City Ballet. He is a frequent performer for
Pacific Lyric Association and Genesis Opera. He has commissioned original works for City Ballet and Arkansas Symphony. He owns and operates an events/entertainment company, A Class Act Productions.
Artistic Director
John Nettles, a San Diego native, has been involved in the local art scene for multiple decades. After getting a degree in musical theatre, he immediately began his studies in classical music, studying with guitarist Robert Wetzel and singing with San Diego Opera. He began conducting and arranging while developing performing arts programs in local schools. He has spent
much of his recent career as a conductor and composer. He is Artistic Director of Pacific Coast Chorale, Assistant Director of Center Chorale and is the founding Music Director for City Ballet of San Diego, where he has participated in many world premiere works involving orchestra, chorus and dancers. He continues to teach music for Vista Unified and was a teaching artist for San Diego Opera and City Ballet. He is a frequent performer for
Pacific Lyric Association and Genesis Opera. He has commissioned original works for City Ballet and Arkansas Symphony. He owns and operates an events/entertainment company, A Class Act Productions.
Mari Cox
President
Mari Cox joined PCC in Jan. 2017 and joined the Board in March of 2019. Her first position was Membership and soon after, added Librarian. In 2023, she became the Treasurer, and in Feb. 2024, the Board President.
Growing up in Santa Barbara, her only singing experience was the middle school choir and her after school high school “glee club”, led by the very popular Father Forrest McDonald, OFM - a Franciscan robe wearing, sandal tapping, chain smoking priest.
Mari joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in England. She lived in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the home of Benjamin Britten, where she enjoyed concerts at his Snape Maltings Concert Hall. After completing active duty, she joined the Air Force Reserve, returned to Santa Barbara to complete a B.A. and then a Teaching Credential at UCSB. Upon graduation, Mari was given a direct commission. After completing a Masters degree in Educational Administration, and teaching in the San Diego Unified School District, Mari retired from teaching and as a Navy Reserve Officer, with 24 years of military service. In addition to learning and performing all genre of choral music, Mari loves to travel, read, foster puppies, and research her genealogical roots.
President
Mari Cox joined PCC in Jan. 2017 and joined the Board in March of 2019. Her first position was Membership and soon after, added Librarian. In 2023, she became the Treasurer, and in Feb. 2024, the Board President.
Growing up in Santa Barbara, her only singing experience was the middle school choir and her after school high school “glee club”, led by the very popular Father Forrest McDonald, OFM - a Franciscan robe wearing, sandal tapping, chain smoking priest.
Mari joined the U.S. Air Force and was stationed in England. She lived in Aldeburgh, Suffolk, the home of Benjamin Britten, where she enjoyed concerts at his Snape Maltings Concert Hall. After completing active duty, she joined the Air Force Reserve, returned to Santa Barbara to complete a B.A. and then a Teaching Credential at UCSB. Upon graduation, Mari was given a direct commission. After completing a Masters degree in Educational Administration, and teaching in the San Diego Unified School District, Mari retired from teaching and as a Navy Reserve Officer, with 24 years of military service. In addition to learning and performing all genre of choral music, Mari loves to travel, read, foster puppies, and research her genealogical roots.
Liz Lindenfeld
Vice President, Hospitality Chair
Liz Lindenfeld has been involved with music and choral singing for most of her life. In addition to PCC, she has sung with such choirs as The New York Choral Society, The Vancouver Bach Choir, The San Diego Master Chorale, and The California Contemporary Chorale. She was assistant music director of Vox Nobili, a five-voice a cappella madrigal and caroling ensemble in San Diego. She has performed with The San Diego Gilbert and Sullivan Society and Euterpe Opera Company in Los Angeles. Liz holds a master's degree in Voice Performance from California Institute of the Arts and a bachelor's degree in English from Brandeis University. She was the Executive Director at Manhattan Reading Institute in NY, a remedial reading and math school for disabled adults who were referred by government agencies to improve their basic skills in preparation for advanced education or gainful employment. The mom of three daughters and grandma to a granddaughter and grandson, Liz served on PTA boards at her daughters' schools for many years, chaired the Governance Team at La Jolla High School, and was manager of two of her daughters' soccer teams. She also currently manages rentals for the condo in Maui she owns jointly with her husband, Michael. Liz joined Pacific Coast Chorale in 2015 and has been a member of its Board of Directors since 2016, serving in multiple positions, including President, Vice President, and Hospitality Chair. A native New Yorker, Liz has resided in San Diego since 1984.
