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2026 ACDA Western Region Conference March 4-7, 2026 San Jose, California

Ragazzi Boys Chorus University of British Columbia
Young Men’s Ensemble University Singers

University Singers is the premier choral ensemble
Grammy Award-winning Ragazzi Boys Chorus, of the University of British Columbia School of Mu-
Silicon Valley, under the leadership of artistic and ex- sic. This thirty-two-voice select ensemble performs the
ecutive director Kent Jue, provides outstanding musi- most advanced and exciting music written for cham-
cal education and performance opportunities for boys ber choir spanning the Renaissance to the modern day.
and young men ages five through eighteen. The largest The ensemble also performs major works with orches-
boys’ chorus in the San Francisco Bay Area, Ragazzi tra each season. The University Singers won several
serves over 230 choristers in six tiered levels. Ragazzi awards, including the CBC National Choral Compe-
ensembles have recently performed Benjamin Britten’s tition and the BBC International Choral Competition,
War Requiem with the San Francisco Symphony, Alma and is an active touring ensemble. The UBC choral
Deutscher’s Cinderella with Opera San Jose, at the 2025 program boasts five ensembles and a vibrant graduate
ACDA National and 2024 Western ACDA Confer- program in choral conducting.
ences, and at the 2023 Chorus America Conference.
Graeme Langager is director of choral
Travis Rogers has been a choral con- activities at the University of British Co-
ductor for forty-nine years. Retired from lumbia School of Music and a frequent
Napa High School, he directed the ac- guest conductor, adjudicator, and clini-
tivities of over three hundred students in cian. He has conducted performances in
seven ensembles. NHS choirs toured fre- cathedrals and concert halls throughout Europe and
quently, performing in venues such as Carnegie Hall, across North America, and at choral conferences and
Lincoln Center, Notre Dame, Sydney Opera House, festivals. Langager served as the artistic director and
Westminster Abbey, Sagrada Familia, and the cathe- conductor of the acclaimed Phoenix Chamber Choir
drals of St. Patrick’s, Christ Church, and Barcelona. in Vancouver from 2012 to 2018, during which time
Rogers began NHS’s first men’s choir with twenty sing- the choir released three CDs and was invited to per-
ers. In subsequent years, up to 220 sang in one or more form at Canada’s Podium Conference in 2016. He
of three male ensembles at NHS. NHS’s Beginning received his DMA in conducting from the University
Men’s Choir is the subject of the documentary Top Row. of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and an
Rogers has served California ACDA in many capacities MM in conducting from California State University.
and is a past president of the Western ACDA Region.

CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5 185