About the Choral Masterclass

"Cascade was a transformative experience for me as a conductor and singer. The combination of podium opportunity, vocal science, and collaboration with fellow conductors created a fulfilling and valuable week!"

Led by Dr. Geoffrey Boers, Music Director of Symphony Tacoma Voices, and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Washington,  the Cascade Conducting Choral Masterclass is an in-depth look at artistry and gesture, as well as vocal and rehearsal pedagogy. The class will be a hands-on one-to-one exploration of gesture to find each student’s personal “signature” which communicates deeply with the ensemble. Leading-edge practices of group vocal technique and singer-student based teaching will be explored. In addition to rich hours of learning, the course offers choral conductors 60+ minutes of instructional podium time with the Symphony Tacoma Voices, as well as two sessions with the Cascade Conducting Chamber Orchestra (rehearsal and concert), led by Symphony Tacoma principal musicians.  The final concert on Friday, June 30th, will be professionally video- recorded and made available to participants.  

Participants will experience:

• One-to-one conducting sessions with Dr. Boers.

• Group sessions for exploration and practice: Score study, rehearsal pedagogy, group vocal technique

• Daily podium time with the Symphony Tacoma voices and Cascade Masterclass Conductor Choir

• Access to Orchestral Masterclass sessions with Sarah Ioannides.

• Rehearsal with the masterclass orchestra

• Final concert with orchestra and chorus

• Post-Masterclass connection: Participants are encouraged to continue a professional connection to answer questions, offer ideas and advice, and help revitalize as conductors begin work in the following year.

All podium sessions will be video recorded.

Dr. Geoffrey Boers

Dr. Geoffrey Boers is Director of Choral Activities and the Ruth Waters Professor of Music at the University of Washington Seattle, where he leads a program widely recognized as innovative and forward thinking, focused on nurturing the whole student as conductor-teacher- scholar-servant-leader. His research is focused toward developing new thoughts on conducting gesture and rehearsal pedagogy as informed by vocal science, neuro-science, and recent vocal pedagogies; and their impact on empathy, perception, learning, and personal transformation. 

His primary passion during his career is to foster the love of choral music in young people, and to equip them with the joy of discovery in becoming a choral artist. When working with young singers and teachers, the word most often spoken is “connection”—singers feel connected to their instrument, each other, and to the music they are singing. Alongside his work with young singers, his hope was to affirm and enable the work of choral teachers, and provide opportunities for growth and inspiration. Over recent years, he has developed the Choral Literacy and Skills rubric which has been adopted by NAfME as the national standards for choral performance. He is currently working on a project to translate and broaden traditional choral pedagogy into globally diverse language and processes.