Chamber Choir, directed by Dr. Steven M. Zielke, is the premier choral ensemble on campus. The auditioned choir is comprised of 40-45 carefully selected students who perform the finest in choral music repertoire. Chamber Choir performs each term and tours regionally or internationally each spring.
Steven M. Zielke, director of choral studies and music coordinator at Oregon State University, conducts the OSU Chamber Choir and teaches choral conducting and choral music pedagogy. He earned his doctoral and master’s degrees in choral conducting from The Florida State University where he studied with Andre Thomas and Rodney Eichenberger, and held the prestigious Clayton Krehbiel Fellowship, funded through the generous efforts of the late Robert Shaw.
Prior to his graduate work, Zielke received a B.M.E. from Friends University (Wichita, KS) and taught middle and high school choral music in the Kansas public schools. Following his graduate work, Zielke was the associate director of choirs at the University of Arizona where he conducted the Symphonic Choir and worked as a colleague with the late Dr. Maurice Skones.
Zielke is a frequent clinician and guest conductor and has recently worked in Oregon, Washington, Idaho, California, Nebraska, Missouri, Nevada, and Kansas. He also guest conducted the Academic Orchestra of the University of Stuttgart and the University of Tübingen Chamber Singers in Tübingen, Germany. Choirs under his direction have appeared at state, regional, and national conferences, as well as the Festival of Light in Bulgaria and the Prague Musica Ecumenica concert series. Last fall Zielke led conducting master classes and conducted at Sichuan Conservatory of Music in Sichuan Province, China. He has also led the Tübingen Academic Chorus and Orchestra in a commemoration concert for the late Tobias Hiller, who was Music Director at Eberhard-Karls-Universität Tübingen.
Zielke is the president-elect of the Oregon chapter of the American Choral Directors Association, a past-president of the Oregon Music Educators Association and is a contributing editor to Walton Music. He is also the founder and music director of the Corvallis Repertory Singers, a semi-professional ensemble devoted to exemplary performances of the finest in choral literature. Additionally, he serves as the director of music at the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Corvallis. Despite an exhilarating schedule, Steve enjoys playing with his children, watching college football, and gardening with his wife Nicola.
