2026 Conference Performing Choirs
California State University Fullerton Concert Choir
The California State University Fullerton Concert Choir is a fifty-five-voice auditioned, mixed ensemble comprising primarily students studying voice in the School of Music. The ensemble gives a number of performances in Southern California every year and has also toured in Canada, Europe, and the United States. The choir has had the privilege of performing under the batons of John Williams and Gustavo Dudamel at the Hollywood Bowl, performing numerous times with Andrea Bocelli, and singing other professional engagements across the region.
Christopher Peterson teaches at Cal State Fullerton. He is a conductor, author, and arranger of music and books published in the United States and globally. In his over thirty-five years as a music educator, he has taught in public school, church, community, and collegiate settings. He earned a BME at the University of Southern Maine, the MM in choral conducting at the University of Maine, and a PhD in music education and choral conducting at The Florida State University. He has been invited to teach, judge, and conduct choirs in more than thirty US states, five Canadian provinces, and nine countries and has conducted all-state choirs across the nation. His textbook Resonance: The Art of the Choral Music Educator is used across the United States to train future choral music teachers and conductors.
Cantabella Children’s Chorus
Cantabella Children’s Chorus was founded in 1992 by Bee Chow in her Livermore living room with eleven young singers. Inspired by Zoltán Kodály’s philosophy that the voice should be every child’s first instrument, Bee aimed to create a local choral community for her own children, then ages six and eight. With an MME from the University of Iowa and certifications in Kodály and Suzuki methods, she built Cantabella into an award-winning program serving over 250 singers from kindergarten through high school. Under her leadership, the chorus has performed internationally and earned accolades such as the Grand Prix at the 2019 World Youth Choral Festival in South Korea. Bee Chow now serves as director emeritus, continuing to inspire the next generation of musicians.
Clement Cano holds a BM (voice) from San José State University and is pursuing an MME. With over twenty years of experience, he has served as choir manager, pit musician, accompanist, baritone, and musical theater director. He began singing in 1991 with Saringhimig and joined the SJSU Choraliers in 1995 under Dr. Charlene Archibeque, later serving as section leader and assistant conductor. Cano has performed at festivals worldwide. He is currently director of musical arts at Hillbrook School and music director at St. Joseph’s Cathedral. He conducted Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare at Carnegie Hall in June 2025. Outside of music, he loves video games, anything Disney, and cooking videos; as a longtime hockey player, he is proud to still have all his teeth.
Casteel Junior High School Angels of Music
Angels of Music was founded in 2015 with the opening of Casteel High School. It is a women’s choir comprising talented students in grades seven and eight. For many members, this marks their first experience in a choral setting. Despite their limited background, these young vocalists exhibit a strong dedication to personal and musical development. They consistently rise to the challenge, stepping outside their comfort zones to cultivate the vocal technique, discipline, and collaboration necessary to perform as a unified and expressive ensemble.
Jennifer Pearce holds a BM from Arizona State University and has over thirty years of teaching experience in the East Valley. Her diverse background includes teaching at the elementary, middle school, and high school levels, as well as conducting church and community choirs. She currently serves as the Fine Arts Department chair at Casteel Junior High School in Queen Creek, Arizona. In addition to her work in education, Pearce is an accomplished pianist and maintains a private piano studio in her home. She continues to perform, record, and tour with Millennial Choirs and Orchestras. She is deeply inspired by her husband, Marvin, their six children, and seven grandchildren, who remain her most treasured source of pride and motivation.
Castro Valley High School A Cappella
A Cappella hails from the diverse San Francisco Bay Area and is the premier concert choir in their large public high school, comprising three separate auditioned classes that practice together one evening per month. They have performed spotlights at Carnegie Hall and toured domestically and internationally. In 2018, A Cappella—and a subset within it, Madrigals— both placed first in their respective competition divisions of the Northern California Golden State Choral Competition. In 2022, A Cappella won the grand prize of America’s Top Choir and Best Ensemble Choreography in FeelItLIVE’s competition for top high school choir.
