Dr. Leann Conley-Holcom named Director of Choral and Vocal Activities

Dr. Conley-Holcom is in demand as a choral clinician and music educator nationally and internationally; recent guest conducting highlights include the Seattle Men's and Women's Choruses and the Shaoxing Philharmonic Children's Chorus in China.

In addition to teaching and conducting, Dr. Conley-Holcom performs regularly as a singer. Solo appearances include Maryland’s Mountainside Baroque, the Oregon Bach Festival, Symphony Tacoma, Flagstaff Symphony, and her solo debut at Carnegie Hall with the New York City Chamber Orchestra. A professional ensemble singer, she is a tenured member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and performs with Solaris, Vox Humana, and True Concord Voices and Orchestra, who won a GRAMMY in 2016 for the album Far in the Heavens: Choral Music of Stephen Paulus. She has performed in international ensembles including the 2008 Festival Ensemble of the International Bach Academy Stuttgart and the 2017 Bach Ensemble Helmuth Rilling, which presented concerts of Bach's Christmas Oratorio in Sindelfingen and Schwabisch-Gmund, Germany. She has sung under Marin Alsop, Helmuth Rilling, Masaaki Suzuki, Maria Guinand, Jeffrey Kahane, Matthew Halls, Craig Hella Johnson and Lars Ulrich Mortensen, and performed in the world premiere performances of Sven-David Sandstrom's Messiah, James MacMillan's European Requiem and a new reconstruction of the St. Mark Passion by Matthew Halls. 

Prior to her appointment at Seattle University, Dr. Conley-Holcom directed the choral and vocal programs at Chabot College and conducted choirs for the GRAMMY-award-winning Pacific Boychoir Academy and the acclaimed Tacoma Youth Chorus. She holds a Bachelors degree in voice from Pacific Lutheran University, a Masters degree in conducting from Northern Arizona University, and a Doctorate in conducting from the University of Washington.