Artistic Staff

Artistic Director

Katrina Turman

Artistic Director, Cantabile and Bel Canto Conductor

Welcome to Columbia Choirs of Metropolitan Seattle! It is my honor to serve as Artistic Director of this thriving community of singers. I am a music educator and conductor with an enthusiasm for community choral education. My positive experiences growing up within outstanding youth choirs convinced me to dedicate my career to young people and the pursuit of high-quality music education for all.

I seek to nurture the holistic development of singers through building respect and cultivating human connections. I strongly value building connections between students and the community and providing access to choristers of all backgrounds. As the great pedagogue Zoltán Kodály said, “Music should belong to everyone.”

BIO

Katrina Turman is a native of California and an alumnus of the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir, where she began singing at age five. Prior to coming to Columbia Choirs, Katrina was an assistant conductor for the San Francisco Girls Chorus where she conducted numerous concerts at Davies Symphony Hall. Katrina has also taught at the Piedmont East Bay Children’s Choir in Oakland, CA and the Bellevue Youth Choir in Bellevue, WA. In addition to conducting, Katrina was a professional singer of the Munich Bach Choir in Europe.

Katrina is a fervent advocate of the relevance of children’s choral music and was published in the American Choral Directors Association’s Choral Journal (2021) with an article titled, “Children’s Choral Repertoire with Highlighted Pedagogical Elements.” Katrina holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in Music from the University of Oregon, a Post-Graduate certificate from the Kodály Institute, and a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington.

Contact

Email: katrina.turman@columbiachoirs.org

Conductors

Dori Baunsgard

Con Brio Conductor

Dori Baunsgard is a Pacific Northwest native who spent many years conducting choirs and teaching music in India and Japan before returning to Seattle in 2011. She has an avid interest in multiple styles and genres of music, and is especially focused on women composers and global repertoire. Dori is active in the Seattle area as a conductor, accompanist, and choral adjudicator.

She co-conducts Wanderlust Women’s Choir of Seattle which toured to Hungary, Slovenia and Italy in 2019. As Interim Cathedral Choir Director at University Presbyterian Church she collaborated with the University of Washington to co-conduct “A Four Choir Celebration of Christmas”.  As an accompanist Ms. Baunsgard has worked extensively with the Northwest Girlchoir, O’Dea High School Men’s Choir, and has performed several times on the Benaroya Hall Ten Grands concert raising funds for music education. Dori holds a Bachelor of Music Education from Seattle Pacific University and a Master of Music in Choral Conducting with a minor in Theater from Western Washington University. She is thrilled to conduct the amazing women of Con Brio!

Contact

Email: dori.baunsgard@columbiachoirs.org

Rachel Teigen Brackett

Melodia Conductor

Rachel Teigen Brackett is the K-5 General Music Teacher and Choir Director at Lakeview Elementary in Kirkland. Rachel is in her 17th year of teaching and has been with Lake Washington School District for the past 13 years, previously she taught in Bethel and Seattle School Districts.  She also teaches education and arts integration courses at Northwest University and Seattle University. 

In addition to these assignments Rachel has instructed private voice, piano, guitar and ukulele.She received her Bachelor of Music Education from Pacific Lutheran University in 2002 and her Master’s in Creative Arts and Learning from Lesley University in 2005.  She received her National Board Certification in Early and Middle Childhood Music in 2009.  She has been singing and performing all her life and has immense passion and enthusiasm for bringing the joy of music to children!  Rachel plays the music teacher “Miss Melody” in the children’s music curriculum “First Note” and frequently performs at preschools and birthday parties as a musical entertainer.  She lives in Seattle with her husband and five-year-old daughter.  She is thrilled to be joining the staff at Columbia Choirs this year!

Contact

Email: rachel.brackett@columbiachoirs.org

Jennifer Faul

Lyrica Conductor

Jennifer Faul has been making music with Columbia Choirs since 1998. She currently directs Lyrica, and formerly accompanied the Cantabile Vocal Ensemble and Con Brio Women’s Choir for many years. Mrs. Faul earned her bachelors degree in music education in 1998 from the University of Washington, and her masters degree in Curriculum and Instruction shortly thereafter.

She also enjoyed earning her Level 1 Kodaly certification at Seattle Pacific University. Her teaching experience includes elementary general music in the Bellevue School District for five years, Children’s Choir Director of Magnolia Presbyterian Church for nine years, and ongoing private piano and voice instruction.

Contact

Email: jennifer.faul@columbiachoirs.org

Aly Henniger

Ragazzi, Harmonia Conductor

Aly Henniger is currently working in the Northshore School District, teaching choir at Northshore Middle School and general music at Woodmoor Elementary. In her time working there, she has started a fifth grade choir at Woodmoor Elementary and will be starting a before school jazz choir at Northshore Middle School this fall.