Laryssa Sadoway is in her fourteenth year at Castro Valley High School, where she conducts five choirs. She trained at the University of Massachusetts and North Park University in Chicago. Sadoway received an MM in vocal performance at San Francisco Conservatory of Music. Career highlights include leading her choirs to double gold victory at the 2018 Northern California Golden State Choral Competition, conducting at Carnegie Hall, collaborating with the BYU Singers, and conducting a featured performance ensemble at California MEA. Sadoway has presented sessions at the California Choral Directors summer conference at ECCO and at the California MEA’s Bay Section winter conference.
Choral Audacity
Choral Audacity is a chamber choir that centers stories of marginalized communities through the programming of underrepresented composers with a roster of underrepresented singers. Founded in 2018 as a project-based ensemble, we seek to cultivate excellence of underrepresented voices through performance, mentorship, scholarship, and community. Together, we have presented programs such as: “We All Live Here” (American music through the eyes of BIPOC), “Freedom Come” (music of Civil Rights Movement and the apartheid), “Wildfire” (music in response to the California wildfires), and “Balikbayan” (stories of overseas Filipino workers).
Darita Seth is a Cambodian American conductor, haute-contre, and composer who serves as founder, president, and director of Choral Audacity. He is the director of choral and vocal studies at Santa Rosa Junior College. Prior conducting affiliations include: interim director of choral studies and conducting at University of the Pacific; Cantare Con Vivo in Oakland, CA; St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach, CA; St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Danville, CA; Danville Girls Chorus; Cantabella Children’s Chorus; and the Grammy Award-winning Pacific Boychoir Academy. Seth holds a BM in vocal performance from Capital University’s Conservatory of Music and an MM in choral conducting from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach.
Downey High School EPIC Jazz Choir
Downey High School’s EPIC Jazz Choir is located in the beautiful city of Downey, some thirteen miles east of downtown Los Angeles, and has twelve to eighteen voices. They rehearse five to eight hours per week learning songs from a variety of jazz styles. They perform at various jazz festivals and events in the community. They also sang at Carnegie Hall (2003, 2007); the Lincoln Center’s Allen Room (2010, 2013); and at the Apollo Theater (2016). They won the sweepstakes at the Folsom Jazz Festival (2008, 2020, 2024); Reno (2018); and the gold medal at the inaugural Disney World Celebration Jazz Festival (2009).
Cory Olariu was born in Romania and studied piano and trumpet at Ion Vidu School of Music in Timisoara, his hometown. He came to the United States in 1989 and graduated from CSU Long Beach, CA, in 2001 with an MM in instrumental conducting. That same year he began teaching all bands and choirs at Downey HS. He has performed at Carnegie Hall with the Jazz Choir and at the 2006 Hollywood Bowl opening night with the Jazz Ensemble. His Jazz Ensemble performed at the Disney Hall in 2008 and has won numerous local and nationwide jazz festivals. The ensemble is also a Downbeat winner twice in its category.
Ensign Singers
The Ensign Singers is a community chamber ensemble specializing in the performance of sacred choral repertoire. Founded in 2019, the choir initially performed primarily for community religious events before beginning a series of summer seasons in 2021. Each summer, the choir highlights a choral masterwork paired with contemporary compositions and arrangements. Previous seasons have included large-scale works by Bach, Rachmaninoff, Vivaldi, and Rheinberger, with new music by Carlos Cordero, Reena Esmail, Josu Elberdin, and others. The choir also performs new works and arrangements by local composers.
David Kime is currently pursuing graduate studies in choral conducting at Brigham Young University, where he assists the university’s ensembles and sings baritone with the BYU Singers. Since founding the Ensign Singers in 2019, he has led the community chamber ensemble in performances that combine sacred choral masterworks with gems of contemporary repertoire. He also conducts for A Voice for Good and is the assistant director of the Utah Valley Interfaith Choir. He also competed in the 2024 Gheorghe Dima International Music Competition, choral conducting section. With a bachelor’s degree in piano and organ, he frequently performs in university, professional, and church settings.
Faith Community Lutheran Church Kantori
Kantori at Faith Community Lutheran Church, located in Las Vegas, Nevada, is a church choir that provides traditional music for weekly Sunday and midweek worship services and special occasions in Faith’s Chapel of the Resurrection. Its singers range in age from eighteen to seventy. The choir has been honored to serve two English cathedral residencies in recent years, with performances at St. Paul’s London, Kings College, Oxford, Sydney Sussex College, Cambridge, Ely Cathedral, and Bath Abbey.
