Choir Director - Jed Hyun Ragsdale
Jed Hyun Ragsdale will begin his twenty-seventh year of teaching and will be starting year nine as the Head Choir Director of the Tomball Memorial High School Wildcat Choir Program. Prior to teaching at TMHS, Jed was the Head Director at Cy-Fair HS from 2005-16, Assistant Director at Jersey Village HS in 2004-05, and Langham Creek HS from 1998-2004. While at Langham Creek, his Varsity Men’s Choir performed at the 2004 Texas Music Educators’ Association Convention. Choirs under Jed’s direction have consistently earned Sweepstakes at UIL, earned Best-in-Class honors at state and national competitions, performed at various invitationals and in 2012 the Cy-Fair HS Chorale was the featured choir to perform at Lincoln Center’s Avery Fisher Hall in New York City.
Jed is a frequent choir clinician and adjudicator and has conducted over 40 high school and middle school All-Region and Festival Choirs throughout Texas. He is currently the Texas Music Educators’ Association Vice- President in many capacities such as All-State Mixed Choir Organizer, Vocal Division Clinic Coordinator, Area E Chair, Area F Chair, Region 27 Vocal Division Chair, All-State Choir Section Leader, TMEA Facilities Chair, TCDA Hospitality Chair and TCDA Ways and Means Committee.
Vocal performance credits include Houston Symphony Chorus, The Texas Master Chorale, Choir of St. John the Divine, the Brazosport Symphony Orchestra and the Houston Metropolitan Consort. He is currently the Director of Music at Rosehill Methodist Church.
Jed received a Bachelor of Music from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, studying with Dr. Kenny Sheppard, and a Master of Education in Administration from Lamar University. His life revolves around his two incredible children, Avery, Freshman at the University of Texas, and Aidan, 2023 All-State Choir member, Saxophonist in the Waller Bulldog Band, and actor in the WHS theater department.
Jed’s goal for the TMHS Wildcat Choir Program is to not only be recognized at the state level, but the national level, for performance and student leadership.
Associate Choir Director - Jordyn White
Jordyn White is a proud Houstonian and Baylor University graduate entering her fifth year of teaching, and fourth at TMHS. Originally from Katy, Jordyn returned to the Houston area as assistant director at South Houston High School, and is excited to return to TMHS where she student taught. In her first year teaching, Jordyn was named New Teacher of the Year for South Houston High School, and District-Wide New High School Teacher of the Year for Pasadena ISD.
While attending Baylor University, Jordyn sang with the Baylor A Cappella Choir and Chamber Singers, and studied under Dr. Stephen Gusukuma and Dr. Lynne Gackle. She participated in many School of Music organizations including the Baylor University Music Educators Association, and ACDA student chapter.
Upon Graduation, Jordyn was named Outstanding Senior Woman in the Baylor School of Music, and was awarded the Choral Music Education Award, TMEA Collegiate Music Educator’s Award, and the Future Educator Scholarship for the Alpha Delta Kappa South Central Region.
Jordyn is very excited to return to the TMHS family and begin this school year. Sic ‘em and Go Wildcats!
Private Voice Faculty
Julia Hall
Julia C. Hall taught secondary choral music in the Greater Houston area for thirty-nine years, most recently serving as the chair of the Vocal Music Department at Kinder High School for the Performing and Visual Arts. In addition to her duties as the primary HSPVA voice instructor, she conducted the Chorale and HSPVA Chamber Singers. Before returning to her high school alma mater, Julia taught at Lamar High School, Episcopal High School, and Memorial Middle School. She has conducted twice at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention: in 2011 with the Memorial Advanced Treble Choir and in 2017 with the HSPVA Treble Chorus. In 2023, the HSPVA Chorale placed first in the American Classics Celebration of Excellence choral competition.
Julia earned her Bachelor of Music Education, cum laude, from the University of St. Thomas, where she studied voice with Diane Tobola, and her Master of Music, choral conducting, from the University of Houston Moores School of Music. She is a member of Texas Music Educators Association, Texas Choral Directors Association, American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, and Phi Kappa Phi and Pi Kappa Lambda honor societies.
