Our Artistic Team

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

Michael Kirk Cundari currently serves as the Choral Director at Hope Lutheran Church in Palm Desert. Formerly he led and built top notch high-school performing arts programs in New Jersey (Nutley), Florida (University of Florida, Gainesville) and here in Palm Desert and served as choirmaster at multiple churches over the years, including Trinity United Methodist Church in Gainesville, Florida.

His ensembles have toured extensively nationally and internationally including many notable invitations such as Carnegie Hall (New York City), the floor of the New Jersey Senate (Trenton, N.J.), The National Cathedral (Washington D.C.), Notre Dame (Paris), St. Stephen’s Cathedral (Vienna), Canterbury Cathedral (Canterbury, England) and a moving Palm Sunday performance at St. Marc’s Basilica in Venice (Italy), to name a few.

Michael has also prepared choruses for many Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center performances for Mid America Productions and Manhattan Concert Productions including the use of his choristers as the children’s choir for a performance of John Rutter’s “Mass of the Children” conducted by John Rutter, a world premier of Robinson’s “The Nativity”, and his Nutley High School Concert Choir was featured in a performance of Mozart’s “Requiem”, which Michael conducted, all at the famed Carnegie Hall in New York City.

Michael received his BA in Music Education from The University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he studied under the tutelage of Prof. David Weiller (choral conducting) and Carol Urban Stivers (piano) and his MM from Rutgers University, where he studied conducting with Dr. Patrick Gardner.

PRINCIPAL ACCOMPANIST

Bruce Mangum, pianist, hails from Nampa, ID, where he grew up in a musical family. In 1992, he earned a Bachelor’s degree in Applied Piano from the College of Idaho in Caldwell, ID. The following year, he completed one year toward a Master’s in Piano Performance from the University of Idaho in Moscow, ID. Bruce has played piano since age seven, and instructors include the late Dr. Fern Nolte Davidson, Jeffrey Payne, Carol Rich, the late Nicolas Laurienti (founder of the Denver Opera Company), and most recently Tim Bruneau, Artistic Director of the California Desert Chorale.

Bruce lived in Portland, OR, for seven years where he accompanied local music and opera students and was Musical Director for a number of community theatre productions. He won Musical Director of the Year for his work in Irene in 1997. From 1999 to 2002, Bruce joined up with Princess Cruise Lines as Atrium Pianist, and was able to see much of the world in his travels. It was out on the high seas where he developed and perfected his romantic piano playing in the style of John Tesh -- with a little George Winston thrown in. In his leisure time, Bruce enjoys listening to a wide variety of music from opera to pop to light jazz, including such artists as Eva Cassidy, Amy Grant, Judy Collins, the Manhattan Transfer, k.d. lang, Keiko Matsui, Zero 7, and even Lady Gaga!

He moved to Palm Springs, CA, in 2005 from Denver, CO, with his husband Dan Hodges. He served nine years as the Music Director for Shepherd of the Valley United Methodist Church in Indio, CA, was Principal Accompanist for the [then] Caballeros: The Gay Men’s Chorus of Palm Springs for seven seasons, and directed the Modern Men – Coachella Valley Men’s Chorus for two seasons. In October 2010, Bruce released his CD “Hidden in Plain View,” featuring original songs and religious piano arrangements.

Bruce currently leads quite a busy music life throughout the Coachella Valley: he is a co-founding member of the Lyric Chamber Ensemble; plays piano for the Palm Springs Opera Guild’s Outreach Program, the Sun City Jewish Services on Fridays, the First Church of Christ, Scientist in Palm Desert on Sundays and for three years has directed the Sun City Singers, Palm Desert. Bruce is thrilled to be starting his 10th season as Principal Accompanist for the California Desert Chorale!