Meet our Staff

Anne Watson Born

Anne Watson Born, music director, is in her 19th season as Music Director of the Nashoba Valley Chorale, a non-auditioned choir with 90 members. Past performances of choral-orchestral works by the Chorale include: Bach Motets Nos. 1, 3, 6 and B Minor Mass, Beethoven Missa Solemnis, Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem, Cooman The Revelations of Divine Love, Fauré Requiem, Haydn Missa in Angustiis, Lauridsen Lux Aeterna, Orff Carmina Burana, Vaughan Williams Dona nobis pacem, and the Verdi Requiem.

Ms. Watson Born has been a choral conductor and teacher in the Boston area for many years. She is the Director of Music Ministry at the First Unitarian Universalist Society in Newton and is a credentialed UU music leader. Ms. Watson Born was an Assistant Professor at Bristol Community College for five years; while there she was the voice coach, composer, and sound designer for the Bristol Community College Theatre Repertory Company. In that capacity she has been the music director for productions of Threepenny Opera, Marat/Sade, and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (quite the combination). She has composed original music and/or improvised live music for several theatre productions, including King Stag, Treasure Island, , Black Elk Speaks, Fireflies, and The Bacchae. She was the Music Director of the Brookline Chorus for nine years and taught at the Brookline Music School for many years. She was the founding Artistic Director of the Women’s Chorus of Boston and the Avenue of the Arts Chorale, and in 2002 she conducted the Boston-area performance of the Rolling Requiem to commemorate the tragedy of September 11.

Ms. Watson Born holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from University of the Pacific in Stockton, California, where she studied conducting with William Dehning. She moved to Boston and obtained a Master’s degree in Choral Conducting from New England Conservatory, where her principal teacher was Lorna Cooke DeVaron. She has also studied conducting with Helmuth Rilling and Murry Sidlin, composition with John Heiss and Andrew Imbrie, and voice with Jeanne Segal and Michael Strauss. She lives in Jamaica Plain with her husband and visits their daughter in Brooklyn, NY as often as possible.

Shawn McCann

Shawn McCann, collaborative pianist, has been active in the area as an accompanist and solo performer on piano and organ for over 40 years.  He began his current tenure with the Nashoba Valley Chorale in 2010, having previously worked with the group in the late 1990s.  Shawn is also a staff accompanist/collaborative pianist at Groton Hill Music Center.  In addition to his work as an accompanist, Shawn is the Director of Music Ministries at First Parish Church of Groton, is a credentialed UU music leader and is a past president of the Association for UU Music Ministries.

Shawn received his Bachelor of Music degrees in Piano Performance and in Music Theory / Composition from the University of Lowell where he studied under Inge Lindblad and Juanita Tsu.  He lives in Pepperell, MA with his wife, Monica.