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2026 ACDA Western Region Conference

Special Events

Voices of the Philippines: Working Towards a More Equitable Honor Choir
Children’s Songs for All Choirs Process: A Content Analysis of Honor Choir

Lhara Groberg Preparation Across the United States
Ramon Cardenas

2026 ACDA Western Region Conference

Student Conducting Masterclasses

Hawai’i, Manoa (MME, Choral). Nahulu has been in-
Graduate and Conference Attendees volved as a music educator/director of choral music in
Hawai’i since 1977. She has been the artistic director of
Craig Jessop is professor of music and co- the Hawai’i Youth Opera Chorus since 1986. She, with
ordinator of the master of music in con- her family, are garment manufacturers. They are the
ducting (choral emphasis) at Utah State owners of “Bete Mu’u,” which celebrates the “Classic
University. From 2010 to 2019 he served Mu’umu’u,” a line of traditionally based elegant Hawai-
as the founding dean of USU’s Caine ian mu’umu’u. Nahulu also plays the organ at Wai’anae
College of the Arts, following his distinguished tenure Hongwanji’s monthly service.
as music director of the world-renowned Taberna-
cle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square. He is the
founder and music director of the American Festival Undergraduate
Chorus and Orchestra, now in its eighteenth season,
and continues to lead the National Memorial Day Cho-
ral Festival at the Kennedy Center. A former lieutenant Edith A. Copley is a Regents’ Professor
colonel in the United States Air Force music programs, Emerita at Northern Arizona University.
Jessop served as director of the Singing Sergeants and During her thirty-one-year tenure in Flag-
conducted air force ensembles in the United States and staff, she conducted the Shrine of the Ages
Europe. He has recorded more than fifteen albums with Choir and taught courses in undergradu-
the Tabernacle Choir. ate and graduate conducting and graduate choral liter-
ature. Prior to her NAU appointment, Copley taught
secondary choral music for seven years in Iowa and four
New Teachers and Emerging Conductors years at the American International School in Vienna,
(5 years or less experience) Austria. She has contributed articles and chapters for

several publications and has conducted all-state choirs
Nola A. Nahulu is a native of Makaha, in over thirty states and international festivals in Ger-
Oʻahu , Hawai’i. She received her educa- many, the Netherlands, Japan, Luxembourg, Tasma-
tion from Wai’anae Elementary School, nia, England, Australia, China, Oman, Turkey, Ireland,
Kamehameha Schools, Whitman Col- Austria, and France. Copley has served ACDA in vari-
lege (BA Psychology), and University of ous leadership roles and is currently national president.

178 CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5