Fort Worden Festival Guest Conductors

2017: Elena Sharkova

Russian-American conductor Elena Sharkova is recognized nationally and internationally as an inspirational, versatile, and effective conductor, choral clinician, music educator, and lecturer. She has conducted professional, university, youth, and community choirs and orchestras in 17 countries across North America, Asia, Eastern and Western Europe, Russia, and the Middle East. Ms. Sharkova has served as a jury member at numerous national and international music festivals and competitions. An expert on Russian choral music, Elena has lectured extensively on its repertoire and performance practices and conducted several U.S. premiers of Russian contemporary compositions.

Elena Sharkova regularly appears with professional artists; some of most notable conducting engagements include Kronos Quartet, actor Ryan Gossling’s rock play “Deadman’s Bones,” and spring 2012 series of performances with Grammy Award winning “orchestra of voices” male choir Chanticleer as one of the ensemble’s 2011-2012 Guest Music Directors.  As a soprano, Elena Sharkova has performed and recorded with one of Russia’s finest professional choirs Lege Artis and appears on five studio CDs on SonyClassical label.

In her fourteenth year as Artistic Director of Symphony Silicon Valley Chorale, Elena Sharkova has prepared and conducted the chorus in over 40 major choral-orchestral works such as Ralph Vaughn Williams’ Dona Nobis Pacem and Five Mystical Songs, Handel’s Messiah, Mozart’s Requiem, Poulenc’s Gloria, Brahms German Requiem and Nanie, Bruckner’s Te Deum, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and many others. Under Sharkova’s direction, Chorale presented complete performances of the monumental masterpiece of Russian  liturgical music – Rachmaninoff’s All-Night Vigil in 2008, and in 2011 premiered the new edition of Ippolitov-Ivanov’s All-Night Vigil, op. 43.

Regarded for her passion for non-Western, cross-genre, and multi-cultural music, Ms. Sharkova and Chorale delighted South Bay audiences with performances of such folk-inspired compositions as Navidad Nuestraand Missa Criolla by Argentinean composer Ariel Ramirez, Caribbean Mass by contemporary American composer Glen McClure, and jazz-inspired Mass in Blue by English composer Will Todd.

Artistic Director of the 250-voice strong Cantabile Youth Singers of Silicon Valley since 2004, Elena Sharkova conducts CYS’s top performing and touring choirs, Vocalise and Ensemble, and oversees all educational and performance aspects of the program. Under her direction, Cantabile made solo appearance on the legendary stage of Carnegie Hall in 2005 and 2010 and toured Estonia, Finland, Russia, and England.  

Elena Sharkova was born and raised in St. Petersburg, Russia, where she received an undergraduate degree in music education and piano, and a graduate degree in conducting from St. Petersburg State Rimski-Korsakov Conservatory. From 1988 to 1993, Ms. Sharkova served as Chair of the Choral Department of the Preparatory Music School at the Conservatory where she conducted four children's choruses and taught the innovative Ogorodnov Method to graduate students.

In 1996 Ms. Sharkova received her second graduate degree in conducting from Western Michigan University where she studied with Dr. Craig Arnold.

Ms. Sharkova has had a privilege to serve as guest conductor of all-state, divisional, and national honor choirs for American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, Organization of American Kodàly Educators, Association for Music in International Schools, Manhattan Concert Productions, Music Celebrations International, Distinguished Concerts International and Heritage Festivals of Gold.

Elena lives in San Jose with her wine-maker husband Tony Craig and their son Sasha.

2018: Rollo Dilworth

Rollo Dilworth teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education and serves as conductor of the University Chorale.  His scholarly and creative interests include:  composing for developing voices; choral pedagogy (elementary and secondary); analysis and performance practices in African-American choral music; and teaching choral music in urban settings.

Prior to his appointment at the Boyer College, Dilworth was on faculty at North Park University in Chicago for 13 years where he was Director of Choral Activities and Music Education.  Before teaching at the college level, he taught choral and general music at the middle school level in his native town of St. Louis, MO.  During his pursuit of graduate degrees, Dilworth was accepted into the composition studios of Robert Harris, Pauline Oliveros, Marta Ptaszynska, and Robert Ray. 

More than 150 of his choral compositions and arrangements have been published—many of which are a part of the Henry Leck Creating Artistry Choral Series with Hal Leonard Corporation.  Additional publications can be found in the catalogs of Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Colla Voce Music, Inc.  Dilworth is a contributing author for the Essential Elements for Choir and the Experiencing Choral Music textbook series, both published by the Hal Leonard Corporation/Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Publications, and for Music Express! Teachers Magazine.  He authored a book of choral warm-ups for elementary and secondary choral ensembles entitled Choir Builders: Fundamental Vocal Techniques for General and Classroom Use. Dilworth has co-authored another choral warm-up book entitled Choir Builders for Growing Voices.  

Dilworth maintains an interest in working with children’s and youth Choirs.  He has held conducting positions with the Jubilate Children’s Choir of the Northshore (renamed the Youth Choral Theater of Chicago), and the Music Institute of Chicago Children’s Choir. He currently serves as a consultant on choral pedagogy for the Chicago Children’s Choir.

A frequent presenter at local, state, regional and national conferences, Dilworth has conducted 29 all-state choirs at various levels (elementary, middle school, high school), and has conducted 5 regional honor choirs and 3 national honor choirs (ADCA and OAKE).  He has appeared as guest conductor for international choral festivals in Canada, England, China, Italy, and Australia.  During the 2012-2013 season, Dilworth has been invited conduct all-state choirs in Louisiana, South Carolina, Colorado, Minnesota and California.  He will also been invited to conduct international choral festivals in France and Japan. 

