Senior Minister
minister@fbcnewton.org

Rev. Jana Yeaton has served as Senior Minister of First Baptist Church in Newton since April 2022. She previously served churches in Chelmsford, Lowell, and North Billerica as well as working in higher education and social service administration. Jana received her B.A. from Wesleyan University and her M.Div. from Boston University School of Theology. In her free time, you can often find Jana singing loudly with other Sacred Harp enthusiasts.

Pastor of Faith Formation and the Arts
daryn@fbcnewton.org

Rev. Daryn Stylianopoulos is the Pastor of Faith Formation and the Arts at First Baptist Church in Newton. Daryn believes in fostering the welcoming, healing and creative spirit of Jesus’s good news wherever her ministry leads.

Daryn fosters youth and children's programming at First Baptist Church in Newton, providing support for our youngest members and their families, and cultivating opportunities for examining and deepening faith through a lens of creativity and wonder.

Daryn graduated Summa Cum Laude from Boston University School of Theology with her MDiv, and is ordained through The American Baptist Churches of Massachusetts (ABCUSA) and Alliance of Baptists. She is a graduate of Wake Forest University. Originally from Lexington, North Carolina, Daryn has called Boston, MA home for twenty years.

Music Minister
music@fbcnewton.org

Born in Taiwan, Pianist Pei-yeh Tsai is a substitute pianist for the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra, alongside as principal pianist for the Peoria Symphony and the New Bedford Symphony. Her performance is best described by cellist Yo-Yo Ma: “…a powerhouse of a pianist, and she plays with an incredible depth of soul. Her love of her instrument is perceptible…she draws the listener in with a great range of color and expression.”

Tsai has won first prize in the Aaron Richmond International Piano Competition and international New England Chamber Music Ensemble Competition; Special Viardo Prize at the Viardo International Piano Competition, the Rising Star Award and Sergio Fiorentino Memorial Award from the Rising Stars of Taipei Philharmonic Foundation, the Rose Marie Milholland Award from the Peabody Conservatory, the Marie Miller Award from the Women’s Guild, and a prize winner of The Iowa International Piano Competition.

In 2022, she appeared as a soloist with Lowell Chamber Orchestra and also join Chicago Symphony Orchestra in a new release animated Pixar film “Philharmonia Fantastique” by Mason Bates (recently nominated for 2023 Grammy Best Engineered Classical) This summer, Tsai also appeared in Ravinia Festival under Mo. Marin Alsop with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra, the program will air later on PBS ‘ Great performance series”. This summer, she joins Middlebury College Italian Language Singer program, working with singers throughout the summer in VT. She also appeared as a harpsichord soloist with Peoria Symphony.

Tsai’s past performances cross continent in Moscow, Vienna, Spain, Austria and Taiwan, among them: Chicago Symphony Center, Ravinia Festival, Carnegie Hall, and Alice Tully Hall. Her performances have been played on WFMT, WTVP, WCTV, STV8 and BIRN radio station and has a personal interview by BBC’s “Radio 4 Soul Music” with Rosie Boulton, about her performance of Rachmaninoff’s second piano concerto. 

Tsai received her graduate diploma from The Peabody Conservatory under the tutelage of Boris Slutsky with regular masterclasses with Leon Fleisher. She received her master’s degree from The Juilliard School with Jerome Lowenthal, and her D.M.A. from the Boston University. Currently she is a chorus accompanist for the Handel and Haydn Society. In her leisure time, she enjoys hiking and backpacking trips.