Founders and Festival Director

Estelle Marie Gibbs has been the Director of the Vocal Program for the Assisi Performing Arts Festival since 2001, where she has conducted works by Mozart, Faure, Schubert, and Haydn.  Her recording of "Olivo e Pasquale" can be found on the Bongiovanni label. She is known for her various roles as a coloratura soprano, notably her 1980 role as Isabella in Barga, Italy. 

Gibbs is a graduate of the Manhattan school of Muisic holding both Bachelor's and Master's Degrees in Voice an Opera. She studied conducting with Anton Coppola, George Schick, Jonny Green, Bob Maxym, and Bruno Rigacci and voice with Ellen Repp, Judith Raskin, and Janice Harsanyi. 

Gibbs is a member of the Master work Choir, with David Randolph, conductor and a member of the Toscana Vocal Quartet in Winston Salem, N.C.

Greg Scime help to found the Assisi Performing Arts Music Festival in 2001, an annual program emphasizing the study and performance of sacred music involving 40-50 musicians and choirs from the United States, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia.  His vision for founding the festival was to provide a unique experience for performers and students to become part of a welcoming and supportive community while making music, teaching, and performing in one of Umbria's most beautiful cities. 

Each Year, he directs the music for Sunday Mass at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi with the Festival Choir. His annual organ recital in Assisi is an annually celebrated event. 

Greg Scime holds degrees in music from both the Manhattan School of Music and Boston College and certificates from the American Guild of Organists. A seasoned professional in Sacred Music, he was the Director of Music and Liturgy and St. Teresa Roman Catholic Church in Summit, New Jersey. He is currently the Director of Music at St. Joseph Church in Maplewood, New Jersey, where he is the organist and choir director. He is also the Director and Conductor for Schwaebischer Saengerbund, a German choir in Clark, New Jersey. He currently serves as Adjunct Music Professor of Piano Studies at Seton Hall and has taught music classes and directed ensembles at Marylawn Academy in South Orange, New Jersey. Scime has appeared as a lecturer  at the Classical Singer National Convention and at the Assisi Performing Arts Festival.

Gloria J. Thurmond holds a Master of Arts degree in vocal music performance and a Doctor of Ministry degree in pastoral theology. As a classical vocal artist, she has performed extensively in the United States and in Europe, which includes having performed for twenty-five seasons with the Metropolitan Opera and the New York City Opera. 

As a Professor Emerita of Music at Seton Hall University, through her interdisciplinary academic background in music and theology, she taught private voice studies, beginning voice classes, the history of American Music, and the “Music of Broadway,” and she continues to direct the University’s professional concert series, “Jazz ‘n the Hall.” She also continues to teach University Core courses which introduce and explore questions of the Catholic Intellectual Tradition through philosophical and theological literature. Also, a pastoral musician, she serves as a cantor and lector for Saint Joseph Church in Maplewood, New Jersey.

She is a vocal coach and lecturer for the Assisi Performing Arts Music Festival; and, as a member of the Board of Directors, she is assistant to the director in the daily administration and operation of the annual Assisi Performing Arts Music Festival.