WSU Faculty
Dr. Dean Luethi (lee-thee) serves as the Director of Choral Activities, Professor, and former Director of the School of Music at Washington State University. His choirs have been invited to perform at regional American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and National Association for Music Education (NAfME) conferences. He directs the WSU Concert Choir and WSU Chamber Singers and teaches graduate and undergraduate choral conducting.
Luethi is co-host of the Choirfam Podcast, a show dedicated to engaging in conversations about choral literature, conducting, pedagogy, and composition. The podcast has over 150 episodes, is currently in its seventh season, and has over 54k downloads.
Known as a choral pedagogue, Luethi has presented sessions at national, regional, and state conferences of ACDA and regional and state conferences of NAfME. In addition to his work in the US, he has presented research, workshops, or conducted choirs at festivals and conferences in Austria, Canada, China, Cuba, Germany, India, South Korea, and Poland. Luethi is published in the Choral Journal and the Music Educators Journal and his two books are available through GIA Publications.
Luethi is currently the 4-year College & University Choirs Co-Chair for ACDA and has served as the College & University Repertoire and Resources Chair for NW-ACDA and Washington ACDA. He is also the former Chair of the National Association for Music Education Choir Council.
Dr. Matthew Myers serves as associate director of choral activities and assistant professor of choral music education at WSU. He conducts the University Singers and Treble Choir and teaches courses in music education methods, conducting, and voice. He earned his DMA in choral conducting at Louisiana State University, his master’s degree in choral conducting at Northern Arizona University, and his bachelor’s degree in vocal performance and music education at Luther College. After completing his degree at Luther, he taught grades 6-12 choir at The American International School of Muscat in Oman. For the following five years, he worked as director of choirs and musical theatre at Boylan Catholic High School in Rockford, Illinois. In addition to conducting five choirs, he taught AP music theory, class piano, and critical thinking and coordinated a middle school choral program at four of Boylan’s constituent grade schools. He has served as conductor of the NAU Men’s Chorale and Chamber Singers, the LSU Chamber Singers, the Master Chorale of Flagstaff, and the Flagstaff Youth Chorale and has held church music positions in Iowa, Illinois, Louisiana, and Alabama. Prior to his time at WSU, Dr. Myers taught at the University of Alabama, where he conducted two choirs and taught courses in music appreciation, choral literature, vocal pedagogy, and diction. He is a frequent choral clinician, guest conductor, presenter, and adjudicator. He serves as Artistic Director of the Palouse Choral Society and co-host of the Choir Fam Podcast.