Ryan Smit - Tenor Ryan Smit is presently in his sixth year of teaching 7-12 choir, general music, and music theory at Lynden Christian School. Under his direction, the LCHS Concert Choir was recently invited to sing in Carnegie Hall in a massed choir performance of Beethoven’s Mass in C major with John Rutter. He received his undergraduate degree in Choral and Instrumental Music Education from Dordt College (Sioux Center, IA) and a master’s degree in Choral Music Education from Arizona State University (Tempe, AZ). He is currently the guest artistic director for the Bellingham Chamber Chorale, and he has served as chorusmaster for the Skagit Opera’s production of Madame Butterfly. He is the director of the senior choir and handbell choir at Third Christian Reformed Church in Lynden. He also teaches private voice during the summer, serves community choirs and student musicians as a vocal clinician, and performs as a tenor soloist with the Lynden Choral Society. Previously he taught choir, music theory, and guitar at Mountain Ridge High School in Glendale, Arizona, where he also served as Music Director at Phoenix Christian Reformed Church and sang tenor professionally with Charles Bruffy and the two-time Grammy award-winning Phoenix Chorale for six years.

Justin Raffa - Tenor

Justin Raffa comes to the Tri-Cities area from Tucson, AZ, where he received an M.M. in choral conducting at the University of Arizona. While in Arizona, Justin was an active member of AMEA and served on the Arizona ACDA state board as Repertoire & Standards Chair for Community Choirs. He began his professional career as a teacher in Bisbee, AZ, where he oversaw the high school choral department and theatre arts curriculum, in addition to directing the Bisbee Community Chorus and serving on the board of the Bisbee Arts Commission.

Originally from South Jersey, Justin is a graduate of Westminster Choir College of Rider University in Princeton, NJ, where he received a B.M. in music education with a vocal concentration and was awarded the Rider University President's Award. As a student, Justin studied conducting and group vocal technique with James Jordan.

Justin has sung as part of the Berkshire Choral Festival, Spoleto Festival USA, Voces Novae et Antiquae, the Tucson Symphony Orchestra Chorus, and continues to perform as a founding member of the Tucson Chamber Artists. As a member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir under Joseph Flummerfelt, Justin sang with some of the world’s leading conductors and orchestras.

Since his arrival in the Tri-Cities in August 2008, Justin has endeavored to build increased collaboration within the local performing arts community. His primary positions include conducting the region's premier choral ensemble, the Mid-Columbia Mastersingers, managing the Mid-Columbia Symphony, and directing the music program at All Saints Episcopal Church in Richland. Justin has also been an actor, music director and board member with the Richland Light Opera Company, music advisor with Washington East Opera, and conductor of the Three Rivers Children's Chorus. Additionally, Justin has served as an adjudicator for local festivals and competitions through the Columbia Basin Music Education Association and Washington State Educational Theatre Association.

Andy Marshall - Tenor

Andrew (Andy) Marshall has been the Director of Vocal Music at Squalicum High School in Bellingham Washington since 2008, and Music Director of the Bellingham Unitarian Fellowship since 2006. At Squalicum he conducts 5 award winning choral ensembles and at the Unitarian Fellowship he directs the B.U.F. Choir, (40 voices mixed) the BUF chamber choir, (12-15 voices mixed), and coordinates / performs diverse music on Sunday services. He holds a Masters in Teaching and a Bachelors of Arts in Music from Western Washington University and an Associate of Arts from Edmonds Community College. From 2002-2004 Andy served in the Peace Corps in the country of Mali, West Africa as a water sanitation extension agent where he learned to speak Bambara and French and became familiar with several of the distinct styles of Malian music. From 1998-2006 Andy was a founding member of the contemporary A cappella group Kickshaw that recorded 3 award wining albums and toured extensively over the west coast. From 1994-1997, he sang in the acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble Soundsation at Edmonds community college where he learned to love playing the bass and met his wife. He was as born and raised in near Redding California where he started playing old time fiddle music from the age of 5. Andy resides in Bellingham WA With his wife, two young daughters, and dog Honey.

