- Dr. Timothy Westerhaus, Artistic Director
- Serena Chin Collaborative Pianist
- Miriam Anderson, Choir Manager
- Philip Tschopp, Managing Director
Dr. Timothy Westerhaus
Conductor Timothy Westerhaus is passionate about transforming humankind through choral music that fosters empathy, builds inclusive community, and deepens understanding through diverse programming and collaborations. He seeks to advocate for singing among all ages and to engage choral beauty with contemporary issues relevant to society, justice, and culture in local and global communities.
From 2010 to 2021, Tim made his home in Spokane, Washington, where he served as Director of Choirs and Vocal Studies at Gonzaga University, serving also as Music Department Chair from 2017-2021. He recently served as President of the Northwestern Region of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and as the University & College Curriculum Officer of the Washington Music Educators Association (WMEA). He currently serves as a member of the National Collegiate Choral Organization Board. He founded and conducted the professional-level chamber chorus, Spokane Kantorei, an ensemble of music educators committed to sparking the imagination with fresh interpretations of early music and premieres of new compositions. He now lives in Flagstaff, Arizona, where he serves as Director of Choral Studies at the Northern Arizona University School of Music, and he is Artistic-Director Designate for Master Chorale of Flagstaff.
Tim has conducted collegiate and professional ensembles in the United States, Europe, Colombia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, and South Korea, where he was a Conducting Fellow of the International Conductor Exchange Program. He has led ensembles in performances at regional conferences of ACDA and the National Association for Music Education and at WMEA state conferences. As a tenor, he professionally sings in the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus and has sung there under Helmuth Rilling, Matthew Halls, John Butt, Jeffrey Kahane, and Craig Hella Johnson. He performs as pianist in solo recitals and collaborative concerts and leads Baroque performances from the harpsichord.
Interdisciplinary choral collaborations during the 2020-2021 pandemic included “Mindfulness with Music” in partnership with a Tibetan Buddhist compassion meditation leader; a concert titled “Can you see?”, featuring historical and modern African American composers and presented with poetry and spoken word collaborators; Considering Matthew Shepard, performed with Spokane Spectrum Singers; and performances with bluegrass band, brass quintet, and Argentinian folk ensemble. Virtual residencies and exchanges included the Chitungwiza Harmony Singers (Zimbabwe), Fulbright FLTA teacher Reymund Lara (Philippines), Dr. Zanaida Robles (Tonality, Los Angeles), and Emiliano Linares (Argentina).
Dr. Westerhaus received his master and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from Boston University, where he studied with Ann Howard Jones, and he received his bachelor’s degree in sacred music from the University of Saint Thomas, where he studied with Angela Broeker.
An outdoor enthusiast, Tim enjoys running, cross-country skiing, and backcountry camping, whether in the Washington Cascades or Arizona San Francisco Peaks.
Serena Chin, collaborative pianist
Serena Chin has had the pleasure of collaborating with Choral Arts NW since 2014. She is an active accompanist, vocal coach, and chamber musician in the Seattle area and currently serves as an accompanist for the University of Washington and Ballard High School. She is passionate about working with singers, especially young voices, and has performed with choirs from numerous organizations, including the American Boychoir, Interlochen Arts Camp, and Children’s Choir of Washington (DC) as well as national, regional, and state honor choirs for ACDA, NAfME, and OAKE. Other Seattle collaborations have included Northwest Girlchoir, Seattle University, Mirinesse Women’s Choir, and Opus 7. Serena received her Bachelor of Music in piano from Wheaton College and Master of Music in coaching and accompanying from Westminster Choir College.
Miriam Anderson, Choir Manager
Miriam Anderson has been involved in music her whole life and started studying voice and percussion at the age of 10. She began her studies in both choral and orchestral conducting during her undergraduate years at UC Berkeley. After earning a bachelor’s degree in music and peace and conflict studies, she was hired to assistant direct the UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus, and to play principal timpani and run the percussion section for the UC Berkeley Symphony Orchestra. In June 2017 she completed a Master of Music degree in choral conducting from the University of Washington.
Miriam is passionate about using choral music to build community and connection, and as a form of outreach, integrating her backgrounds in music and peace studies. Outside of acting as the chorus manager and a singing member of Choral Arts Northwest, Miriam directs Puget Soundworks, the Seattle Labor Chorus, and the Piccolini and Entrata ensembles of Seattle Girls Choir. She also teaches choir at Seattle Waldorf High School and is a teaching artist at Seattle Opera. Miriam also frequently gigs in the Seattle area as a percussionist, vocalist, and conductor.
When she is not making music, Miriam enjoys dance, yoga, knitting, cooking, and playing with her cat.
Philip Tschopp, Managing Director
Philip Tschopp is known as a champion of new music, collaborator with Northwest composers, and leader of regional instrumental and choral ensembles. As Music Director for the City Opera Ballet, Mr. Tschopp conducted City Opera’s acclaimed Marriage of Figaro (2015) and Cosi Fan Tutte (2016), bringing professional opera back to Bellevue. With Ballet Bellevue/Orchestra Bellevue, he has led productions of Fairy Queen – Purcell (2003), Sleeping Beauty – Tchaikovsky (2006), Nutcracker – Tchaikovsky (2006, 2014), Coppelia – Delibes (2007), Giselle – Adam (2014), Firebird – Stravinsky (2014, 2017), OPERA + BALLET (2015, 2016), Messiah – The Ballet (2015), Romeo and Juliet (World Premiere) – Jon Steinmeier (choreography by Amber Willet) and The Snowman – Blake (original choreography by Jennifer Porter).