Vice President, Hospitality Chair
Liz Lindenfeld has been involved with music and choral singing for most of her life. In addition to PCC, she has sung with such choirs as The New York Choral Society, The Vancouver Bach Choir, The San Diego Master Chorale, and The California Contemporary Chorale. She was assistant music director of Vox Nobili, a five-voice a cappella madrigal and caroling ensemble in San Diego. She has performed with The San Diego Gilbert and Sullivan Society and Euterpe Opera Company in Los Angeles. Liz holds a master's degree in Voice Performance from California Institute of the Arts and a bachelor's degree in English from Brandeis University. She was the Executive Director at Manhattan Reading Institute in NY, a remedial reading and math school for disabled adults who were referred by government agencies to improve their basic skills in preparation for advanced education or gainful employment. The mom of three daughters and grandma to a granddaughter and grandson, Liz served on PTA boards at her daughters' schools for many years, chaired the Governance Team at La Jolla High School, and was manager of two of her daughters' soccer teams. She also currently manages rentals for the condo in Maui she owns jointly with her husband, Michael. Liz joined Pacific Coast Chorale in 2015 and has been a member of its Board of Directors since 2016, serving in multiple positions, including President, Vice President, and Hospitality Chair. A native New Yorker, Liz has resided in San Diego since 1984.
Ruth Turner
Secretary
Secretary
Sunny Menze
Treasurer
Treasurer
Holly Lamonica
Librarian
Holly Lamonica began singing with her elementary school choir in San Diego and has never stopped. Holly was a frequent ensemble member for various local community theater groups, with the occasional small role. She joined Pacific Coast Chorale in 2014 after happening by a rehearsal and was impressed with the quality of the Chorale. Being part of PCC has been a joy. She joined the Board as Librarian in 2025. She also sings with her church choir.
Holly holds a BA in Public Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources from San Diego State University. Now retired, Holly spent the last 20 years of her career as a Human Resource professional with Non-Profit organizations.
Holly had the opportunity to live in South Korea due to her husband’s service as a US Naval Officer. While there, she taught Conversational English at the Republic of Korea Naval Academy. She is the mother of 2 daughters and a grandmother to 1 granddaughter and 2 grandsons and loves being a part of their lives. She and her husband Phil travel and cruise as often as they can.
Librarian
Holly Lamonica began singing with her elementary school choir in San Diego and has never stopped. Holly was a frequent ensemble member for various local community theater groups, with the occasional small role. She joined Pacific Coast Chorale in 2014 after happening by a rehearsal and was impressed with the quality of the Chorale. Being part of PCC has been a joy. She joined the Board as Librarian in 2025. She also sings with her church choir.
Holly holds a BA in Public Administration with an emphasis in Human Resources from San Diego State University. Now retired, Holly spent the last 20 years of her career as a Human Resource professional with Non-Profit organizations.
Holly had the opportunity to live in South Korea due to her husband’s service as a US Naval Officer. While there, she taught Conversational English at the Republic of Korea Naval Academy. She is the mother of 2 daughters and a grandmother to 1 granddaughter and 2 grandsons and loves being a part of their lives. She and her husband Phil travel and cruise as often as they can.
Sharon Russakoff
Event Coordinator
Sharon Russakoff has been a singer, a teacher and a librarian for over thirty years. Her background includes extensive research experience, information organization, budget management, outreach, grant writing, and musical and technical performance and support, in both bi-coastal and international venues. She has performed organizational and administrative functions in a major university, in middle-class and inner city public schools on two coasts, in prestigious private schools, public libraries, and a medical library in a major East Coast hospital, as well as conducting freelance research.
Sharon has authored newsletters for several groups for over ten years, has coordinated volunteer groups and volunteered for the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera, and numerous theaters. She also sews costumes for an iconic local theater. She is always looking for new ways to grow.
Event Coordinator
Sharon Russakoff has been a singer, a teacher and a librarian for over thirty years. Her background includes extensive research experience, information organization, budget management, outreach, grant writing, and musical and technical performance and support, in both bi-coastal and international venues. She has performed organizational and administrative functions in a major university, in middle-class and inner city public schools on two coasts, in prestigious private schools, public libraries, and a medical library in a major East Coast hospital, as well as conducting freelance research.
Sharon has authored newsletters for several groups for over ten years, has coordinated volunteer groups and volunteered for the San Diego Symphony, the San Diego Opera, and numerous theaters. She also sews costumes for an iconic local theater. She is always looking for new ways to grow.
