Jodi Frisbie Reese
Concert Choir Director
Jodi Frisbie Reese has directed choral and vocal music in Iowa and Kansas for over 20 years. She has served as an Assistant Professor of Music at Bethany College in Lindsborg, Kansas, an Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choirs at Dodge City Kansas Community College, and most recently as the Director of Choirs at East Sac County Schools in Lake View. She received her Master’s Degree in Vocal Performance from Boston University and her Bachelor’s Degree in Music Education from Iowa State University. She is an active adjudicator and clinician and is a member of the National Association for Music Education, the American Choral Directors Association, and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.
Erika Johnson
Preparatory Choir and Chorale Director
Erika Johnson is a vocal and general music teacher for the Ames Community School District where she teaches K-5 general music and an extracurricular choir. She has worked with children in the performing arts for 22 years, encompassing preschool through high school teaching, private voice and violin instruction, children’s choir director, and musical theater director. Mrs. Johnson studied music education and vocal performance at Ithaca College and completed Kodaly training at Wichita State University. She resides in Ames and enjoys reading and spending time with her husband and three young children.
Emily Malamos
Operations Manager
Emily Malamos joined the Ames Youth Choir in 2023. She is a graduate from Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa with a Bachelor of Music in Education. As a student, Mrs. Malamos was a flutist in various ensembles at Wartburg including: the Wind Ensemble, Symphonic Band, Community Symphony, Flute Choir as well as the Waverly Municipal Band. Upon graduation she worked as the 5-12 band instructor for Paton-Churdan as well as the 7-8 band instructor for Greene County Schools in Jefferson, Iowa for a year before moving to K-4 music full-time for Greene County. In 2023 she began teaching PK-6 music at St. Cecilia School in Ames where she has been working on building the band program back up to where it once was.
Mrs. Malamos and her husband live in Ames with their two young children. She enjoys learning new skills and being crafty in her free time, as well as spending time with family and watching her children explore the world around them.