Lowcountry Sacred Music Retreat Leadership:


LSMR Founder and Collaborative Pianist:
​Holly Slice | Peace Church
Holly Slice graduated from the Horton School of Music at Charleston Southern University in 2014 with a degree in music therapy. She currently serves patients in med-surg, cancer, and ICU care at Roper Berkeley Hospital.

In 2016, Holly pursued entrepreneurship, launching Lowcountry Pianist & Co. LLC, which provides live music services for intimate gatherings and grand celebrations. Last year they had over 800+ performances. 

​In 2020, she began SC Music Lessons LLC which currently has 120 students enrolled on a variety of instruments plus she launched the INSPIRE Choir, in conjunction with Goose Creek Therapeutic Department, where adults of all abilities are able to join together to build teamwork skills and enjoy music.

During her free time, she enjoys spending time with her husband, Cody, and toddler, Avery, taking in all the sights,  experiences, and food the beautiful Lowcountry has to offer.

She is the choir director at Peace Presbyterian Church in Goose Creek and is grateful to be a part of the Lowcountry Sacred Music Retreat, which combines all of the things that are most important to her: faith, relationships, and music.
​Choral Clinician:
Porter Stokes | Fort Hill Presbyterian Church
Retired Choral Director, Presbyterian College
Porter Stokes retired from Presbyterian College in 2018 after a fifty-year career in professional music positions that included serving as a choral educator and administrator in various middle and high schools, colleges, and churches of a variety of faith traditions. He attended Clemson University before transferring to the University of South Carolina where he earned two degrees in music prior to completing further study at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.

​In 1999, he was appointed Artistic Director and Conductor of the Augusta Choral Society where he remained until his retirement in 2023. Porter is the proud father of two sons (JP III and Joshua) and their wives and is also grandfather to eight magnificent children between the ages of six and sixteen. He currently stays busy renovating his home in Anderson, serving as Interim Chancel Choir Director at Fort Hill Presbyterian Church in Clemson, singing with the Lexington County Choral Society in Lexington, SC, composing and arranging sacred choral anthems, and thoroughly enjoying his role as “Pop-Pop” to all eight grandchildren.
Children's Choir Director
Barbara Bassett | Bethany United Methodist Church

Barbara Bassett received a Bachelor of Music Education from Trenton State College in New Jersey and a Master’s in Music Education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She is also certified by the National Board for Professional Teaching Standards in Early/Middle Childhood Music. She began teaching Elementary Music in Greensboro, NC, in 1998 and continued at Spann Elementary when she moved to Summerville in 2002. Nationally, she is a member of NAfME (National Association for Music Educators) and AOSA (American Orff-Schulwerk Association). Barbara is also the secretary for the Lowcountry Orff​-Schulwerk Association Chapter.

Barbara has previously taught private voice and piano lessons and has been involved in church music her entire life. She has conducted church choirs of all ages and currently is the children’s choir director at Bethany UMC where she also sings in the Chancel Choir and plays in the Chancel Bells. She lives in Summerville with her husband, Tim, and enjoys working in the garden, cooking, and crocheting, or just relaxing. She has twin daughters who are juniors at the University of South Carolina. She is excited to be a part of bringing children into the Lowcountry Sacred Music Retreat this year!