Seth McMullen - Tenor

Seth McMullen has been teaching at Eagle High School in Eagle, Idaho since 2003, where he directs four choral ensembles, teaches Advanced Placement Music Theory and serves as chair for the Department of Arts & Music. In addition, he currently serves as the President-Elect for the Idaho Chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association. Under his direction the choral program at Eagle has received awards and commendations for excellence at local and regional choral festivals, including an invitation to perform at the Idaho Music Educator Association’s 2004 state conference, as well as nine superior ratings in the past three years at the District III Large Group Choral Festival. Mr. McMullen received a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from Northern Arizona University, and a Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from Whitworth College. Prior to coming to Eagle, Mr. McMullen taught band, choir and drama at Deer Park High School in Deer Park, Washington. In their spare time, Seth and his wife Hallie train and show their pack of German Shepherd Dogs.

Russell Seaton - Tenor, Counter-Tenor

Russell Seaton served as the Director of Choirs and Music Theory at University High School in Spokane Valley, Washington since 2001-10. He spent four years as the director of the Spokane Area Boychoir and Cambiata, part of the Spokane Area Children's Chorus. Additionally, he is the co-founder of the Spokane Choral Artists with fellow MEN member, Max Mandez. Russell received his Bachelor of Arts in Music from Western Washington University, his teaching certification from Eastern Washington University, and his Masters in Education and Technology from Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. In 2004 he was chosen as EWU and KHQ Channel's "Teacher of the Month" for the eastern side of the state of Washington. He currently serves as the Choral Curriculum Officer for Washington Music Educator's Association. He has served Washington's ACDA chapter as Multicultural Chair for four years and Eastern Liaison for two years, and has been a repeat presenter at their summer reading session. In 2007, Russell served as the Director for WMEA's Youth Honor Chorus for Washington's ArtsTime Festival. Recently he was the group manager for the MENC National Honor Choir in Washington DC. In 2010 he directed the Upper Columbia Honor Choir and the Montana West All State Choir, as well as received the 5th Avenue's Best Music Director for the state of Washington's Music Theatre Awards. Taking his choirs to Ireland and Italy, he has had the pleasure of performing with the world-renown ensemble ANUNA under the direction of Michael McGlynn. He and his wife, Tammy, an elementary music specialist and junior high choral director, enjoy spending time with their daughters Brianna, Natalie and Kathryn. Both Russell and his wife performed regularly with the Northwest Bach Chorale and were featured soloists for various events and organizations in the Spokane and Inland Northwest area before their recent relocation back home to the west side of the state. Russell is currently pursuing his Doctorate in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington under the tutelage of Dr. Geoffrey Boers, a former member of MEN.

Scott Peterson - Baritone choralc@gmail.com

Scott Peterson is on the faculty of Yakima Valley Community College where he is Director of Choral Activities and a recpient of the prestigious Robert Leadon Faculty Excellence Award. He holds a doctorate from the University of Washington in Choral Conducting. At YVCC, Scott conducts the Concert Choir and the YVCC Chamber Singers. Peterson is Chorusmaster of the Yakima Symphony Chorus and also conducts the Yakima Chamber Singers, a group he founded in 1985. In 1993, Scott made his Carnegie Hall debut, conducting the Yakima Symphony Chorus and the Manhattan Philharmonic in a performance of Mozart's Requiem in D Minor. He was also conductor of the Fairbanks Summer Arts Festival Chamber Chorale and Festival Chorus from 2002 through 2007. Scott is active as a vocal performer as well. He has appeared with the symphony orchestras in Yakima and Wenatchee and frequently is called upon for solo work with Male Ensemble Northwest. Twice, Scott has been accepted as a member of the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus at the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshops in New York. He has also sung with the Bach Festival Chorus in Eugene, Oregon. He has studied conducting with Abraham Kaplin, Robert Feist, Richard Clark, Maurice Skones, Robert DeCormier, and Dale Warland. Scott is Past President of the Northwesterm Division of the American Choral Directors Association and is the 2005 recipient of the Washington State ACDA Leadership Award. He is a member of ACDA, MENC and the Association of Canadian Choral Conductors. Scott's wife, Jane, is a music specialist in the Yakima public Schools. He is also the skipper of a 30' Carver aft cabin named the "Choral C" which plys the waters of La Conner and the San Juan Islands.

Yakima Symphony Chorus Yakima Valley Community College Choir Page

Reginald Unterseher – Baritone/Countertenor reginaldunterseher.com

Reginald Unterseher has been Music Director and Composer-in-Residence at Shalom United Church of Christ in Richland since 1990, conducting adult and children's choirs and instrumental ensembles. Mr. Unterseher's compositions and arrangements are published by Oxford University Press. His pieces have been premiered by MEN, Seattle Pro Musica, and The Princeton Singers, and featured on regional ACDA convention programs and international tours.

