Giselle Wyers

Giselle Wyers is Assistant Professor of Choral Studies and Voice at the University of Washington, where she conducts the University Chorale and teaches courses in voice, undergraduate choral conducting, graduate choral repertoire, and music methods. University Chorale’s 2008 performance of the Genesis Suite with Seattle Symphony was termed “brilliant” by the Seattle Times.

Wyers is a leading national figure in the application of Laban movement theory for conductors. Each summer she team-teaches choral conducting with James Jordan at Westminster Choir College, and her chapter entitled “Incorporation Laban Actions in the Rehearsal” is currently available as part of the textbook Music for Conducting Study through GIA Publications (2008).

As a composer, Wyers is currently preparing numerous choral works for premieres, including a commission by the renowned Netherlands chorus A Cappella Koor Cantabile. She will launch the "Giselle Wyers Choral Series" as part of Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company this spring. This series will feature works by Wyers and other emerging composers from across the globe.

Wyers’ dedication to exposing audiences to the music of contemporary American composers has led to publications in various national journals. She is especially interested in exploring how modern composers use music as a form of peace-making and social justice. "Waging Peace through Intercultural Art in Kyr’s Ah Nagasaki," appears as the cover article of the May 2008 Choral Journal, and discusses how the act of creating and premiering a musical work can serve as a gesture of reconciliation between cultures.

Wyers is in frequent demand as a guest conductor of honor choirs across the United States. As a vocalist, she has recorded CDs with the Westminster Symphonic Choir, Oregon Repertory Singers, and Linda Ronstadt.

Wyers holds a D.M.A. in conducting from the University of Arizona, where she studied with Maurice Skones, and minored in historical musicology with John Brobeck. She earned a master’s degree from Westminster Choir College, where she founded the Greater Princeton Youth Chamber Orchestra, and a bachelor’s degree from UC Santa Cruz, where she founded the San Lorenzo Valley Community Chorus and Orchestra.

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