ACDA Utah Featured Performers
October 21 & 22, 2022
da Pacem — Dr. Ronald Staheli, Director
Soon after his retirement from BYU’s School of Music, former students began asking Ron Staheli if he would like to conduct a choir they wanted to organize. He will tell you that it was a difficult decision because he was enjoying being away from the pressures every choral conductor faces, but, on the other hand, he was missing terribly the chance to make good music with good people. After his decision in the spring of 2021, organizational plans took shape and the choir, da Pacem, was organized.
Dr. Staheli enjoys keeping company with others who eagerly seek the challenges and rewards of fine choral music making. “These are the people you find in choirs of spirit, cooperation, and determination,” he says.
Dr. Staheli finds choral music’s greatest rewards occur with opportunities to serve others, particularly fellow members of a choir. For him it matters little if a performance is more casual for perhaps just a few people, or a formal concert before a sizable audience. What matters is the choir’s opportunity to lift each other or a listener to a nobler, more joyful plane of living by experiencing something of extraordinary beauty.
Box Elder High School Madrigals — Casey Wood, Director
The Box Elder High School Madrigals are an auditioned SATB chamber choir comprised of High School juniors and seniors. Described by their conductor as “the greatest choir in the history of humanity” the Madrigals have earned a reputation of technical excellence as they sing music ranging from Monteverdi to Whitacre, Puerling to Swift (Taylor).
Casey Wood graduated from Weber State University in choral music education in 2014 and has spent the last 8 years directing ensembles at Box Elder High School. In addition to the high school choirs, Casey is the music director of The Summit Chamber Singers, a community ensemble based in Brigham City. Outside of conducting, Casey works frequently as a freelance pianist in many pop and jazz ensembles around the state. He also sings tenor in the Salt Lake Vocal Artists.
Maple Mountain High School — Braden Rymer, Director
Maple Mountain’s Men’s Chorus and Sorelle Voce are comprised of devoted performers who sing in a variety of musical styles and genres, being praised often for their beautiful tone and musicality. Since the opening of Maple Mountain High School in 2009, these groups have had an attitude of excellence, receiving all superior ratings at UMEA state-sanctioned festivals for the past thirteen years. They have sung across the U.S. on various national tours and will soon perform in New York City. Maple Mountain Men’s Chorus recently performed as a featured choir in UVU’s Bass Clef Festival and the Utah State Board of Education’s annual conference.
Braden Rymer joined the MMHS faculty in 2017 as the director of choirs. It is there that he teaches five ensembles, AP Music Theory, and is also the Fine Art’s Department Chairman. Choirs under his direction have been invited to sing in many concerts and conferences. The most recent include solo performances at the UVU Bass Clef Festival in 2022, UMEA Conference & ACDA Utah in 2020, various performances with the UofU Chamber and Concert Choir, as well as BYU Classical 89’s Christmas Program where his Chamber Singers were selected as the Christmas competition winner. Braden enjoys performing as a baritone and bass, having performed with choral groups such as Utah Chamber Artists, da Pacem, and Brevitas. He also has appeared as a performer in theater companies such as Hale Center Theater, Hart Theater Company, and Scera. Braden is actively involved in adjudication, clinics, and professional music organizations like ACDA, UMEA, and NAFME. In his free time, he enjoys baking, cooking, photography, playing the piano/accompanying, and doing home projects.
Brigham Young University Concert Choir — Dr. Brent Wells, Director
The Brigham Young University Concert Choir is an auditioned ensemble made up of nearly one hundred students representing diverse majors from myriad disciplines. This select, mixed-voice ensemble frequently performs choral-orchestral masterworks alongside traditional repertoire from the choral canon, including newly commissioned compositions. Additionally, Concert Choir often performs multicultural selections from across the globe.
The Concert Choir has been a featured ensemble at regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), as guest artists with the Utah Symphony, and on multiple recordings.
Dr. Brent Wells, Associate Professor of Choral Conducting and Ensembles, is the director of the Brigham Young University Men’s Chorus and Concert Choir. Prior to his appointment at BYU, he served as Director of Choral Activities at the College of Idaho and as conductor of Treasure Valley Millennial Choirs and Orchestras™. He has also led choral programs at the secondary level.
Dr. Wells received his DMA in choral conducting at Michigan State University, where he studied with David Rayl, Sandra Snow, and Jonathan Reed. He earned his BM in music education and MM in choral conducting at Brigham Young University under the tutelage of Ronald Staheli, Mack Wilberg, and Rosalind Hall.
Wells’ scholarship and creative activity focus primarily on hymnody and the folksong. He has published a series of articles in the Choral Journal discussing the folk-based compositions and collecting methodology of Percy Grainger and is also active as a composer and arranger. Wells is published by Walton Music and earthsongs, having arranged selections from the sacred harp repertory, the treasury of the African-American spiritual, and the folk traditions of Appalachia, England, Germany, Poland, Vietnam, China, Armenia, and the country of Georgia.
As a bass vocalist, Dr. Wells has performed as a featured soloist and enjoyed membership in many acclaimed choral ensembles. He has sung professionally with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Tennessee Chamber Chorus, Boise Baroque Orchestra, and Redlands Choral Artists. He also performed the Berlioz Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5 with the Carnegie Hall Festival Chorus under the direction of Robert Spano.