About us
Celebrating over sixty years of illustrating the broad spectrum of choral music through compelling performances for the South Bay community, the Santa Clara Chorale programs a wide array of music from the choral canon each season—from the masterworks of Beethoven, Mozart and Britten to brand new commissions like the world premiere of Scott Gendel’s multi-movement work Barbara Allen in 2017. Through the artistic leadership of Scot Hanna-Weir since 2012, it has pushed the boundaries of the art of choral music, displaying diverse traditions often alongside peer arts organizations like The Music School (Pirates of Penzance, 2019), Sangam Arts (Shanti: A Journey of Peace, 2016), and City Lights Theater Company (The Christmas Truce, 2014 & 2024). In 2021, the Chorale performed a work jointly commissioned with Washington Master Chorale and SCU Concert Choir called Kohelet by Henry Dehlinger, setting Hebrew text from the Book of Ecclesiastes and Song of Songs. The Chorale’s 60th Season culminated in the world premiere of Hanna-Weir’s Four Principles of Marriage with the text from the landmark Obergefell v. Hodges decision, and last May marked the West Coast premiere of a new arrangement of Margaret Bonds’ profound Credo with text by W.E.B. DuBois. The Chorale has enjoyed regular, fruitful collaborations with the San José Chamber Orchestra and Santa Clara University Choirs; other notable past collaborators include the jazz greats David Brubeck and Vince Guaraldi, spiritual legend Jester Hairston, and a performance with the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra.
Dr. Scot Hanna-Weir
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Scot Hanna-Weir is an Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities, and chair of the Department of Music at Santa Clara University, and Artistic Director of the Santa Clara Chorale. He is recognized for his innovative programming, his fluency with technology in performance, and his engagement with issues of equity and social justice. In addition to regularly commissioning and premiering new works, he is also an active composer and arranger.
Scot regularly conducts the combined choirs of Santa Clara University and the Santa Clara Chorale in the performance of masterworks with orchestra. Recent performances include major works by Bach, Fauré, Handel, Haydn, Lauridsen, Mozart, Orff, Rutter, and Shaw, alongside world, US, and regional premieres of works by Henry Dehlinger, Scott Gendel, Jocelyn Hagen, Cecilia McDowall, Andres Solis, and Dale Trumbore. As a composer and arranger, Scot’s works tend to present innovative fusions of technology in choral performance or highlight issues of injustice or suffering. His composition Sympathy for choir and smartphones (co-created with SCU faculty member and electronic musician Bruno Ruviaro) has been widely performed. Buck v Bell (2017), sets the text of the 1927 Supreme Court decision by Oliver Wendell Holmes that legalized the forced sterilization of the “mentally feeble”. The Wound, was commissioned by the San Diego Pro Arte Voices for their Disarm Hate project and highlights the role gun violence plays in suicide. Recent projects include a 45-minute score for The Water Project, a collaborative theater and dance piece that examines issues around water and a choral score commissioned by the Washington, DC-based vocal ensemble, Bridge, that serves as the musical underscoring of the short film featuring a spoken-word piece by poet Nina Brewton. His most recent composition project is a setting of the text of the Obergefell v. Hodges Supreme Court decision in a multi-movement work for choir and orchestra entitled Four Principles of Marriage, premiered by the SCU Choirs, Santa Clara Chorale, and San José Chamber Choir in May 2023. Four Principles received its East Coast premiere by Allan Laiño and the Congressional Chorus in March of 2024. During the COVID-19 pandemic, Scot’s SCU Chamber Singers were the first university ensemble in the United States to perform a live-remote choral performance. He has presented and published on this topic and issues of pedagogy and practice in virtual choir production for organizations across the country. He has served as an advisor on virtual choirs for ChorAmor and has served in various positions for the Western Region American Choral Directors Association, including vice-chair of the 2022 and 2024 regional conferences. He is also the College and University Repertoire and Resources chair for the California Choral Directors Association. Scot holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Maryland, a Master of Music in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin, and a Bachelor of Music in choral music education from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. His major conducting teachers have included Matthew Halls, Helmuth Rilling, Edward Maclary, James Ross, Beverly Taylor, William Carroll, and Welborn Young. |
Myles K. Glancy
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Having served arts organizations and musical institutions as an arts administrator for over a decade, Myles K. Glancy (he/him) joined the Santa Clara Chorale team with the 2022–2023 season as its very first Executive Director, triggering an exciting next chapter in the organization’s lifetime.