Regionally, Philip served as conductor/music director for Bellevue’s Cascadian Chorale (1994 – 2007) where he premiered over 30 new works commissioned from composers Bern Herbolsheimer, Troy Peters, David White, and William Hawley. Under Mr. Tschopp’s direction, the Cascadian Chorale and Chamber Orchestra presented numerous choral/orchestral masterworks including Requiem settings by Brahms, Mozart, Fauré, and Duruflé, as well as more diverse fare such as Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610, Poulenc’s Gloria, Arvo Pärt’s Te Deum, and Berlioz’s Te Deum.
Mr. Tschopp has been an active guest artist with notable Northwest regional ensembles including the Fisher Ensemble, the Affinity Composer’s Collective, soundX, and the Chelan Bach Festival. In November 2015, Mr. Tschopp was conductor and baritone soloist for The Withing Project, Hope Wechkin’s acclaimed Theatrical Oratorio based on the science of human connection. In addition to his work with Choral Arts Northwest, Mr. Tschopp has served as Managing Director for Pacific MusicWorks, Music Director of St. Clement Episcopal Church of Rome, and is Music Director for Puget Brass, one of the premier English brass bands in the Northwest.
Dr. Robert Bode, Artistic Director Emeritus
Robert Bode served as Artistic Director of Choral Arts Northwest from 2007-2021. Upon his retirement, he was named Artistic Director Emeritus. During his tenure, Bode and Choral Arts Northwest produced six CDs, including “Mornings Like This,” which won the American Prize for Best Choral Performance in 2009. In the spring of 2010, Bode and Choral Arts Northwest received the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence, presented by Chorus America. In 2015, Bode and Choral Arts Northwest were invited by President and Mrs. Obama to sing for a holiday reception at the White House. Bode was Conductor in Residence at the Ohio State University from 2019 to 2023. Before going to OSU, Bode served as the Raymond Neevel Endowed Chair of Choral Music at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri-Kansas City. Prior to UMKC, Bode served on the faculty at Whitman College in Walla Walla, WA, where he held the Alma Meisnest Endowed Chair for the Humanities. His choirs performed at regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association, the Missouri Music Educators Association, the Ohio Music Educators Association, and Chorus America. Bode has the distinction of having performed for three national conventions of ACDA, each with a different chorus: Walla Walla Mastersingers in 1995, Choral Arts Northwest in 2015, and the University of Missouri-Kansas City Conservatory Singers in 2019.
Known nationally as a conducting pedagogue, Bode has led masterclasses in conducting for ACDA conferences in Missouri, Oregon, Texas, and Washington. In 2019, Bode taught the Undergraduate Conducting Masterclass for the national convention of ACDA in Kansas City. Bode is known throughout the United States for his dedication to the commissioning and performance of new choral music. He currently serves on the Composers Initiative Committee of the American Choral Directors Association. As a prize-winning poet, Bode has written texts for over 100 choral works. His volume of lyric poetry, “Crickets and Commas: The Selected Poetry of Robert Bode,” was published by Walton Music in 2021. His latest book, Hearts All Whole: Reflections on (Life and) Twelve Choral Gems, offers insights into the performance of such iconic choral works as Mozart’s Ave Verum Corpus, Brahms’s O Schöne Nacht, and Lauridsen’s Sure on this Shining Night. It is published by GIA Publications. Composer Morten Lauridsen has called the book, “a gift to the choral community.” Bode lives on four acres outside Columbus, Ohio with his husband Lee Thompson and their boxer, Spencer.
Dr. Richard Sparks, Founding Director
Richard Sparks has had a varied career in both academic and professional realms. He founded and conducted Seattle Pro Musica from 1973-1980, during which time he conducted over 70 different programs, ranging from all the major works of Bach and over 40 of his cantatas; choral/orchestral masterworks by Handel, Haydn, Mozart, Beethoven, and many others; the Northwest premiere of the Monteverdi 1610 Vespers with period instruments; and a cappella repertoire from renaissance through the 20th century.
He conducted the Seattle Symphony Chorale from 1990-94, including preparing them for nine recordings on the Delos label (now most available on Naxos), including the Grammy-nominated recording of Howard Hanson’s Lament for Beowulf.
He also founded and conducted Choral Arts Northwest from 1993-2006, concentrating particularly on a cappella music, but also including works such as the Pärt Passio. During this time Choral Arts recorded three CDs on the Loft/Gothic label. Sparks was Artistic Director for 12 years of one of Canada’s noted professional choirs, Pro Coro Canada. Repertoire included significant commissions and a wide variety of other repertoire, including the Bach St. John Passion and Mass in B Minor, Mozart Requiem, all six of the late Haydn Masses, plus tours to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal.
He has also been a regular guest conductor, notably being the first North American since Norman Luboff to work with the Swedish Radio Choir in 2002, 2007, and 2008. This included preparing them for a DVD recording on the BIS label of the Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic, Valery Gergiev conducting.
Academically, he taught at Mount Holyoke College from 1980-83, and Pacific Lutheran University from 1983-2001. At PLU he led the Choir of the West on numerous tours, including Japan, China, England, and Scandinavia, also making 8 CD recordings. Major works conducted included Verdi’s Requiem and Britten’s War Requiem. He taught at the University of North Texas from 2009-2019, where he conducted the Collegium Singers, who performed with their period-instrument orchestra. They made four trips to the Boston Early Music Festival and sang at the Portland conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization. The Collegium Singers have many live performances on YouTube, including the 1725 version of Bach’s Johannespassion, Monteverdi’s 1610 Vespers, and the Vivaldi Gloria, which so far has 4.6 million views. He was also Chair of the Division of Ensembles and Conducting at UNT.
Currently, he is conductor of the Benedict XVI Institute, which released a CD on the Cappella Records label last year of Frank La Rocca’s Mass of the Americas. Their second CD will be issued this fall, including La Rocca’s Requiem for the Forgotten and Messe des Malades.