Julia is a member of the Houston Symphony Chorus where she proudly served as a rehearsal conductor from 2017-22. She has sung with the Houston Chamber Choir and Houston Masterworks Chorus. A life-long Episcopalian, she served on the Episcopal Diocese of Texas Music Commission for many years.
Davia Bouley
Acclaimed for having a voice of "true beauty" (Operawire), American contralto Davia Bouley is attracting attention from US and European audiences alike for her distinctive rich voice and her alluring stage presence. She has performed with opera companies, music festivals and in concert all over the United States and Europe, including Cincinnati Opera, Theater Dortmund, Indianapolis Opera, Isarphilharmonie München, Aspen Music Festival, Berliner Philharmonie, Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, and Deutsche Oper Berlin.
The 2024/2025 season begins with a debut at the Grand Teton Music Festival as Zweite Dame in Die Zauberflöte, under the musical direction of Sir Donald Runnicles. Other engagements include a return to Deutsche Oper Berlin for Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, Delia in Il Viaggio a Reims, and Third Secretary in the revival of Nixon in China.
In the 2023/2024 season, Davia returned to the Deutsche Oper Berlin for some exciting new productions and role debuts: Maestra delle Novizie in Suor Angelica, and Third Secretary in the Berlin operatic stage premiere of Nixon in China. She also reprised her roles as Delia in Il Viaggio a Reims and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte. She made her concert debuts at the Alte Oper Frankfurt and the Liederhalle Stuttgart as well as a return to the Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg, Isarphilharmonie München, and the Berliner Philharmonie as Flosshilde in Der Ring an Einem Abend.
In recent seasons, she made a role and house debut as Siegrune in Die Walküre with Theater Dortmund, directed by Peter Konwitschny, a return to the US as the alto soloist in Handel's Messiah with the Texas Master Chorale, return to Deutsche Oper Berlin as Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, and a tour of concert debuts as Flosshilde in Der Ring an Einem Abend with the Weimar Staatskapelle, performing at the Festspielhaus Baden-Baden, Isarphilharmonie München, Weimarhalle, Meistersingerhalle Nürnberg and the Berliner Philharmonie.
Davia made her European debut at the Deutsche Oper Berlin in the 2017/18 season as the 2nd Paysanne in their new production of Meyerbeer's Le Prophète under the baton of Enrique Mazzola. She then went on to perform more roles at Deutsche Oper that season, including Zweite Dame in Das Märchen von der Zauberflöte, Delia in Il Viaggio a Reims and Lola in Cavalleria Rusticana. She has since become a regular guest soloist with the company, returning recently to perform roles including Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte, the Beggar Woman in Graham Vick’s Death in Venice alongside Ian Bostridge, and Hippolyta in a new production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, under the musical direction of Sir Donald Runnicles.
Other career highlights in the US have included the title role in Carmen and Meg Page in Falstaff (Bayview Music Festival), the alto soloist in Beethoven's 9th Symphony (Round Top Music Festival), Kate Pinkerton and Suzuki (cover) in Madama Butterfly, and Little Buttercup in HMS Pinafore (Indianapolis Opera), Silver Dollar in The Ballad of Baby Doe (Amarillo Opera), Cherubino in Le nozze di Figaro (Aspen Music Festival), Giovanna and Maddalena (cover) in Rigoletto and Dritte Dame in Die Zauberflöte (Cincinnati Opera) conducted by Bernard Labadie.
As a concert soloist, Davia has performed many notable works in the alto repertoire, including Bach's Magnificat, Mozart's Requiem and Solemn Vespers, Duruflé's Requiem, Haydn's Theresienmesse, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy, Debussy's Trois Chansons, and Handel's Messiah. She has also performed contemporary works such as George Crumb's Unto the Hills and Jean Berger's Five Songs on Poems of Mary Stuart, Queen of Scots at the Grandin Festival.
A native of Southern California, she received her Bachelor of Arts with an emphasis in Voice at Pepperdine University, under the tutelage of Henry Price. She earned her Master of Music in Vocal Performance from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (CCM) as a student of Kenneth Shaw.