After receiving a Master of Music in Voice Performance and Pedogagy in 2013 from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, NJ, Myles joined the staff of the American Boychoir School and served as their Tour Manager for two seasons, executing and traveling on numerous domestic and international tours, including trips to South Korea and Europe. In 2015, Myles moved to the Bay Area to begin working for Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra & Chorale where he recently completed a seven-year tenure, most recently as General Manager (2019–2022). While at Philharmonia, Myles led the planning and execution of dozens of performances per season, from chamber music concerts to fully-staged operas and international tours, and oversaw the day-to-day operations of the organization. As a core member of the artistic team, he helped to define the organization's long-term artistic goals and helped to bring the dreams of their Music Director to fruition. During the pandemic, Myles managed the creation and served as lead producer of dozens of virtual events over the course of 18 months, and was a key player in bringing the organization back to the concert stage in 2021. Since August 2022, Myles currently serves on the artistic team of Opera San José as their Artistic & Music Operations Manager. Myles resides in Sunnyvale with his husband Chris—who teaches choir at Fremont High School—and their dog Charlie. As a passionate chorister himself, Myles sings with the International Orange Chorale in San Francisco. |
Dan Cromeenes
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Dan is a versatile musician who has performed professionally as a countertenor soloist, choral singer, and accompanist. Originally from southern California, he studied piano and voice at Biola University. He received his Master's degree in accompanying at East Carolina University, where he made his countertenor solo debut with Capella Antiqua. After working three years at Biola as Staff Accompanist, he joined Chanticleer for their 2005-06 season, singing concerts across Europe, Japan, and the United States. Dan continues to perform throughout the San Francisco Bay area both as accompanist and singer. He has played for Santa Clara University, West Bay Opera, Livermore Valley Opera, BASOTI, Santa Clara Chorale, Lamplighters Music Theatre, and has worked as a freelance accompanist and coach. As a singer he has performed with various ensembles, including American Bach Soloists, Philharmonia Baroque Chorale, Clerestory, Pacific Collegium, Sanford Dole Ensemble, San Francisco Renaissance Voices, and Grace Cathedral Choir of Men & Boys.
As a soloist Dan has performed Handel's Israel in Egypt and Vivaldi's Gloria with the Santa Clara Chorale, Monteverdi's Vespers of 1610 with Bach Collegium San Diego, Handel's Te Deum in A Major with San Francisco Lyric Chorus, Bach's Johannes-Passion with Bay Area Classical Harmonies (BACH), new editions of Alessandro Scarlatti's works with Arcadiana, and early music recitals on SCU's Faculty Recital Series and at St. Dominic's Catholic Church. When not onstage or behind a piano, Dan can usually be found either on a hike in the mountains or at home baking gourmet goodies. |
Previous Artistic Directors
Ryan James Brandau
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Conductor Ryan James Brandau joined the Santa Clara Chorale as its Artistic Director in 2009, bringing to the position broad and deep experience conducting a wide variety of choral and orchestral ensembles.
In September 2009, he joined the faculty of Santa Clara University as Director of Choral Programs. He came to California from New England, where he was Assistant Director of Choral Activities at Smith College in Northampton, MA; co-founder and director the Valley Voices, a chamber chorus in Massachusetts' Pioneer Valley; and choirmaster of the highly acclaimed all-professional choir of Christ Church, New Haven, CT. Previously he directed the United Girls Choir of North Haven and the choir of the Episcopal Church at Yale. He also served as principal assistant conductor of the Yale Camerata, managed the Yale Schola Cantorum, and taught counterpoint and harmony in the music department at Yale College. He remains active as a choral arranger, composer, clinician, and professional singer. He has performed with professional ensembles in China and Japan, and throughout Europe and the US. His arrangements and compositions have been featured by choral ensembles all over the country. Mr. Brandau received the Master of Musical Arts, Master of Music degrees, and the Doctorate of Musical Arts from the Yale School of Music, where he studied conducting with Simon Carrington and Marguerite Brooks. Prior to pursuing graduate study in conducting, Ryan attended the University of Cambridge in the UK as a Gates Scholar, earning an MPhil in historical musicology. In Cambridge, he founded a women's chamber choir, Conspiratio, and sang with the choirs of Jesus, King's, and Clare Colleges. He received his B.A. in music, magna cum laude, from Princeton University. |
Thomas Colohan
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Thomas Colohan is regularly in demand as a conductor, teacher, and clinician on both the east and west coasts and abroad. During his tenure as Artistic Director of the Santa Clara Chorale, the group's subscriber base doubled, and the group began appearing with professional orchestras comprised of artists from throughout the region. On his final tour in 2007 with the Santa Clara Chorale, he conducted the Prague Radio Symphony Orchestra in critically acclaimed performances of Mozart's Great C-minor Mass and the premiere of Pamela Layman Quist's Requiem for the People. The tour included concerts in the famous Stephansdom in Vienna and the Rudolphinum in Prague.
