Wes Stoner, a native of Canton, Georgia, is the Director of Choirs at Walton High School in the Cobb County School District. Before returning to CCSD, he attended the University of Miami’s Frost School of Music and is a candidate (ABD) for the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting. At Frost, Wes has served as instructor for the Experiential Music Curriculum Freshman-level Aural Skills, conductor of the Frost Symphonic Choir, and as the Chorus Master for the Frost Opera Theatre. His Teaching Assistant duties included undergraduate Choral Conducting, Frost Bella Voce, and the acclaimed Frost Chorale.
Prior to pursuing the DMA at UM, Wes taught high school choral music for fifteen years in both urban and suburban areas of metropolitan Atlanta, including schools in the Clayton County and Cobb County school districts. In addition to teaching, Wes maintains an active choral performing schedule as a singing member and Assistant Director of the Atlanta-based professional chamber ensemble Coro Vocati, which was chosen to perform for the 2018 Southern Region Conference of the American Choral Directors Association in Louisville, KY. He also sang ten seasons with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and ASO Chamber Chorus, performing numerous times in New York’s Carnegie Hall, Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center, and on two occasions with the Berlin Philharmonic at the Philharmonie in Berlin, Germany. Wes is also a member of the professional choral ensemble that performs for the triennial C.S. Lewis Institute OxBridge Conference in Oxford and Cambridge, England.
Wes has had the opportunity to serve in leadership positions within the state of Georgia and the southeast. He served as the Choral Division Chair for the Georgia Music Educators Association, where he oversaw the GMEA All-State Chorus event and auditions, Statewide Sixth Grade Honor Chorus, and the Choral Division offerings at the yearly GMEA In-Service Conference. Wes has also served on the board for the Georgia chapter of the American Choral Directors Association and as the Interest Session Chair for the 2016 ACDA Southern Region Conference in Chattanooga, TN.
Wes holds the Bachelor of Music in Music Education degree from the University of Georgia and the Master of Music in Choral Conducting degree from Michigan State University.
In the words of our former chorus director Dr. Jana Williams, “Mr. Wes Stoner, whom I have known for eighteen years, is a fantastic musician, has a heart for young people, and is a consummate professional. Walton is very fortunate to have him as the next choral director, and I am thrilled that Walton Chorus is in terrific new hands. You are going to love him!”
Maggie Allyn joined the Walton Choral Department as a half-time assistant director in 2013 and is now our full-time assistant. Mrs. Allyn is the Director of our Women’s Concert Choir and Bel Canto. Mrs. Allyn is a Walton Chorus Alumna who went on to earn her Bachelor’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Samford University.
Recently returned from studying acting and voice in New York City with Dr. Bruce Kolb, Mrs. Allyn now works both sides of the curtain at Act3 Playhouse in Sandy Springs, GA: she is a two-time *Metropolitan Atlanta Theater Award winner for Best Leading Actress in a Musical as well as Act3’s youth artistic director and community liaison, dedicated to developing the future of the arts through her work with children and Sandy Springs residents.
Through her work with Act3 and Musical Theatre Workshop (MTW) over the past three years, Mrs. Allyn has produced and directed kids/junior musicals such as Annie (Act3), Beauty and the Beast (Act3), Dear Edwina (MTW), Honk (MTW), Winnie the Pooh (Act3), The Little Mermaid (Act3), 101 Dalmatians (Act3/MTW), Jungle Book (Act3), Sleeping Beauty (Act3) and Aladdin (Act3). In addition to shows, intensive workshops, and summer camp, she also works to develop and expand Act3’s Arts Academy which opens its doors to over 100 children each week.
In her spare time, Mrs. Allyn continues to perform around the southeast. She performed “et incarnatus est” from Mozart’s C-Minor Mass as a guest soloist with the Southeastern Chamber Orchestra and, with the Alabama Symphony Orchestra, debuted an original choral work commissioned in honor of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Some of her most memorable roles include Kathy (Company), Amahl (Amahl and the Night Visitors), Anne (The Merry Wives of Windsor), Dorothy Brown (Thoroughly Modern Millie), Daisy Hilton (SideShow), Timoune* (Once on This Island), Brooke (Noises Off), Clio/Kira* (Xanadu), Shelby (Steel Magnolias), Elle (Legally Blonde the Musical), Mary Jo (A Piece of My Heart) and Sylvia (Sylvia).