Dilworth is a life member of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and serves on the ACDA Eastern Division board as Repertoire and Standards Chair for Student and Youth Activities.  He is Chair-Elect for the Chorus America Board of Directors. Dilworth also holds memberships with the National Association for Music Education (NAfME), the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), and American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP).

2019: Henry Leck

​Founder and Conductor Laureate -Indianapolis Children’s Choir
Professor Emeritus – Choral Music – Butler University
Distinguished Music Advisor – KI Concerts
Artistic Director – MFA National Choir Festival
An internationally recognized choral director, Henry Leck is a professor emeritus in choral music at Butler University, where he served on the faculty for 27 years. He is the Founder and Conductor Laureate of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, which he served as Artistic Director for 30 years. Under his leadership. the organization grew to and continues to be one of the largest and most respected children’s choir programs in the world. The touring choirs of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir have performed regularly for national ACDA, MENC, OAKE and AOSA Conferences. Additionally, the ICC tours internationally every year and has sung throughout the world. Mr. Leck recently arranged and conducted the national anthem for Kelly Clarkson and the Indianapolis Children’s Choir at the Super Bowl XLVI.

In the state of Indiana, Mr. Leck is the founding conductor of the Indiana Children’s Allstate Honor Choir. He also founded and conducted the Indiana Middle School Honor Choir. He conducted each ensemble for three years and returned to conduct the children’s honor choir this year for a fourth time. Mr. Leck has conducted Mixed, Men’s, Women’s, Junior High and Children’s All-State choirs and festival choirs in nearly every state. He is a frequent conductor of regional and national honor choirs, including the ACDA Southern, Southwest, North Central, Central, Western and Northwest Honors Choirs. In the spring of 2003, he conducted the ACDA National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in New York City and in 2011, the ACDA National Children’s Honor Choir in Chicago. On three occasions he has conducted National Honor Choirs for OAKE. In 2011 Mr. Leck conducted the premiere performance of a seven movement oratorio entitled “Melancholy Beauty” written by Bulgarian composer Georgi Andreev in Kennedy Center and Lincoln Center with adult choruses, children’s choir (ICC), Bulgarian women’s choir, Bulgarian folk instruments and the National Philharmonic Orchestra. For twenty-two years, he has conducted National Youth Choral Festivals in Carnegie Hall annually. In 2016. Mr. Leck has just been named Artistic Director of the Music for All National Choir Festival. Mr. Leck has conducted many international festivals including the Musica Mundi Tuscany Children’s Choir Festival in Italy, the Central European International Children’s Choral Festival, the Pacific Rim Festival, the International Children’s Choir Festival in Beijing, China, the Vienna Children’s & Boys Choir Festival with the Vienna Sangerknaben and the Festival Internacional de Coro de Ninos en Mexico. He is a regular festival conductor for KI Concerts having done festivals in Spain, Austria, and Italy and has recently been named their “Distinguished Music Advisor”. He has conducted many times in Brazil, including the Curso Internacional de Regencia Coral in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil where he founded the ARCI Sao Paulo Children’s Honor Choir that he conducts every other year. He recently conducted the Tokyo International High School Honor Choir in Japan. For more than twenty years he has conducted a festival annually with David Flood at Canterbury Cathedral. He also has served as the U.S. Jurist for the 1st Xinghai Prize International Choir Championships and as an international lecturer for the International Symposium on children and youth choral music in Guangzhou, China. In the summer of 2013 he was the US jurist in Malta, and in 2015 was a jurist at the Musica Sacra a Roma. In the summer of 2014, he was a jurist at the World Choir Games in Riga, Latvia.

Mr. Leck has received many honors including the Sagamore of the Wabash and the State of Indiana Distinguished Hoosier Award. He and the choir received the Indiana Governor’s Arts Award, which is the highest honor one can receive in the arts in Indiana. Recently Mr. Leck was named a recipient of the “Lowell Mason Fellows Award” which is the highest award given, by the National Association for Music education. He is also a Paul Harris fellow and named Outstanding Hoosier Musician in 2016 by IMEA.

Mr. Leck is widely known as a specialist in choral techniques, the child’s voice, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, Laban and the boy’s changing voice. He has produced four teaching videos titled Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer, The Boy’s Expanding Voice: Take the High Road, Creating Artistry through Movement, Dalcroze Eurhythmics and Creating Artistry with the Male Maturing Voice. He was a lead author for the choral textbook series published by McGraw Hill/Glencoe titled Experiencing Choral Music and is the lead author of a new series of textbooks entitled Voices in Concert. He is also the editor of two nationally known choral series published by Hal Leonard Corporation and Colla Voce, Inc. Each year he has taught an international conductor’s workshop entitled Creating Artistry at Butler University. He has recently written a textbook titled, Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence. Mr. Leck received his training from the University of Wisconsin – Stevens Point, the University of Colorado and Indiana University.

Festival Guest Conductors - see complete biographies HERE
2019          Henry Leck
​2018          Dr. Rollo Dilworth
2017          Elena Sharkova
2016          Dr. Angela Broeker
2015          Dr. Rollo Dilworth 
2014          Robyn Reeves Lana
2013          Dr. Juan-Tony Guzmán
2012          Rebecca J. Rottsolk
2010          Dr. Juan-Tony Guzmán
2009          Emily Ellsworth
2008          Dr. David Brunner
2007          Dr. Juan-Tony Guzmán
2006          Rebecca J. Rottsolk
2005          Robert Geary
2003          Dr. Juan-Tony Guzmán
2002          Kris Mason
2001          Rebecca J. Rottsolk
2000          Rebecca J. Rottsolk