Kathleen Bartkowski, Associate Music Director
Kathleen Bartkowski brings decades of artistry and experience to the piano and organ, collaborating with community, collegiate, and professional ensembles throughout New England and beyond. A sought-after accompanist for choral festivals, musicals, and school choirs, she has served as collaborative pianist for the Vernon Chorale, an auditioned community choir based in Vernon, Connecticut, since 2006, and as Associate Music Director for Con Brio, an auditioned community choir in Old Saybrook. Her career in church music spans more than forty years, and she currently serves as Organist at St. Luke Lutheran Church in Gales Ferry, Connecticut, where she has made music for 20 years.
Kathleen earned a Master of Music in Piano Accompanying from the University of Massachusetts Amherst, where she accompanied the University Chamber Choir, Chorale, and numerous vocalists and instrumentalists. Her artistry was recognized with the Eugenie M. May Award for Piano Performance. She also holds a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance from the University of Connecticut, where she accompanied the choral department and received both a University String Scholarship and the Victor Borge Scholarship.
Highlights of Kathleen’s career include accompanying two National Association for Music Education (NAfME) Eastern Division Honor Choirs in Philadelphia and Hartford, New England Music Festivals from 2008 to the present, the 2012 NY Area All-State in Suffern, New York, and the 2011 American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) National Men’s Honor Choir in Chicago. Her many collaborations include the Hartford Chorale Chamber Singers, Mystic River Chorale, Mak’hela (Jewish Chorus of Western Massachusetts), Ledyard High School Choral Department, and NAfME and ACDA honor choirs and conference sessions at the local, state, and national levels. She has also accompanied numerous Connecticut Eastern Region and All-State Honors choirs. Music has taken her across Europe on tour with the UMass choirs and Mystic River Chorale and into collaboration with distinguished conductors including Peter Bagley, Charlene Archibeque, Andre Thomas, Z. Randall Stroope, and Janet Galvan. Kathleen is the proud recipient of the 2026 CT ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award.
Beyond the concert stage, Kathleen has shared her expertise as a Member-at-Large on the Connecticut ACDA Executive Board and as a board member of the New London County Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. She lives in Colchester, Connecticut, with her husband, Douglas, and their two cats, Milo and Marmalade.
