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2026 ACDA Northwestern Region Conference March 4-7, 2026 Tacoma, Washington

Portland State University Seattle Pro Musica
Chamber Choir Orpheon

Orpheon, the TTBB ensemble of Seattle Pro Mu-
The Portland State Chamber Choir was called sica, has been recognized throughout their fifty-three-
“amongst the finest choirs in the world” by Classics To- year history for the caliber of their programming and
day. They are the only American choir to have won the performances. They’ve received the Margaret Hillis
Seghizzi International Competition for Choral Singing Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP/Cho-
in Italy (2013) and the Bali International Choral Festi- rus America Award for Adventurous Programming,
val in Indonesia (2017). Their 2017 album The Doors of and they were ranked as “among America’s very best
Heaven is the only album by a university chorus to hit choirs” by American Record Guide. They’ve received in-
number one on the Billboard Classical Chart, and their ternational acclaim for their CD recordings and live
2020 release Translations was named an Album of the performances, and have appeared by invitation at nu-
Year by both Gramophone and Stereophile. In 2022 merous international and national festivals.
they represented the United States at the World Choral
Exposition in Portugal. Karen P. Thomas has conducted at inter-
national festivals in Europe and North
Ethan Sperry is the Barre Stoll Professor America, and has received awards from
of Choral Music at Portland State Univer- the NEA, American Academy and In-
sity, Gil Seeley Artistic Director and con- stitute of Arts and Letters, and ASCAP,
ductor of the Oregon Repertory Singers, among others. With Seattle Pro Musica, she received
and editor of the Global Rhythms series the Margaret Hillis Award and the ASCAP/Chorus
for earthsongs music, one of the best-selling choral series America Award for Adventurous Programming. For
in the world. Choirs under his direction have performed her leadership in multiple areas, including making cho-
at over a dozen ACDA and NAfME conferences and ral ensembles welcoming spaces for transgender and
toured over twenty foreign countries. Sperry has been a nonbinary singers, she received the 2018 Seattle May-
frequent guest conductor for composer A. R. Rahman or’s Arts Award. She was also named the Washington
and serves as a consultant for the KM Music Conserva- State Outstanding Choral Director. An award-winning
tory in Chennai, the first classical music school in India, composer, her music is regularly performed interna-
which opened in 2009. tionally by groups such as The Hilliard Ensemble, The
Vocal Consort of Brussels, NOTUS, and Cathedra of
the Washington National Cathedral.

CHORAL JOURNAL January 2026 Volume 66 Number 5 83