Dr. Paul Torkelson is currently Director of Choral Studies at the University of Nevada/Reno, where he directs the Symphonc conducting. During the 2011-2012 academic year, his choirs performed Messiah by Handel, the Requiem in C minor by Cherubini with the Reno Chamber Orchestra and the Messa da Requiem by Verdi with the Reno Philharmonic Orchestra. The Nevada Chamber Singers have also been invited to travel to Greece during the summer of2013 for the Festival of the Aegean and a concert at Carnegie Hall on Sunday, May 26th, 2013, where Dr. Torkelson will be conducting The Sunrise Mass by Ola Gjeilo.
     MidAmerica Productions welcomed Dr. Paul Torkelson as an esteemed Principal Conductor-in­ Residence in 2008. Dr. Torkelson brings with him many years of musical expertise and conducting experience. He recently retired from his position as Zahn Chair of Choral Music at Wartburg College in Waverly, Iowa, arid was promoted to Zahn Professor Emeritus, where he had conducted performances of opera workshop, taught advanced conducting and was a member ofthe Scholars faculty.
     Dr. Torkelson earned his BME from Wartburg College where he was featured as a soloist with the Wartburg Choir. He holds a MM degree from Kansas State University and a DMA from the University of Colorado, Boulder.
     He is a frequent guest clinician at state ACDA conventions, and has conducted several All-State Choirs throughout the United States. In 1996, he conducted the 50th anniversary Iowa All-State Choir, and in 1998 conducted the North Central ACDA Collegiate Honor Choir in Minneapolis, MN. Since 1998, he has conducted the Iowa Ambassadors of Music Chorus on a three week European tour, and will be traveling with them during the summer of2012. He has been invited to conduct the Wisconsin All-State Chorus in the summer of 2014, and will conduct the Nevada Ambassadors of Music Chorus on their 2014 European tour featuring choral musicians from the state ofNevada performing in England, France, Switzerland, Austria, Italy and Germany.      Under his direction, the Wartburg Choir performed at the ACDA National Convention in 1987 and the North Central regional convention in 1988, 1992 and 1998. Dr. Torkelson made his conducting debut with the Manhattan Philharmonic Orchestra and the Wartburg Choir in concert at Carnegie Hall in a concert produced by MidAmerica Productions.  The Wartburg Choir toured Europe on eight occasions under his direction. Of their 2004 performance at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. , the Washington Post asserted that the Wartburg Choir". . .has impeccable intonation and excellent diction, and was trained with rock-solid discipline. "

SSAA Choir
Sigrid Johnson
St. Olaf College, Northfield, MN

     Sigrid Johnson has been a member of the voice and choral faculty at St. Olaf College in Northfield, MN, since 1983.  During her 24-year tenure as conductor of Manitou Singers, the 100-voice chorus for first-year women at St. Olaf, Johnson has inspired more than 2,000 young women. As a guest clinician at choral workshops and all-state music festivals in 30 states she has enriched and deepened the musical experience of countless singers of all ages across the country.  Johnson is known for her skill at blending voices, perfecting tone and assisting with vocal production -- both psychologically and physiologically.
      Johnson earned her bachelor's of music degree in vocal performance from St. Cloud State University and a master's of music in voice performance from the University of Michigan. She has taught voice at the University of Minnesota and Gustavus Adolphus College, was a member and associate conductor of the Dale Warland Singers and music director of the Dale Warland Symphonic Chorus. She was a presenter at the World Choral Symposium in Copenhagen, Denmark in 2008 and in Puerto Madryn, Argentina in 2011
.       Johnson has prepared symphonic choruses for internationally known conductors such as Neemi Jarvi, Sir Neville Mariner, David Zinman, Stanislaw Skrowaczewsky, Gerard Swartz, Edo de Waart and Leonard Slatkin.
      In 2006 Johnson received the F. Melius Christiansen Award from the American Choral Directors Association of Minnesota (ACDA-MN). The lifetime achievement award -- the highest honor from the association -- is presented annually to a Minnesota conductor whose career has provided outstanding contributions and distinguished service to choral music in Minnesota.
     Currently, Johnson is associate conductor and director of special events for Philip Brunelle's VocalEssence and is active as a clinician specializing in women's choral literature.

Contact your District Chair for district deadlines for the
  following forms:
   • Form A (Total Choral Enrollment Form)
   • Rosters signed by principal, counselor, and local choir teacher.    • $12 audition fee per student