Mr. Unterseher was one of the founders of Washington East Opera in 1998 and continues as Artistic Adviser and Chorus Master. He also maintains a private voice studio. He has appeared in opera, music theater, and concert with such organizations as Texas Opera Theater, Opera Theater of St. Louis, Kansas City Lyric Opera, Starlight Theater of Kansas City, Lyric Theater of Oklahoma, the Oklahoma Symphony, Colorado Springs Symphony, and the Spokane Opera.

Mr. Unterseher received a Bachelor of Music in Voice from Walla Walla College in 1980 and a Master of Music in Voice Performance from the University of Missouri at Kansas City in 1984. In 1986, he traded his suitcases and the life of a traveling performer for a diaper bag and a minivan, and became a stay-at-home dad in the Tri-Cities. He and his wife, Dr. Sheila Dunlop, have three children Chance, Faith, and Joy. The whole family loves water skiing, wakeboarding, and snow skiing.

Kirk Marcy - Baritone

KIRK MARCY is a 1983 Summa Cum Laude graduate of the University of Northern Colorado where he received a Bachelor of Music Education degree. Kirk brought honors to himself and his programs at Lake Washington High School with the 1985 downBeat Magazine award of "Best High School Vocal Jazz Ensemble in the U.S. and Canada." In 1987, he joined the prestigious Four Freshmen, and performed with the Count Basie Orchestra, the Glenn Miller Orchestra and the Tommy Dorsey Orchestra with Buddy Morrow. In 1988, Kirk Marcy returned to the Pacific Northwest to become the Director of Soundsation, the internationally acclaimed vocal jazz ensemble at Edmonds Community College. Most recently, Soundsation was honored by downBeat Magazine as one of its "Outstanding College Performing Groups" for 2001. Additionally, he directs the Edmonds Community College Symphonic Choir. An active writer and arranger of vocal jazz music, Kirk has music published through the UNC Jazz Press and Sound Music Publications. He guest conducted the 1994 Arizona All-State Jazz Choir, the 2001 Oregon All-State Jazz Choir, and is in great demand as a clinician/adjudicator at jazz festivals throughout the United States and Canada. Kirk is a member of MENC, ACDA and has served as President of the Washington Unit of the International Association of Jazz Educators. He and his wife, Laurie Cappello-Marcy, are co-directors of the Soundsation Jazz Camp, a summer vocal jazz workshop for students and teachers.

Wallace Long - Baritone wlongjr@willamette.edu

Dr. Wallace Long has been Director of Choral Activities at WillametteUniversity since 1983. In addition to conducting three of the University's choral ensembles, he has numerous teaching responsibilities and is involved in community and professional groups, most notably, Male Ensemble Northwest. Wallace received his Master of Music degree and Doctorate in Choral Conducting from the University of Arizona at Tucson, where he studied with Maurice Skones, Jean Berger, and David Wilson. A frequent vocal/choral adjudicator and clinician, Wallace is an active supporter of public school music in the Northwest. Groups under his direction have performed for state conferences of the Oregon Music Educators Association, a national convention of the Music Educators National Conference, Northwestern Regional Conventions for the American Choral Directors Association, and International Conventions of the International Association of Jazz Educators in New Orleans and Boston. His work with high school students has been recognized by the Kansas Music Educators Association with an invitation to direct the Kansas All-State Choir in 1993. In the summer of 1993, Dr. Long was invited to become a member of the Festival Singers, of the Robert Shaw Choral Institute. As a member of the Festival Singers, he performed Benjamin Britten's "War Requiem" at Carnegie Hall in January of 1994 and during the summer of 1994 he traveled to Souillac, France to record two compact discs of contemporary choral literature for Robert Shaw. In the spring of 1996 he once again joined the Festival Singers for performances of the Verdi "Requiem" in Carnegie, and the Rachmaninoff "Vespers" in the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City. He directed the 1994 High School Men's Honor Choir at the Northwest Regional Convention of the ACDA in Tacoma, Washington, and the Montana High School Festival Choir. In March of 1995 he performed with the Male Ensemble Northwest at the Kennedy Center and Constitution Hall for the American Choral Directors Association National Convention in Washington, D. C. Dr. Long is a past president of the Oregon chapter of the ACDA and is an active member of the Oregon Music Educators Association and the National Association of Jazz Educators.

