He is Risen!

What is now the Nashville Community Choir was founded by Norman and Marilyn Tolk—
Norman, a Professor of Physics at Vanderbilt University and Marilyn (1936-2022), a Julliard/Columbia-trained pianist, organist, composer, arranger, and teacher.

Upon moving to Nashville in 1985, they continued a tradition they had established previously in New Jersey of mounting annual performances of Handel’s Messiah with choir, soloists and orchestra.
In 2011, the choir was officially chartered in the state of Tennessee and began organizing additional seasonally-themed concerts.
In 2021, the Tolks invited Michael and Pamela Runyan to replace them as music leaders of the choir in a year’s time. During the transition time, Michael helped the choir develop a more formal non-profit structure to ensure orderly replacements of music and board leadership well into the future.
Effective in 2023, Norman Tolk was designated by the board Co-founder and Conductor Emeritus.

Michael Runyan has been making music as a composer, arranger, performer, and conductor for many years. He was born in San Diego and raised in Denver, where he began piano studies at age six and played trumpet and horn in school.
Michael began composing and arranging in high school and studied composition at Brigham Young University and the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music, ultimately receiving a Doctor of Musical Arts degree. He has created hundreds of orchestral, choral, church, and teaching compositions and arrangements, many in collaboration with his wife Pamela.
During college, Michael freelanced as an arranger, music copyist, gigging pianist, synthesizer programmer, and studio musician. In 1986, he joined the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra, to head their music preparation operation, and was an integral part of many pops and theatrical productions for almost 30 years. During this time, he also had an active career as a harmonica soloist, specializing in classical and theme-based performances with orchestras.
Michael’s conducting experience includes church choirs, school show choirs, and professional orchestras, to which he brings his meticulous attention to detail, preparation, style, and theatricality.
Michael and Pamela moved to Nashville in 2018. They are the parents of four children.

Pamela Runyan was born and raised in Spokane, Washington. She started piano lessons at age six and began composing soon thereafter. Pamela played in dance bands through high school and college and studied piano and music composition at Brigham Young University, receiving her Bachelor of Arts degree.
Pamela has decades of experience as a piano and organ accompanist and pedagogue. She collaborates with her husband Michael composing choral anthems, showchoir arrangements, and
orchestral works. Between them, they have over 100 publications and have had many performances in North America and Europe. Pamela is also a certified water aerobics instructor and personal trainer.

Katie Holder has a Bachelor of Arts degree in music and is a piano teacher and accompanist. She has been playing piano since age six and has been singing in choirs since she was nine. Katie and her calico cat, Lucy, are from Anaheim, California, where they attempted to live at Disneyland for many years. Both currently reside in Greenbrier, Tennessee, and greatly enjoy bird watching.

Raised in Downey CA by two teacher parents, Glenn grew up in a musical family with four older sisters. He found music healing and began with voice lessons throughout his young life. 

Along with exposure to cello, trombone, and tuba in orchestra and band, Glenn's love for choral music came while singing tenor with his dad in church choir. Glenn hass performed with the Kent-Meridian Jazz Band at the Seattle Opera House, placed first in singing competition on Korean TV during his mission to Seoul South Korea, and graduated from BYU's School of Music in 1993 with an emphasis in Sound Recording, before moving to Nashville.

Glenn currently enjoys being involved in any music production at church and looks forward to his part as The Landlord in a production of The Garden this Palm Sunday in Smyrna, TN. Since joining the NvCC in 2013, Glenn has found immense joy in the challenging choir music and today he operates a home studio in hopes to release his own compositions.