Mia Hall Savage to Manage Fest Youth Choir

The Oregon Bach Festival has named Portland youth choir specialist and University of Oregon alumni Mia Hall Savage as new managing director of the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy.

She succeeds Dr. Richard Clark, who helped originate the program in 1998. She assumes the managerial duties July 16, 2007.

Hall Savage has more than 20 years of experience in the choral education field. Since she founded the Pacific Youth Choir four years ago, the organization has grown to 200 singers in five different choirs, and has collaborated with the Oregon Symphony, Portland Symphonic Choir, Portland Chamber Orchestra, and Chanticleer.

Previously, her choirs were invited to perform at the Oregon Bach Festival, the Golden Gate International Festival, the American Choral Directors Association Regional Convention, and the Pacific International Children's Choir Festival.

Mia Hall Savage holds masters and bachelors degrees from the University of Oregon and currently serves on the UO School of Music Advancement Committee. She sang and studied under the direction of Helmuth Rilling, Festival artistic director, at the Musik Hochschule in Stuttgart, Germany.

Dr. Clark, professor emeritus from the School of Music, will stay involved with the Festival as a member of its board of directors and as an advisor to the fledgling academy program,

Conductor Anton Armstrong of St. Olaf College continues as the music director of the Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. The program, which gathers 85 of the best high school singers in the country for ten intensive days of study and performance, celebrates its 10th anniversary June 26-July 6, 2007.

For more program information, see www.singbach.com or the Festival's 2007 concert listings.