Phill Hurley - Baritone hurleyog@msn.com

Phill was born and raised in Caldwell, Idaho. He started leading singing at church at a young age and always knew he wanted to be a music teacher when he grew up. He attended Columbia Christian College in Portland, Oregon, where he studied voice under Dick Dalzell. He has been teaching music in the David Douglas school district for over two decades and is currently teaching general music at Gilbert Heights Elementary. Phill has performed with Portland Choral Cross-Ties under the direction of Dr. Bruce Browne and Portland Symphonic Choir, directed by Dr. Steven Zopfi. He teaches private voice to high school students and has been a guest soloist at several churches in the Portland area. He and his wife Kim live in Southeast Portland with their 4 children.

Jim Regin - Baritone/Accompanist

James Regin is a native Californian. He and his wife Chantal moved to Oregon when James was offered a full-time music directing position at Christ Church in Lake Oswego, Oregon, in 2003. James has been serving churches for twenty-seven years, and is currently Music Director at First Presbyterian Church of Salem, Oregon. Mr. Regin has held faculty positions at Foothill College (Los Altos Hills, CA), Mt. Hood College (Gresham, OR), and Marylhurst University (Marylhurst, OR). He has a passion for jazz and African-American gospel music, and also enjoys conducting Baroque to modern choral-orchestral works. His choral arrangements have been performed by all types of ensembles all over the world. His gospel piano style has been described in the Choral Journal as "idiomatic, thick, and satisfying." James holds a B.A. in Music from U.C. Berkeley and an M.A. in Choral Conducting from San Jose State University.

Dan Davison - Bass ddavison@puyallup.k12.wa.us

Dan Davison, bass, has been Choir Director at Ballou Junior High, in Puyallup, Washington since 1979. In addition to conducting the five ensembles at his school, he has numerous teaching and mentoring responsibilities. Dan received his Bachelor’s degree from Pacific Lutheran University, studying under Maurice Skones, and his Master’s degree from Western Washington University, studying with Bruce Pullan.

In addition to being an educator and a singer, Dan is an active composer and arranger. He currently has titles published with Walton Music and also with Sound Music Publications. His works range in difficulty, from those appropriate for junior high voices, to those appropriate for professional ensembles. Dan's works are found throughout the repertoire for Male Ensemble Northwest. He is also keenly interested in vocal jazz, and does almost all of the arrangements for his own 16-voice Jazz Choir.

Dan is highly sought after as a choral clinician and adjudicator, and has served as a cooperating teacher and mentor to numerous choral educators. His clinics on vocal music education techniques have brought him to speak for educators in Montana, Oregon, Washington, and for regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association.

Max Mendez - Bass

Max Mendez is currently director of choirs at North Idaho College in Coeur d’Alene, Idaho. He also serves as chair of the Division of Communications, and Humanities. He has been an active part of the Inland Northwest music community for the last ten years. He divides his time between conducting, teaching and performing. At North Idaho College he conducts the NIC Cardinal Chorale, Chamber Singers, and Vocal

Jazz Ensemble. Max has served as director of music at the Cathedral of Our Lady of Lourdes in Spokane, Washington since 2002. Max has served as a conductor and musical director for Eastern Washington University, Spokane Civic Theater, and Coeur d’Alene Summer Theater. He has recently sung to critical success in the Northwest Bach Festival St. Matthew’s Passion and Spokane Opera’s recent production of Tosca. As an opera artist, he has performed with Los Angeles Music Center Opera, Opera Pacific, Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Spokane Opera, Opera Idaho, and Opera Plus! He has performed with many of the finest concert ensembles in the Inland Northwest including; the Spokane Symphony Orchestra, Coeur d’Alene Symphony Orchestra, Westminster Chamber Orchestra, Allegro: Baroque and Beyond, Zephyr, Clarion Brass and the Northwest Bach Festival. His versatility as a singer ranges from opera and oratorio to musical theatre, cabaret, and popular styles. Max is also a founding member along with Russell Seaton of Spokane Choral Artists. He received his Master of Arts in conducting and Bachelor of Arts in Music from Eastern Washington University. Max lives in Hayden, Idaho with his wife and four children.