“Music is a reflection of the culture we live in, and singing teaches students to be connected to many cultures. They’re involved in making something beautiful.”
– Kathryn Lehmann, December 7 2001 Mooring Mast
Kathryn Lehmann directing the Choir of the West (2006)
Kathryn Lehmann (Class of 1976) became the fifth director of the Choir of the West in 2001. She was the first woman to serve in the role, as well as the first woman to conduct a major choir at any Lutheran university or college in the United States. The first PLU alumni to hold the position, she sang under Maurice Skones as a student in the mid-1970s. Lehmann came from a PLU family; her father sang under Gunnar Malmin and her grandparents operated a grocery store in Parkland, Washington during the Great Depression. In addition to her PLU education, she has a master’s degree in vocal performance and pedagogy from the Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey. Prior to PLU, Lehmann served for eleven years as Director of Vocal and Choral Activities at Oregon State University.
According to an interview with PLU’s student newspaper, The Mooring Mast, in December 2001, Lehmann wanted a flexible sounding choir; an ensemble that could perform multi-cultural types of music and worked toward a bigger sound and more soloistic style. Under Lehmann’s leadership, the Choir of the West performed at the Washington Music Educators Association in 2002, for the Northwestern Division Convention of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 2006, and most notably for the National Convention of the ACDA in Los Angeles in 2005. The group was chosen from a record number of applicants throughout the United States and around the world.
Stephanie Anne Johnson
Tacoma native Stephanie Anne Johnson (Class of 2006) sang with the Choir of the West during the Lehmann years. Following her graduation, Johnson pursued a career in music as a singer, songwriter, and guitarist, releasing multiple albums as a solo performer and with her band, The Hidogs. Johnson has appeared on the NBC musical competition program The Voice, played Bumbershoot, recorded a KEXP Live set, and been featured on NPR’s Tiny Desk concert series. Stephanie Anne Johnson’s work can be found at stephanieannejohnsonmusic.com.
In 2006, Kathryn Lehmann resigned as director, and her colleague Richard Nance took over the Choir of the West.
Kathryn Lehmann earned a Bachelor of Music degree from Pacific Lutheran University and a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedagogy at Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, where she also served on the faculty for three years.
She was granted the Francis Robinson Award for performance and academic achievement at Westminster and performed actively as a soprano soloist including singing operatic roles at the Spoleto Festival, Aspen Music Festival and the Bowdoin Festival. She was given the National American Teachers of Singing scholarship for advanced study in voice for recognition of her performances that were a part of the program at the Aspen Music Festival. While in Aspen, she was a concerto competition winner and performed as a soloist with the Aspen Music Festival. While in Princeton, she taught as the vocal coach for the American Boychoir School and developed a training program for young singers at the Westminster Conservatory of Music.
Most Recently, Lehmann was the Director of Choral Activities at Pacific Lutheran University. She came to Washington following eleven years in Oregon, where she was the Director of Vocal and Choral Activities at Oregon State University and conducted the OSU Chamber Choir, Madrigal Singers, and the Opera Workshop. The OSU choirs performed nationally and internationally under Lehmann’s direction, and in 1996 she was given the Stewart Award for faculty development and excellence. She served as President of the Oregon Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association while at OSU. After her position at OSU, Lehmann was also an associate professor on the faculty of the University of Oregon for two years, where she directed the U of O Chamber Choir, taught music education classes and directed the Eugene Chamber Singers. She was a performer and lecturer for the Oregon Bach Festival while in Eugene, studying choral conducting with Helmuth Rilling. She was one of the first faculty appointed for the Oregon Bach Youth Academy Choir, teaching vocal technique and choral classes. She traveled to Stuttgart, Germany to continue her studies of the Choral music of Bach at the Internationae Bach Acadamie.
Kathryn Lehmann has taught public school vocal music at the elementary and secondary levels in the Clover Park and Puyallup School districts in Washington. As a public school educator, she directed performing groups at Music Educator conventions at the state and regional levels in the Pacific Northwest gaining a reputation for her expertise in developing the voice in a choral setting. She holds membership in several professional societies including serving on the Washington State board for the American Choral Directors Association. She has studied choral conducting during her doctoral studies at the University of Colorado in Boulder with Joan Catoni Conlon and Lawrence Kaptein. She has studied voice with Judith Nicosia and Ellen Faull, and conducting with Joseph Flummerfelt, Maurice Skones and Helmuth Rilling. Her experience in the public schools and at the American Boychoir School has given her concentrated experience in training young voices and identifying the problems of the changing voice. She has substantial choral directing experience with singers of all ages, from elementary to adult, in both secular and sacred settings. She is in demand as a clinician through the Pacific Northwest and the West Coast.
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Kathryn Lehmann biography from pugetsound.edu
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Richard Nance
Press play below to hear Richard Nance describe Kathryn Lehmann’s time with the Choir of the West. This is an excerpt from the Choir of the West 90th Reunion Concert.
Choir of the West recordings
Press play below to hear a recording of the Choir of the West during the Kathryn Lehmann era (2001-2006)
90th Reunion Concert
Kathryn Lehmann’s former student Lauren Whitham conducts members of the Lehmann era Choir of the West at the 90th Reunion Concert.