Save the Date: This year’s Choral Festival is Saturday, October 11, 2025.
Registration forms will be available in mid-August.
Each year, the WSU School of Music welcomes high school students throughout the region for an educational choral festival. The goal of this event is to excite, encourage, and educate students while developing a spirit of camaraderie and commitment to choral arts. We offer the opportunity to receive feedback from respected clinicians who will help your choir to improve technique, maximize artistic expression, and set goals for the year. We are eager to welcome you to enjoy the fall season on the beautiful Pullman campus for this year’s festival on Saturday, October 26.
Clinicians
Our guest clinician this year is Julie Yu, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies at the Wanda L. Bass School of Music at Oklahoma City University and the Artistic Director of Canterbury Voices, Oklahoma’s premier symphony chorus. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Oklahoma State University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of North Texas. Before joining OCU and Canterbury Voices, she taught at Norman North High School in Oklahoma, San José State University, and Kansas State University.
WSU’s choral faculty, Dean Luethi and Matthew Myers, will also provide clinics to the choirs throughout the day. To learn more about the clinicians, visit their biography pages.
Festival Format
Each participating choir will have 35 minutes on stage to perform and receive feedback from one of our guest clinicians. This will enable the audience to take part, listen in, and learn from comments given by the clinician to each of the participating choirs. A 5-minute break between each choir will allow for getting on and off risers.
Opportunities for Solo Singers
Our voice professors, Dr. Julie Wieck and Alisa Toy, are offering private lessons to students who are interested in auditioning for WSU, preparing for solo/ensemble contests, and/or developing their solo vocal technique. Students should prepare a solo work from classical or musical theatre repertoire. No accompanist is necessary. Be prepared to enter names and song selections for these soloists on the ensemble registration form. If you’re not sure of repertoire yet, no problem — just leave that area blank.
Video Recordings
Each director will receive a quality video recording of both the performance from the audience and a recording of the interaction between the director and the clinician from the stage.
Goal Setting
Ensemble directors may request to schedule a post-festival Zoom meeting with their clinician to help in interpreting the feedback from the festival and setting goals for their ensembles for the academic year.
Festival Schedule
This year’s WSU Choral Festival will take place on Saturday, October 11, 2025.
Provisional schedule: Performances/clinics will begin around 9 AM and continue throughout the day. Before lunch break, WSU’s opera/musical theatre program and Chamber Singers will perform. The final concert featuring WSU’s choirs as well as selected high school ensembles will be held in Bryan Hall Theatre around 5 PM. The concert will conclude around 6:30 PM.
We will provide a finalized schedule of performing groups and times in early October, after festival registration closes. The estimated times above will be adjusted depending on the number of ensembles performing in the festival.
Registration
Registration for each ensemble is $250, and a $50 discount will apply for additional ensembles from the same school. Should your choir need a pianist, you may request one for an additional $50.
Registration forms are due by September 19. Please register your ensemble as soon as you are able, as participation is first-come, first-served.
Opportunities to Attend Other WSU Events
If visiting choirs are in Pullman the night before the festival, they are most welcome to attend the WSU fall choral concert featuring the WSU Chamber Singers, Concert Choir, Treble Choir, and University Singers. The fall choral concert will take place on Friday, October 12, at 7:30pm. It is free of charge and open to the public.
Students who remain in the area are welcome to attend WSU’s Music Major for a Day on Monday, October 28. Visit the website for more information.
Cancellation Policy
If a registered choir must cancel their participation in the festival, they will receive a full refund if this is communicated by October 1. Cancellations after October 1 will not be refunded.
If WSU must cancel the event for any reason, all payments will be refunded in full.