Mr. Colohan has conducted members of the National Symphony Orchestra, the San Jose Symphony, the California Chamber Symphony, the Mission Chamber Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony. He also served as Director of Choral Activities at Santa Clara University. Under his leadership, the university's choral program doubled in size, and the SCU choirs began performing major choral/orchestral works annually before sold out audiences in the Santa Clara Mission. The SCU Chamber Singers, which he organized, gained a reputation for excellence and were invited to perform at events and festivals throughout California. Before the Chorale, Mr. Colohan served for six years as Founder and Artistic Director of the James River Singers in Richmond, Virginia, and as Assistant Conductor of the Master Chorale of Washington, in Washington, DC. He has also sung professionally with the Washington Opera, the Washington Bach Consort, and the Master Chorale of Washington Chamber Singers. His teachers have included renowned choral musicians such as Robert Shaw, Helmut Rilling, Donald McCullough, and William Dehning. He holds a Master of Music in Choral Music from the University of Southern California, and a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from the Oberlin Conservatory of Music. |
Lynn Shurtleff
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Lynn Shurtleff, Professor of Music at Santa Clara University, is known throughout the Bay Area and beyond as a conductor, composer, and educator of young musicians.
Composer of more than two hundred works, he is the recipient of numerous awards and grants, including a Ferdinand Grossman Fellowship for study of conducting in Vienna, Austria, and a grant from the Barlow Foundation for Musical Composition for a ballet that was presented in the Soviet Union. One of his early works for symphony orchestra, Spectrum, was featured by the Santa Clara University Orchestra. His For the First Manned Moon Orbit, based on a James Dickey poem, was performed by the Chorale during its 1969 European concert tour, which coincided with the July landing on the moon that summer. Another of his works, O Be Joyful, was commissioned for the opening of the San Jose Center for the Performing Arts. He composed Four Prairie Scenes for the celebration of the Illinois Bicentennial. Part of that work was performed by the Santa Clara Chorale Chamber Singers. Professor Shurtleff has conducted major choral and orchestral performances throughout the United States, Latin America, and Europe. Under his leadership, the Chorale has sung in world-famous concert halls, including Carnegie Hall in New York, the Musikverein Hall in Vienna, and Tchaikovsky Hall and Shostakovitch Hall in Russia. Guest performers with the Chorale have included noted musicians like Vince Guaraldi, Dave Brubeck, and Jester Hairston. Maestro Shurtleff conducted singers from the Santa Clara Chorale and members of the Israel Symphony at the Opera House in Tel Aviv and entertained guests, including lsraeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, at the U.S. Embassy’s Fourth of July festivities. |
David J. Wilson 1938-2021
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David J. Wilson, associate professor, had been the conductor and artistic director of the Camerata Singers of Long Beach and the Long Beach Bach Festival for seventeen years. A graduate of the University of the Pacific and the University of Illinois, he also studied at Tanglewood with the Boston Symphony, at the Hochschule für Musik in Vienna and received grants to conduct postdoctoral research in London, Berlin, Dresden, Venice and Vienna.
As professor of choral and sacred music at the Thornton School, he tought graduate courses in choral literature, conducting and sacred music. Dr. Wilson served on the board of the Vienna Institute of Music and is past president of the California Division of the American Choral Directors Association. He serves as guest conductor, teacher and adjudicator throughout the United States, Europe and South America. Dr. Wilson also is director of music at Riviera United Methodist Church in Redondo Beach. In the summer, he teaches and conducts at the Seminario de Inverno de Musica Sacra in Brazil. In 1999, Dr. Wilson led the Camerata Singers and Leipzig Pauliner Barockensemble on a concert tour, giving concerts in Vienna, Prague, Dresden, Leipzig and Berlin. In 1997, he received the Distinguished Performing Artist of the Year Award given by the Public Corporation of the Arts for both the cities of Long Beach and Torrance. |
