Sonja Sepúlveda is Director of Choral Activities and professor of music theory at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and conducts the Salem Chamber Choir, Chorale, and SuperTonics. She came to Salem College following positions at Western Kentucky University in Bowling Green, Kentucky and Brewton Parker College in Mt. Vernon, Georgia.
Graduating from Winthrop University with Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees, Sonja Sepúlveda earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina where she studied under Dr. Larry Wyatt and Dr. Carol Krueger. She received the William H. Nolte Graduate Assistant Teaching Award from the University of South Carolina in 2006 for her work in conducting and teaching. While working on her doctorate at USC, she conducted Carolina Alive and the Renaissance Singers.
Sonja Sepúlveda is former SC Choral Festival Chairman and served as SC All-State Chairman for four years. She also served as her state ACDA Chairman for Jazz and Show Choirs. Her choirs have toured Europe, Mexico, and Canada and have performed concerts for the National Cathedral, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA), National American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Southern Division ACDA, and the Music Educators National Conference (MENC). She conducted, as well sang choral parts for the ABC mini-series, North and South. Sonja Sepúlveda sang with the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus for eight years, as well with the Carnegie Hall Chorus in 2000 and 2002. She is well known for her work with youth choruses and is in demand as a choral adjudicator and clinician.
In 2006, she founded the Palmetto Voices, a choir of alumni students from Western Kentucky University, University of South Carolina, Brewton Parker College, Salem College and Sumter High School. The choir strives to preserve the legacy of the Negro Spiritual and share the vision that this unique American choral art form is for everyone. She is married to Juan Sepúlveda and they have two sons, Dru and Brys.
Graduating from Winthrop University with Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees, Sonja Sepúlveda earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina where she studied under Dr. Larry Wyatt and Dr. Carol Krueger. She received the William H. Nolte Graduate Assistant Teaching Award from the University of South Carolina in 2006 for her work in conducting and teaching. While working on her doctorate at USC, she conducted Carolina Alive and the Renaissance Singers.
Sonja Sepúlveda is former SC Choral Festival Chairman and served as SC All-State Chairman for four years. She also served as her state ACDA Chairman for Jazz and Show Choirs. Her choirs have toured Europe, Mexico, and Canada and have performed concerts for the National Cathedral, Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, the Lincoln Center, South Carolina Music Educators Association (SCMEA), National American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), Southern Division ACDA, and the Music Educators National Conference (MENC). She conducted, as well sang choral parts for the ABC mini-series, North and South. Sonja Sepúlveda sang with the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus for eight years, as well with the Carnegie Hall Chorus in 2000 and 2002. She is well known for her work with youth choruses and is in demand as a choral adjudicator and clinician.
In 2006, she founded the Palmetto Voices, a choir of alumni students from Western Kentucky University, University of South Carolina, Brewton Parker College, Salem College and Sumter High School. The choir strives to preserve the legacy of the Negro Spiritual and share the vision that this unique American choral art form is for everyone. She is married to Juan Sepúlveda and they have two sons, Dru and Brys.
Dr. John Yarrington has retired as head of Choral Studies at Houston Baptist University. Presently, he is Director of the Chancel Choir at the First Presbyterian Church of Houston, and Adjunct Professor of Conducting and Methods, Master of Sacred Music Faculty, University of St. Thomas. Former churches include McFarlin United Methodist, Norman, Oklahoma, First United Methodist, Dallas, Texas, and the Pulaski Heights United Methodist, Little Rock, Arkansas. In Arkansas, he founded the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra Chorus which he directed for five seasons, and was Interim Conductor of the Arkansas Symphony Orchestra for one season. He was also Artistic Director of the Arkansas Chamber Singers. Yarrington was instrumental in bringing outstanding choral directors and/or composers to the campus, often combining with the First Presbyterian Choir. Alice Parker, Morten Lauridsen, Dan Forrest, Anton Armstrong, James Jordan, Ken Medema, Heather Sorenson and Daniel Gawthrop for week-long residencies. The First Presbyterian Choir just gave the premiere of an Advent work, entitled “Hope of Israel” which is dedicated to Dr. Yarrington.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Music Education degree, Yarrington completed the Master of Sacred Music degree at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, study with Sergius Kagen, Madeleine Marshall, Abraham Kaplan and William Gephart. Continuing graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma under Dr. B.R. Henson and Dr. Dennis Shrock led to completion of the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree.
An active contributor to professional journals, his writings on choral techniques, organization and philosophy of church music are well known. His published choral compositions are with Augsburg-Fortress, Choristers Guild, Abingdon Press, MorningStar and G.I.A. Published books include Building the Youth Choir, Somebody’s Got My Robe, Somebody’s Got My Hymnal, Choir Crackups and Have We Had This Conversation.
Yarrington is active in the American Choral Directors Association and served as Southwest Division President. He has been featured conductor for numerous honor choruses and All-State events. His workshop schedule takes him throughout the United States and Canada.
For the past five summers, Dr. Yarrington has served as Chorus Master for the Classical Music Festival held for two weeks in Eisenstadt, Austria where he prepared choruses to sing with professional orchestra in the Esterhazy Palace.
In March, 2014 the HBU Schola Cantorum sang at the Southwest Division ACDA conference in Little, Rock with tour stops in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama. In 2015, the HBU Schola Cantorum was the featured choir for the Festival, singing a concert in the Bergkirche, in Eisenstadt. At HBU, choirs have distinguished themselves for their artistry and range of literature. In a recent residency, composer, Morten Lauridsen said of the choral work: “this was among the finest, both on a college and professional level. Their sense of pitch, vocal color, and interpretation of the music is very high.”
Dr. Yarrington and his wife, Diane, have six children and eleven grandchildren.
After graduating from the University of Oklahoma with a Bachelor of Music Education degree, Yarrington completed the Master of Sacred Music degree at the Union Theological Seminary in New York City, study with Sergius Kagen, Madeleine Marshall, Abraham Kaplan and William Gephart. Continuing graduate studies at the University of Oklahoma under Dr. B.R. Henson and Dr. Dennis Shrock led to completion of the Doctor of Musical Arts Degree.
An active contributor to professional journals, his writings on choral techniques, organization and philosophy of church music are well known. His published choral compositions are with Augsburg-Fortress, Choristers Guild, Abingdon Press, MorningStar and G.I.A. Published books include Building the Youth Choir, Somebody’s Got My Robe, Somebody’s Got My Hymnal, Choir Crackups and Have We Had This Conversation.
Yarrington is active in the American Choral Directors Association and served as Southwest Division President. He has been featured conductor for numerous honor choruses and All-State events. His workshop schedule takes him throughout the United States and Canada.
For the past five summers, Dr. Yarrington has served as Chorus Master for the Classical Music Festival held for two weeks in Eisenstadt, Austria where he prepared choruses to sing with professional orchestra in the Esterhazy Palace.
In March, 2014 the HBU Schola Cantorum sang at the Southwest Division ACDA conference in Little, Rock with tour stops in Texas, Oklahoma and Alabama. In 2015, the HBU Schola Cantorum was the featured choir for the Festival, singing a concert in the Bergkirche, in Eisenstadt. At HBU, choirs have distinguished themselves for their artistry and range of literature. In a recent residency, composer, Morten Lauridsen said of the choral work: “this was among the finest, both on a college and professional level. Their sense of pitch, vocal color, and interpretation of the music is very high.”
Dr. Yarrington and his wife, Diane, have six children and eleven grandchildren.
