Seattle native Fred Coleman has been the Founding Director of the Seattle Choral Company since 1982, and he currently celebrates his 22nd year as their Artistic Director. He began pursuing vocal studies at the University of Washington and at the Cornish Institute and started working with choral groups in 1973. He graduated from the U. of W. with college honors and attended choral master classes with Daniel Moe

(Oberlin Conservatory), Dale Warland (Dale Warland Singers) and Robert Shaw.

He was invited to sing under Maestro Shaw's baton at Carnegie Hall for the Carnegie Centennial Year. In the summer of 1998, he participated in Mr. Shaw's last Summer Festival Institute before Shaw's death in January, 1999.

Coleman will soon be joining the faculty of Music Works Northwest as director of the Choral Institute. The Institute will provide vocal and choral enrichment for deserving high school students in King County.

Coleman has shaped the Seattle Choral Company into the premiere oratorio society in greater Seattle. His finely tuned yet spirited performances have captured the praise of audiences and critics alike. Maestro Coleman has led the SCC on a journey through many of the most glorious choral works ever written—including the Berlioz Te Deum, Prokofieff's Alexander Nevsky, Orff's Carmina Burana, Beethoven's Choral Symphony, Haydn's Creation, and Bach's St. John Passion. He has also championed America's finest contemporary choral composers, bringing to local audiences works by Philip Glass, William Hawley, Morten Lauridsen, and Seattle composers Donald Skirvin and Bern Herbolsheimer. Donald Skirvin will join become the Seattle Choral Company's Composer in Residence beginning in September of 2003.