Ann DePeyster
Member at Large
Ann had a violin as a small child and took lessons at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She also enjoyed singing in her high school choir in Wisconsin. Early exposure to music made a lasting impression that took a long hiatus but resurfaced later in life. Undergraduate education at Pomona College and graduate studies at U.C. Berkeley’s School of Public Health were devoted entirely to other non-musical pursuits. The next 29 years focused on San Diego State University’s new Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) where she was among the founding faculty, developed and directed the Toxicology graduate program, and concurrently served as Director of the GSPH for six of those years. After leaving SDSU in 2012, one new goal became making music a bigger priority in her life. She joined the Chesapeake Chorale, a community choir in tidewater Virginia where she and husband Michael Kirk enjoy a second home when not at their main residence in La Jolla. She also took on maintaining their website, a skill she had to learn but also a responsibility she could reasonably fulfill while living at their main residence in La Jolla. She continues to co-manage the Chesapeake Chorale website and serves on their board of directors. She was thrilled to be introduced to the Pacific Coast Chorale a few years ago, thanks to Liz Lindenfeld. Having recently completed multiple terms on several other scientific and community volunteer boards and ceasing professional consulting activities, Ann will be offering more of her newly acquired free time to helping with various PCC board responsibilities.
Member at Large
Ann had a violin as a small child and took lessons at the Kansas City Conservatory of Music. She also enjoyed singing in her high school choir in Wisconsin. Early exposure to music made a lasting impression that took a long hiatus but resurfaced later in life. Undergraduate education at Pomona College and graduate studies at U.C. Berkeley’s School of Public Health were devoted entirely to other non-musical pursuits. The next 29 years focused on San Diego State University’s new Graduate School of Public Health (GSPH) where she was among the founding faculty, developed and directed the Toxicology graduate program, and concurrently served as Director of the GSPH for six of those years. After leaving SDSU in 2012, one new goal became making music a bigger priority in her life. She joined the Chesapeake Chorale, a community choir in tidewater Virginia where she and husband Michael Kirk enjoy a second home when not at their main residence in La Jolla. She also took on maintaining their website, a skill she had to learn but also a responsibility she could reasonably fulfill while living at their main residence in La Jolla. She continues to co-manage the Chesapeake Chorale website and serves on their board of directors. She was thrilled to be introduced to the Pacific Coast Chorale a few years ago, thanks to Liz Lindenfeld. Having recently completed multiple terms on several other scientific and community volunteer boards and ceasing professional consulting activities, Ann will be offering more of her newly acquired free time to helping with various PCC board responsibilities.
Sue McConchie
Sue McConchie started singing in a cherub choir in Keene, New Hampshire when she was 4 years old. She attended a large boarding school where music was as important as athletics, and sang in choirs and productions, including the annual Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
Sue earned a degree in occupational therapy from Tufts University in Boston, and participated in the Dedham Choral Society while in school and while in her early career.
Always an adventurer, Sue traveled through Polynesia, stopping in Australia, where she met Don, her husband of 52 years. The couple lived in Melbourne for a few years and then went back to Keene where they raised their three boys.
Back in Keene, Sue worked for the school district and mental health agency and participated in several choirs. She and Don moved to San Diego in 2010 to support one of her sons. In San Diego, she has sung with the First United Methodist Chancel Choir, Pacificaires, Masterworks Chorale, and of course Pacific Coast Chorale. She loves being a part of this wonderful choir group and is honored to be on the Board.
Sue McConchie started singing in a cherub choir in Keene, New Hampshire when she was 4 years old. She attended a large boarding school where music was as important as athletics, and sang in choirs and productions, including the annual Gilbert and Sullivan operetta.
Sue earned a degree in occupational therapy from Tufts University in Boston, and participated in the Dedham Choral Society while in school and while in her early career.
Always an adventurer, Sue traveled through Polynesia, stopping in Australia, where she met Don, her husband of 52 years. The couple lived in Melbourne for a few years and then went back to Keene where they raised their three boys.
Back in Keene, Sue worked for the school district and mental health agency and participated in several choirs. She and Don moved to San Diego in 2010 to support one of her sons. In San Diego, she has sung with the First United Methodist Chancel Choir, Pacificaires, Masterworks Chorale, and of course Pacific Coast Chorale. She loves being a part of this wonderful choir group and is honored to be on the Board.