Dear People of St. David’s,
We are thrilled to announce the appointment of Isaac Lee as our new associate director of music beginning in the fall of 2026. Isaac brings to our music department enormous talent and experience as an organist and church musician. Most recently he served as organ scholar at Church of the Heavenly Rest, New York City. He is a wonderful musician and leader with a collaborative spirit that will greatly add to our music team and our staff. He will serve as organist, associate director of all our choirs, and primary director of our Thursday handbell choir.
A huge thank you to our music search committee: Jane Baumgardner, Sandi Endres, Melissa Kuhn, Bill Oppenheim, John Reid, Rachael Stube, and Danielle Wagner.
Isaac Lee
Associate Director of Music
Isaac is a C.V. Starr Doctoral Fellow at The Juilliard School studying with Paul Jacobs. He graduated from Yale University with a Master of Musical Arts degree. While at Yale, he received the 2022 Robert Baker Prize for performance excellence, and the 2023 Director’s Prize for research excellence.
Most recently, he served as organ scholar at Church of the Heavenly Rest and as the Wilson Family Sacred Music Intern at The Brick Presbyterian Church in New York City.
Outside of music, he enjoys hiking and cooking, and looks forward to having a kitchen of his own again.
We are also excited to announce that Kathy Wagner, one of our interim directors, will now become our Associate Director of the Chorister programs.
Kathy Wagner
Associate Director of the Chorister Program
Kathy is an alto section leader in the St. David’s Adult Choir, directs the Children’s Choir (Grades 2-5) and directs our Youth and Children’s Choir musical every spring. Kathy Wagner has over 35 years of experience teaching music at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels and is currently a music teacher for the Philadelphia Academy Charter School, Philadelphia, PA.
We would also like to thank our amazing interim associate musicians who have served St. David’s for the past two years while we were in interim.
Dr. Andrea Boudra
Dr. Andrea Boudra served as interim organist for our 5 p.m. services including Evensongs, Taizés, and choir concerts. She also assisted as director and accompanist for the Children’s Choir as needed and Music Camp. We recognized Andrea for her ministry with us after the May 17th Evensong and hope to see her again as a substitute organist.
Stephen Christner
Stephen Christner served as interim director of the Thursday Handbell Choir from the fall of 2024 through May 2026. Stephen will continue as bass section leader in the Adult and Youth Choirs, assist with our youth groups, and serve as cook for our choir dinners.
Paul Fleckenstein
Paul Fleckenstein served as interim organist for our 9:15 a.m. services from spring of 2025 to present. Mr. Fleckenstein is retired after an accomplished career as an organist. He served for many years at Westminster Presbyterian Church in Wilmington and continues as an organist substitute in the Philadelphia area. We will recognize Paul after the 9:15 a.m. service Sunday, May 31st and look forward to welcoming him back as a substitute organist.
Finally, the amazing Music Administrator/Librarian, Grace Oh Kraybill, will continue to support the music department.
Please join us in welcoming Isaac Lee as associate director of music this fall of 2026. He is a wonderful musician and person; the future ahead for our music department is very bright!
Dr. Elaine Sonnenberg Whitelock
Director of Music
Published May 27, 2026.