Artistic Directors

2025 Artistic Director

JO-MICHAEL SCHEIBE

Jo-Michael Scheibe chaired the Department of Choral and Sacred Music at the USC Thornton School of Music from 2008 to 2020 and continued to teach and conduct as a full-time professor in the department until the end of December 2022, and awarded the title Professor Emeritus of Choral Music. Scheibe served as National President of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) (2011-2013), Western Division President (1991-1993), and National Repertoire and Standards Chairperson for Community Colleges (1980-1989). He served as a member of the board of the International Federation for Choral Music (2020-2023).

Ensembles under his leadership sang at seven national ACDA conventions, two national conventions of the National Association for Music Education (formerly MENC), the National Conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization, and the World Choral Symposium in South Korea. He remains professionally active as a conductor and teacher.

Scheibe collaborated with Luciano Pavarotti, José Carreras, the Rolling Stones, Sir Elton John, the Eagles, and Kenny Loggins and has prepared choruses for Helmuth Rilling, Sir Colin Davis, Michael Tilson Thomas, James Judd, Carl St. Clair, Jeffrey Kahane, and Jamie Martin. Recordings of his ensembles are available on the Albany, Cane, Centaur, NAXOS, Arsis, and ANS labels.

Music publishers Walton, Colla Voce, Hal Leonard, Santa Barbara Music, and Pavane distribute the Jo-Michael Scheibe Choral Series internationally. Scheibe was the editor and co-authored Teaching Music Through Performance – Choir Volume 4 and Teaching Music Through Performance – Choir Volume 5.

In April of 2023, Scheibe was named one of the fourteen US Fulbright Scholars in Ireland for 2023-2024. His home base was north of Dublin, in Balbriggan, at the Irish Institute for Music and Song for Fall 2023. He conducted the IIMS Chamber Choir at the Institute, Còr Fingal, and taught a Conducting Course. During the Fall of 2023, Scheibe was active throughout Ireland and Northern Ireland, working with ensembles of all levels, lecturing, and visiting choirs throughout Ireland. Jo-Michael Scheibe received his DMA from USC (1985) and earned his BA and MM degrees from California State University at Long Beach, where he was named a Distinguished Graduate.

2026 Artistic Director

Edith Copley

Dr. Edith A. Copley is a regents’ professor emeritus from Northern Arizona University where she served as director of choral studies for 28 years. She conducted the highly acclaimed Shrine of the Ages Choir (founded in 1933) and taught graduate choral literature and undergraduate and graduate courses in conducting. Under her direction, the Shrine of the Ages Choir performed at state, regional and national conferences and toured internationally to Western Europe, the Peoples Republic of China, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, Bulgaria, Istanbul, Estonia, and Latvia.

Copley also served as music director of the Master Chorale of Flagstaff (MCF), an auditioned 100-voice community chorus, for 23 years. MCF joined forces with the Shrine of the Ages Choir and performed major choral/orchestral works each spring with the Flagstaff Symphony Orchestra (FSO). Copley conducted numerous choral/orchestral works with the FSO, including Brahms’s Ein Deutsches Requiem, Orff ’s Carmina Burana, Bach’s B Minor Mass, Mozart’s Mass in C Minor, Duruflé and Fauré Requiems, and Britten’s War Requiem.

Dr. Copley earned her bachelor’s degree in music education from Luther College and her master’s and doctoral degrees in choral conducting from the College Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati. While in Cincinnati, she also served as the assistant and interim principal conductor of the May Festival Chorus that performs with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops. Copley also taught secondary choral music for seven years in Iowa and four years overseas in Vienna, Austria. She has received numerous honors, including the NAU School of Performing Arts Centennial Teacher of the Year Award, Arizona Music Educator of the Year, Arizona ACDA Outstanding Choral Director Award, and the Weston H. Noble Award from her alma mater Luther College.

Copley is in high demand as a clinician, adjudicator and guest conductor in the US and abroad. She has conducted all-state choirs in over 30 states, and choral festivals in Carnegie Hall, Walt Disney Concert Hall, Orchestra Hall in Chicago, and Davies Symphony Hall in San Francisco. Copley has guest conducted and presented at international choral festivals and conferences in Germany, the Netherlands, Tasmania, Austria, Japan, Luxembourg, Australia, Peoples Republic of China, Turkey, England, Poland, Oman, and France.