She also coordinated the “Northshore Sings” 5th Grade honor choir and will continue to do so this next school year. Aly is a Central Washington University Graduate with a double major in Music Education and Vocal Performance. She has a passion for creating a safe and fun rehearsal environment where students can learn healthy techniques for using their voice. Aly is very excited to be joining the Columbia Choirs team and working with talented, young musicians.

Contact

Email: aly.henniger@columbiachoirs.org

Tiana Shuford

Prima, Virtual Choir Conductor

Tiana Shuford currently teaches at East Ridge Elementary, Hollywood Hill Elementary and Sunrise Elementary in Northshore School District. She received her Bachelor of Arts in Music Education with a Choir Specialization from Central Washington University. During her time at Central, she enjoyed participating in their Vocal Jazz Ensembles, Chamber Choir and opera productions.

Tiana has also completed her Level 1 World Music Drumming Series and enjoys participating in Kodaly, Orff, and American Choral Directors Association conferences and workshops.

In her spare time, Tiana sings in Wellspring Ensemble – a local community choir, and teaches community ukulele workshops. When not teaching or making music, Tiana enjoys being outdoors and spending quality time with her family. Tiana is thrilled to share her joy for music with her students and is very excited to be our newest director of Prima Choir!

Contact

Email: tiana.shuford@columbiachoirs.org

Giselle Wyers

Concord Chamber Choir Conductor

Giselle Wyers is the Donald E. Petersen Endowed Professor of Choral Music at the University of Washington, where she conducts the award-winning University Chorale and teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in choral conducting and music education. Choruses under her direction have received numerous American Prize awards for their CD recordings, including the American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music in 2017-18.

As a guest conductor, Wyers has led high school honor choirs and all-state choruses in New York (Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center), Kansas, Nevada, Georgia, Missouri, Louisiana, Connecticut, Nebraska, Texas, Washington, Alaska, Idaho, and Vancouver, Canada. She has conducted semi-professional ensembles across the United States and in Germany, the Netherlands, Estonia, and Sweden. In May 2022, she will conduct her 30-minute choral composition And All Shall Be Well in Carnegie Hall with a combination of NW choruses.

Wyers’ choral works are published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company as part of the “Giselle Wyers Choral Series,” and have been performed across the United States, South America, Canada, Australia, Cuba, and numerous European cities. Choral works in 2020-21 included social justice pieces focusing on climate change, gun violence, water quality issues and houselessness and can be listened to on her SoundCloud page.  In 2022, she will be composer-in-residence for the Seattle Sings Festival, sponsored by GSCC and Consortio.

Contact

Email: giselle.wyers@columbiachoirs.org

Accompanists

Julann Faris

Lyrica, Concord Accompanist

Julann started playing piano at the age of 6 and shortly after was introduced to the world of accompanying at the insistence of her mother. 

It didn’t take too many bribes for her to realize that she actually enjoyed it, and today it is one of her most favorite things in the world to do. The confidence of her elementary music teacher inspired her to start playing for her school choir and she continued to develop a passion for accompanying through junior high and high school. In college she was able to travel around the world playing for choirs, performing in Russia, Ukraine, Spain, and Israel. She holds degrees in Music Education from The Master’s University and the Crane School of Music. Today she enjoys both helping kids discover their own musical gifts at the piano and contributing her part to make great music with soloists and choirs.

Anna Nurre

Melodia, Harmonia Accompanist

Anna started playing piano just before the age of four and was taught initially by her mother, Vicki Nurre. At first, Anna’s mother did not want to teach her piano because Anna could not read yet.
However, Anna was persistent and eventually learned how to read music before she could read words. Additionally, Anna studied piano at Shoreline Community College with a primary focus on George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, and other jazz/ragtime repertoire. Anna won the Indiana State Piano Scholarship and has competed in multiple solo and ensemble festivals.

Anna has accompanied the Seattle Girls Choir, Jackson High School, the San Bernardino Orchestra, and her high school choral program. She was the keyboardist for the Seattle-based black metal band, Inquinok. who opened for the legendary death metal gods, Cannibal Corpse.  Anna has also sung in the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, being the youngest singer accepted at the age of seven.

In addition to Columbia Choirs, Anna continues to accompany solo and ensemble festivals for local high schools and is a volunteer pianist at local retirement/adult homes. In her spare time, Anna loves to play video games and spending time with her husband and children, Cade and Kyler.

Genevieve Peaslee

Con Brio, Cantabile Accompanist

Genevieve Peaslee earned a B.A. in Piano Performance from Scripps College and has also studied at the Colburn School in Los Angeles and the Accademia Internazionale della Musica in Milan.

Her collaborative piano experience began with the choirs at her junior high school and now includes chamber music and vocal accompaniment studies at Scripps, work with advanced voice students at Chapman University’s Hall-Musco Conservatory of Music, and dance accompaniment at the California Institute of the Arts, Pomona College, and Pacific Northwest Ballet (among many others).