Miss Kathey, as she is fondly called by her students, is originally from Bluffton, Ohio, and holds Bachelor of Arts and Master of Music Degrees in vocal performance. She has been a featured soloist in oratorios, operas, musicals and contemporary Christian music. She has toured extensively throughout the U.S., Canada, Europe and the Orient with the show group Common Ground who frequently appeared on national television, in Las Vegas and on several USO tours. She has made special appearances with Bob Hope, Roy Clark, David Copperfield, Danny Thomas, Johnny Cash, Phyllis Diller, Joan Rivers, and Jay Leno, and has sung for Presidents Ford and Reagan.

While living in Nashville she taught private vocal and piano instruction. Kathey was also a studio demo singer and achieved success in commercial jingle work. She acted in national television commercials for Holiday Inn, Ladies Mennen Speed Stick, Century 21, Avon and American Beauty Cosmetics, to name a few. Kathey also entertained at the Vanderbilt Plaza Hotel and the Maxwell House Hotel in Nashville.

Kathey has been the Musical Director for City Road United Methodist Church in Nashville as well as directed church choirs in Gulf Shores, Alabama. She has conducted clinics in performance and acting techniques at colleges and universities around the country including Anderson College in Indiana and Oral Roberts University in Oklahoma. She has also taught voice at the University of Mobile in Alabama.

In 2012, with her husband, Thurlow Spurr, she co-produced and directed 22 concerts with Grammy and Dove award winning artists Sandi Patty, Larnelle Harris and Dino.

With over 35 years of performing, producing and directing experience, Kathey is co-producer/director of the CMI Concert Choir and directs The Thurlow Spurr Singers, The CMI Girlz, The Kidz, and The Boyz.

Miss Kathey’s Academy for the Performing Arts was officially established in 2014 and is dedicated to developing and training Godly character in today’s youth.

Kathey is married to noted producer and CMI executive director, Thurlow Spurr; together they home school their daughter, Maddie Mae.

Toni Barnes has a Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from the University of Oklahoma with additional studies in flute, piano, and choral conducting. She studied Graduate Music at OU and was a graduate music assistant where she taught group and private voice. She has performed with the Cimarron Circuit Opera Company in Norman, the Canterbury Choral Society in OKC, and The Nashville Choir in Nashville, TN under the direction of John E. Coates.

She has taught private voice for over 20 years as well as class voice, choir, theory, music appreciation, and musical theater. She has served as a church musician, Praise & Worship team member, soloist, and Adult & Children’s choir director.

She performs with the Branson Chamber Singers under the direction of Bob Abbott. She is also active in the First Presbyterian Church, Branson MO as a musician, member of the choir, and soloist. She resides in Branson where she teaches music at Buchanan Intermediate and directs

is an American opera singer and musical theatre baritone who is making a name for himself all over the country. He has performed the leading role of Jean Valjean (Les Misérables) numerous times, in many states, and most recently with the famous Prather Entertainment Group in Pennsylvania. You may have also seen Jacob in Lexington, Kentucky where he played many notable operatic roles as well as the leading role in Andrew Lloyd Webbers The Phantom of the Opera – as the Phantom; the youngest man ever to do so professionally, at the age of 20. Jacob’s operatic repertoire includes leading roles in: Le Nezzo di Figaro, Roméo e Juliette, Falstaff, La Bohème, and Don Giovanni. His musical theatre adventures include starring roles in Les Misérables, Some Enchanted Evening, Thoroughly Modern Millie, South Pacific, Hairspray, Fiddler on the Roof, Sweeney Todd, and many more!

After performing in opera houses and theaters across the United States, Jacob has most recently taken a contract in Branson, Missouri with Sight and Sound Productions. He will be understudying/performing the title role of Moses in their 2016-2017 production of MOSES for the next two years.

Jacob is a graduate of Paducah Tilghman High School where he studied under the esteemed Kay Bates, and the University of Kentucky where he studied under the incomparable Cynthia Lawrence. He is an alum of the Houston Grand Opera’s Young Artist Vocal Academy, Dolora Zajick’s Institute for Young Dramatic Voices, the Chautauqua Music Festival, and The Seagle Music Colony. Jacob is also a winner of the Metropolitan Opera District Council Auditions.