Staff

Kate Crellin

Kate Crellin

Kate Crellin joined MBUSD’s music faculty in August of 2021 as the Choir Director for both MBMS and Mira Costa. In addition to her enthusiasm for teaching and love of singing, Ms. Crellin brings a wealth of experience as a vocalist, composer, educator, conductor and arranger. Ms. Crellin holds degrees from the University of Cambridge (Masters in Choral Conducting) and the University of Southern California (BA Choral Music & BA Law, History and Culture). As an educator, Ms. Crellin has taught pre-K through 12th-grade music in both public and private schools across Los Angeles. ​As a composer and arranger, Ms. Crellin recently received the CCDA/George Heussenstamm Composition Competition prize (2021) and Queens’ Cambridge Competition award (2020). Ms. Crellin is passionate about singing and teaching both classical and contemporary music. She has performed choral music across the world, including singing with the Rolling Stones in Indio, CA and touring across eight countries with various ensembles. Additionally, Ms. Crellin is active in the contemporary a cappella scene as a freelance arranger, performer in collegiate and pro groups, and staff of A Cappella Academy. For fun, she loves to travel, spend time with her friends, and walk her recently adopted dog, Maisie.

Gordon Glor

Gordon Glor

Gordon has been accompanying choirs since he was in seventh grade at Holland (NY) Middle School, when his choir director asked him to be the accompanist for the seventh and eighth grade choir. Gordon holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the Manhattan School of Music, where he majored in composition and minored in piano performance. After graduate studies at UC San Diego, Gordon served as staff accompanist at Southwestern College in Chula Vista, where he also taught piano classes and music theory. In 2007 Gordon joined the Angel City Chorale, a 180-voice community chorus led by artistic director Sue Fink, based in West L.A. He sings baritone with the Chorale, and serves as Principal Accompanist for the group. Gordon also enjoys serving as Principal Accompanist of the Angel City Youth Chorale (ACYC), which formed in 2018 in association with the Boys & Girls Clubs of Venice and Burbank. Since 2008 Gordon has been proud to be the accompanist at Manhattan Beach Middle School, and in 2020 he became the accompanist at Mira Costa High School. He looks forward to many happy experiences continuing to make music together with the supremely talented singers of the Manhattan Beach Unified School District community!

Taylor DiBernardo

Ms. DiBernardo, a.k.a. Ms. Deebs (she/her), has been teaching English for 10 years, and is excited to teach choir for the first time this year! She earned her B.A. in English and Masters in Education from UCLA (focusing on English and Music Education), where she sang with the award-winning co-ed a cappella group, the ScatterTones. She has also sung with various ensembles, including the CSUF Women’s Choir and the Los Angeles Angel City Chorale. Currently, she teaches at A Cappella Academy with Ms. Crellin! She has worked there since the first session in 2014 when Ms. Crellin was a camper. 🙂