Joseph Svendsen is cantor at Faith Community Lutheran Church in Summerlin, Nevada, where he leads the church’s traditional music program. He serves as director of choral studies and associate professor of music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he conducts the UNLV Singers and teaches graduate coursework in choral literature and conducting. Svendsen is also the artistic director of the Las Vegas Master Singers, a ninety-voice volunteer ensemble. He is active as a clinician and guest conductor for festivals, honor choirs, and workshops. He has presented, performed, and published with several professional music education, choral, and church music organizations. He holds a DMA from Texas Tech University, an MME from the University of Illinois, and a BA from Luther College.
Foothill High School Madrigal Singers
The Foothill High School Madrigal Singers is an auditioned ensemble composed of students in grades nine through twelve. Performing only the highest level of choral repertoire, the Madrigal Singers regularly perform for events in their hometown of Tustin as well as an annual performance tour. During the holidays, they sing at over twenty caroling engagements to fundraise for the choral music program. Each spring they are featured in Foothill’s Knights on Broadway, a fully choreographed production, now in its sixty-first year. They performed a solo concert in Carnegie Hall in 2013 and were honored to perform for ACDA in 2014 and 2018.
Chelsea Dehn holds a BM in vocal performance from UC, Irvine, and an MM in choral conducting from CSULA. Dehn is currently in her twentieth year of teaching choral music at Foothill High School. She finds that serving the students and community of Tustin is a privilege, and she hopes to remain at Foothill for the longevity of her career. In recognition of her exceptional teaching, she was honored with the Tustin Unified School District’s Teacher of the Year Award in 2023. In addition to teaching high school, Dehn directs the chancel choir at Our Saviour’s Lutheran Church in Orange and has held this position proudly since 2003.
Green Valley High School Green NV
Green NV is the contemporary a cappella ensemble at Green Valley High School in Henderson, Nevada. They are a totally student-run ensemble. Green NV was featured in an interest session at the 2010 Western ACDA Region Conference in Tucson, AZ, titled “Contemporary A Capella: From the Radio to the Classroom.” They have received superior ratings in several festivals, performed in Disneyland and Knott’s Berry Farm, and host the annual Acapalooza, which features middle and high school a cappella groups in the Clark County School District and surrounding areas.
Kimberly Barclay Ritzer is in her thirty-fifth year as director of the Green Valley High School Choirs in Henderson, Nevada, opening the school in 1991. She is a 1990 graduate of UNLV, where she received a BME, and a 2001 graduate of the University of Phoenix with a master’s in educational administration. Ritzer is currently the task force chair for high school choir and facility chair for the Clark County School District secondary fine arts programs. In addition, Ritzer serves as the Green Valley High School Performing Arts Department chair and has taught secondary choral methods at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas.
Los Gatos High School Treble Choir
The Los Gatos High School Treble Choir has maintained a tradition of choral excellence and active community service for years. The choir participates in concerts, festivals, and competitions throughout the year and consistently receives unanimous superior ratings in California MEA Large Ensemble Festivals and CMEA all-state choral festivals. In 2019 and 2025, the LGHS Treble Choir was selected as one of the featured ensembles at the California All-State Music Conference. In addition to performing locally and regionally, including Carnegie Hall, the choir has performed in prestigious venues internationally.
Ricel Riley is the choral activities director of Los Gatos High School and the artistic director of A Sharp Chorus based in Los Altos, California. Riley made her international conducting debut with the Los Gatos High School Choirs in England in 2014. Her audition choirs were chosen to perform at the CMEA All-State Choral Festival in 2024. Riley debuted her Carnegie Hall conducting with the Los Gatos High School Choirs in 2023. Choirs under her direction have earned unanimous superior ratings in the CMEA Large Ensemble Festival, first place at the Worldstrides Heritage Festival, and have performed in venues in Europe, including an invitation of her community choir to sing at a High Mass at the Vatican’s St. Peter’s Basilica.
