Court and Country Active Members

Sharon Spanogle
(Teleri)
Artistic Director
Soprano
Sharon Spanogle has been making music for as long as she can remember. She has sung in a variety of small, amateur choirs, and has dabbled in instruments including violin, guitar, mandolin and recorder. While studying archaeology at Northwestern University, she became particularly interested in Medieval and Renaissance history, and began researching the music of the troubadours. Her first choral experience in Early Music was singing with a small madrigal choir while in graduate school in Ann Arbor, MI. When the original director moved away, the group later reformed as the Cynnabar Collegium Musicum, and Sharon became the choir’s leader. She also continued personal research and performance of the Troubadour repertoire and other Medieval music. At this time, Sharon also became interested in Renaissance Dance, learning a variety of English, French and Italian dance, and eventually became a dance instructor, teaching community and student organizations.

In 1998, a few years after finishing her Master’s degree in Archaeology, Sharon moved to Chicago to follow a career in Software Engineering. There, Sharon became a member and Assistant Director of The Pippins, an Early Music vocal ensemble. She also continued teaching historic dance for community and student groups. Sharon continued researching Medieval and Renaissance music and became particularly interested in the Ars Nova style. Another Early Music choir, Tres Trepei, formed in the Chicago area, and Sharon performed with the group for a few years.

In March of 2009, Sharon joined Court and Country, a new a cappella early music choir that was forming in the northern suburbs of Chicago. A few years later, she became the main director for Court and Country. Sharon currently takes voice instruction at Harper College, participates as a student in Early Music and Choral Festivals, and performs with Court and Country for community organizations, historical reenactment events, and charitable benefits.
Kerri-Ellen Kelly
(Margrett)
Manager
Soprano

Kerri-Ellen has been involved with music since childhood, playing french horn from fourth grade through high school and singing in school, church and community groups in junior high and high school. As an adult, she spent many years away from musical pursuits as a single mother. But her passion for music never flagged; just her availability to pursue it.

Once her son was older, Kerri-Ellen returned to music: performing as a cast member at the Bristol Renaissance Faire, resuming french horn and learning multiple other instruments (most recently, violin), performing in the Madison Early Music Festival, singing with The Pippins (another a cappella early music choir) and singing early a cappella music as a solo artist. Kerri-Ellen was one of the earliest members of Court & Country, joining right after the first group performance in April, 2009.

Currently, Kerri-Ellen assists with music research and transcription tasks for Court & Country as well as coordinates the majority of the administrative and management needs of the group. She also performed with Opus Choral Ensemble and Oak Park Concert Chorale in 2015 and performed with The Choral-Aires Sweet Adelines chorus in late 2016 and 2017, going with them to International Competition in Las Vegas in Fall 2017 where they achieved 8th place in the world. Outside of her musical pursuits, she works for lawyers, sews historical costumes to deplete her ever-growing fabric hoard and hopes some day to be a stage hypnotist.