Photo: © Jeanne Giles Hackney
	Joan Szymko has over 25 years of experience as a choral conductor, composer, teacher and performer in the Pacific Northwest. She led the Seattle Women's Ensemble for ten years and in the fall of 1993 became the artistic director of the 100+ voices of Aurora Chorus – women in harmony for peace. Szymko founded and directed Viriditas, a select women's chamber ensemble from 1994-2001. Viriditas is featured on Szymko's 1998 compact disc recording of her compositions, Openings, and made critically acclaimed appearances with Do Jump! Extremely Physical Theater. Szymko has been a resident composer with Do Jump! since 1995, performing her music with the company at their home theater in Portland, OR and on tour, including runs on Broadway (2000), the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. (2001,2007) and at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles (2001). Abundant lyricism, rhythmic intensity and vigorous attention to text are hallmarks of Szymko's diverse and distinctive choral writing. She also writes chamber music, art songs, and music for the stage. Especially noteworthy is her significant contribution to the body of literature for women's voices. Her music been included in performances and in reading sessions at the last three national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). Szymko's "Vivos Voco," commissioned by the San Francisco Girls Chorus, was performed by Chorissima at the World Symposium on Choral Music 7 in Kyoto, 2005. Her "Ave Maria" was selected as a compulsory piece for the Japanese Choral Association's 2006 National Choral Competition. Joan Szymko has been awarded an Individual Artist Fellowship by the Oregon Arts Commission for her work as a choral composer. She's also received grants from the Regional Arts & Culture Council (RACC) and was selected as a participant in the ASCAP Foundation's annual Film Scoring Workshop. Her choral music is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Treble Clef Music Press, and Yelton Rhodes Music.