Dr. Galen Darrough; Music Director and Conductor
Dr. Galen Darrough is the Director of Choral Activities at the University of Northern Colorado, and has directed, adjudicated, and served as clinician to choirs in 20 states, the provinces of Manitoba, Nova Scotia, and Ontario in Canada; and in Latin America. He also served as guest conductor of the 1993 Nebraska Honor Choir, 1993 North Dakota All-State Choir, the 2001 and 2007 Area I Texas Honor Choir, the 2002 Oklahoma All-State Junior High School Choir and the 2006 South Dakota All-State Choir. His broad experience in choral music include public school teaching at the junior and senior high school, community college, university, and community levels.
Under Dr. Darrough's direction, the University of Northern Colorado Concert Choir was one of 12 choirs throughout the U.S. to perform for the National Collegiate Choral Organization biennial national conference. His UNC Men's Glee Club was selected to perform for the 1996 and 2006 Southwestern Division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association in Dallas, Texas, and for the 1997 and 2006 Colorado Music Educators Convention. His Women's Glee Club also performed for CMEA in January 2002.
Darrough received his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education from California State University Fullerton, his Master of Music/Choral Music Performance from Brigham Young University, and his Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Music from Arizona State University. At UNC, he conducts the 65-voice select Concert Choir, the 65-voice Men's Glee Club, teaches graduate choral music coursework and supervised dissertation projects.
His travels abroad have taken him to Colombia, where he was a guest lecturer at the Festival of Sacred Music in Pamlona in 2007 as well as guest director/lecturer for the Fabretto Music Project in Cusmapa, Nicaragua in 2005 and 2006. In 2003 he was granted sabbatical leave to Stockholm, Sweden to study Swedish male chorus repertoire and in the spring of 2011 was given his second sabbatic leave, studying the choral music of Latin America.
He has served in numerous capacities in the American Choral Director’s Association, including Colorado State President, Editor of the Colorado Choral Director, membership on the National Technology Committee, Southwest ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chair for Men's Choirs, and is currently President for the 2008-2010 term for the Southwestern Division of ACDA. In the Fall of 1999 he was designated the Scholar of the Year for the College of Performing and Visual Arts at UNC, one of eight faculty members to be awarded throughout the university.
