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Biography
Heidi Blythe is a treble choir specialist who was recently appointed Artistic Director of Mirinesse Women’s Ensemble. She directed the University of Washington Treble Choir for three years, and was the founding director of the University of Washington Advanced Treble Ensemble. Prior to her work at the University, she founded the Viriditas Treble Choir, an innovative project-based choir geared toward young parents.
As the assistant conductor of Seattle Pro Musica, Heidi worked with SPM's Chroma and Orpheon ensembles. She recently directed the Fauré Requiem for the Music Guild at St. Thomas Episcopal Church with soloists Charles Robert Stephens and Natalie Ingrisano. Heidi spent thirteen years as the Director of Music at University Congregational United Church of Christ, leading a music program that encompassed seven ensembles and as many as 180 participants a year. A passionate advocate of congregational music-making, Heidi presented a workshop on multi-generational music at the national convention of the United Church of Christ Musicians Association. She twice served as music director for the Pacific Northwest Conference of the UCC.
Heidi has sung professionally with the Byrd Ensemble, Radiance, SoundCity Singers, Epiphany Parish, St. Mark’s Women’s Compline, and the St. James Cathedral Cantorei. Heidi appeared as alto soloist for Handel's Messiah, Mozart's Requiem, and Considering Matthew Shepard.
Heidi provided rehearsal direction for the Seattle Symphony Chorale at the behest of associate conductor Christian Knapp. She was the Gregg Smith Singers’ first choral fellow at the Adirondack Festival of American music, singing with the ensemble under Gregg’s direction, as well as that of Margaret Hillis, Vance George, and Dave Brubeck. She was a research associate at the Smithsonian Institution, working on a joint project on American musicals with the National Portrait Gallery and the National Museum of American History.
Heidi received a Masters in Choral Music Education from the University of Michigan School of Music, Theater, and Dance, where she studied voice with John Gillas and John Charles Pierce, and studied conducting with Sandra Snow and Jerry Blackstone. She was the recipient of the Margaret V. Hood prize and appeared on the Classical GRAMMY-winning album “Songs of Innocence and Experience”. While at Smith College, she studied voice with Jane Bryden and organ with Grant Moss, and was the recipient of the Harriet Dey Barnum and Sarah H. Hamilton prizes in music, and the Imogene Mahony Memorial and Constance Kambour Edwards prizes for organ.
Heidi is completing her doctoral study in choral conducting at the University of Washington, where her research focuses on large scale works about climate change. She lives in Seattle with her spouse, Owen, and her children, Felix and Oscar.
Photo credit: Danielle Barnum Photography