Charles Barland was appointed director of the University of Dubuque Choir in 2002 and is currently Associate Professor of Music at the University of Dubuque.  His duties include serving as department chair, conducting the Concert Choir; teaching courses in general music studies; serving as organist for college events and seminary worship services; and teaching applied lessons.  Prior to assuming this position, Dr. Barland was an adjunct faculty member at the University of Dubuque and Loras College and was minister of music at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in Dubuque.

A native of Eau Claire, Wisconsin, Charles Barland earned the Bachelor of Arts degree at Carroll University, Waukesha, Wisconsin, the Master of Arts degree at the University of Iowa, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at the University of Kansas.  He has studied organ with Phyllis Stringham, Delbert Disselhorst, James Higdon, Delores Bruch, and Michael Bauer.  His choral mentors include Mark Aamot, William Hatcher, Richard Bloesch, Simon Carrington, and René Clausen.  He has served as a church musician for congregations in Wisconsin, Iowa, and Kansas.

As a graduate student, Barland taught music theory, aural skills, and keyboard courses at the University of Iowa and the University of Kansas, winning the award for outstanding graduate teaching assistant at KU.  In 1999, he was honored by Carroll University when selected as the first recipient of the G.O.L.D. (Graduate of the Last Decade) award for achievements during the first decade after graduation.  In 2006 he received the Faculty of the Year Award from the University of Dubuque.  His most recent honor was being named the winner of the John Knox Coit prize for excellence in teaching and advising, the highest award given to faculty by the University of Dubuque.

In addition to his duties at the University of Dubuque, he is an active member of the Dubuque Symphony Orchestra Board, serving on the artistic advisory committee and the education committee and is Dean of the Dubuque Chapter of the American Guild of Organists.  He serves as an organist at several churches including St. Luke's United Methodist Church (Dubuque), Holy Trinity Lutheran Church (Dubuque), Queen of the Rosary Chapel (Sinsinawa) and the Cathedral of St. Raphael (Dubuque).  He has been a volunteer in the Big Brothers program in Dubuque and in 2008 became a grandparent.

As a performing artist and accompanist, Bang Lang has given concerts in Portugal, Canada, France, Holland, Viet Nam, Thailand, and the U.S.. She has been recorded many times with Radio Canada and the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation, and numerous first prizes comprise the Eckhardt Gramattee, the Canadian National Competition, the Canadian Stepping Stone International competition, the Baldwin competition, the French Music competition, the Conservatory of music in Quebec as well as concerto competitions from several Colleges.
More recent concerts include a concert series in Galena, IL, a concert series in Dubuque, a televised performance at the University of Dubuque and the Arboretum, the Houston Civic orchestra, performances and master classes given in Thailand, Viet Nam, Calgary.
She had toured across Canada as the winner of a competition, and toured the Midwest in 2003 with her husband, Dr. Jim Sherry, in a recital entitled "American Music".
Bang Lang is trained in Suzuki, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and was a member of the Music Teacher National Association and the Piano Guild for many years. 
She is currently an Assistant Professor at the Divine Word College in Epworth, and is a faculty at the University of Dubuque. She was previously a faculty member at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville, at the VanderCook College of Music in Chicago, the Peabody Institute in Baltimore, Brandon University in Manitoba, the University of Montreal and the Mahidol University in Bangkok.

At Johns Hopkins University Sherry conducted the Johns Hopkins University Choral Society and served as director of bands for seven years. He has conducted Chicago’s All-City Meritfest Band in Symphony Hall, the Bangkok Opera, Southeast Asian Youth Orchestra and Wind Ensemble, and the Baltimore School for the Arts Jazz Ensemble, as well as numerous public school music programs in Baltimore, Dubuque and Chicago.

Dr. Sherry has organized and directed workshops for band, jazz, and brass in Vietnam, Singapore, Thailand, and clinics in high schools and colleges across this count y in forty states. As an adjudicator, he has judged events such as the fifth and sixth Asian Wind Symphonic Band Competitions, numerous jazz festivals, state solo and ensemble competitions as well as the Maryland Harp Festival. His compositions and arrangements have been presented by the Johns Hopkins University Band, University of Dubuque Wind Ensemble, Mahidol University Faculty Jazz Ensemble, Chicago’s Saful Rumba and Dubuque’s Swingset Eclectic Jazz.

As a trumpet soloist he has performed in New York City, Boston, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Washington, DC, Chicago, Detroit, Denver and Los Angeles as well as on tours across the United States, Germany and Southeast Asia. He has been a featured soloist with ensembles such as the Yale University Band, Sones de Mexico Chicago, The Frederick Orchestra of Maryland, the Tubingen Sinfonietta of Germany, the Thailand Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Chicago Gamelan Ensemble.