Northern Arizona University High Altitude
Now in its eighteenth year under the direction of Dr. Ryan Holder, High Altitude has become one of the premier collegiate vocal jazz ensembles in the Southwest. With a strong emphasis on solo singing, stage presence, and vocal improvisation, the group is open to students of all majors. High Altitude has performed at state and regional conferences and shared the stage with internationally renowned artists, including the New York Voices, The Real Group, and The Swingles. In 2012 the ensemble was one of only three groups from the United States invited to perform at the Jazz Educators Network Conference in Louisville, Kentucky.
Ryan W. Holder is the associate director of choral studies at Northern Arizona University, where he directs the vocal jazz ensemble High Altitude and oversees multiple a cappella groups. A recognized vocal jazz educator and conductor, he has led allstate and honor vocal jazz ensembles across Arizona, Nevada, California, and Utah, and frequently serves as a clinician and adjudicator throughout the western United States. He coordinates the annual NAU Jazz Madrigal Festival, one of the nation’s largest non-competitive choral events. His ensembles have performed at state, regional, and national conferences, and in 2023 he made his Carnegie Hall debut conducting the world premiere of Lionteeth by Anders Edenroth of The Real Group.
Ragazzi Boys Chorus Young Men’s Ensemble
Grammy Award-winning Ragazzi Boys Chorus, Silicon Valley, under the leadership of artistic and executive director Kent Jue, provides outstanding musical education and performance opportunities for boys and young men ages five through eighteen. The largest boys’ chorus in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ragazzi serves over 230 choristers in six tiered levels. Ragazzi ensembles have recently performed Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony, Alma Deutscher’s Cinderella with Opera San Jose, at the 2025 ACDA National and 2024 Western ACDA Conferences, and at the 2023 Chorus America Conference.
Travis Rogers has been a choral conductor for forty-nine years. Retired from Napa High School, he directed the activities of over three hundred students in seven ensembles. NHS choirs toured frequently, performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Notre Dame, Sydney Opera House, Westminster Abbey, Sagrada Familia, and the cathedrals of St. Patrick’s, Christ Church, and Barcelona. Rogers began NHS’s first men’s choir with twenty singers. In subsequent years, up to 220 sang in one or more of three male ensembles at NHS. NHS’s Beginning Men’s Choir is the subject of the documentary Top Row. Rogers has served California ACDA in many capacities and is a past president of the Western ACDA Region.
University of British Columbia University Singers
University Singers is the premier choral ensemble of the University of British Columbia School of Music. This thirty-two-voice select ensemble performs the most advanced and exciting music written for chamber choir spanning the Renaissance to the modern day. The ensemble also performs major works with orchestra each season. The University Singers won several awards, including the CBC National Choral Competition and the BBC International Choral Competition, and is an active touring ensemble. The UBC choral program boasts five ensembles and a vibrant graduate program in choral conducting.
Graeme Langager is director of choral activities at the University of British Columbia School of Music and a frequent guest conductor, adjudicator, and clinician. He has conducted performances in cathedrals and concert halls throughout Europe and across North America, and at choral conferences and festivals. Langager served as the artistic director and conductor of the acclaimed Phoenix Chamber Choir in Vancouver from 2012 to 2018, during which time the choir released three CDs and was invited to perform at Canada’s Podium Conference in 2016. He received his DMA in conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and an MM in conducting from California State University.
Westminster California Chapter of the Barbershop Harmony Society The Westminster Chorus
The Westminster Chorus was founded in 2002 and quickly climbed the ranks of the Barbershop Harmony Society; they became international champions in 2007, 2010, 2015, 2019, and 2024. In 2009 they were crowned Choir of the World at the International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. The Westminster Chorus holds a mission to preserve and advance the Barbershop art form, while providing and encouraging an inclusive community for youth in Southern California and around the world to engage in lifelong singing, music, and artistic expression.
Dan Wessler holds a DMA in choral conducting and literature from University of Colorado Boulder. In addition to his directorship of The Westminster Chorus, Wessler serves on the adjunct faculties of Concordia University Irvine and North Orange County Community College. He has had research published in the Choral Journal and has presented sessions at the annual conferences of Colorado MEA and California MEA. Wessler sings with After Hours, the 2018 International Barbershop Quartet champion. He is in demand as a clinician and coach, and is also an active barbershop arranger, having written over 250 arrangements for various groups around the world. In addition, he serves as a certified musicality judge for the Barbershop Harmony Society’s contest and judging system.
