Ryan Heller has been directing Sweet Adelines Choruses for more than 20 years. He directed the Pride of Portland Chorus from 2003-2019, and more recently, the Alamo Metro Chorus, the current Region 10 champion chorus. With Pride, he earned his Master Director 700 status, won every regional competition in which they competed, regularly placed in the top 10, and earned numerous Audience Choice Awards. With Ryan, AMC won two regional competitions, placed 2nd in the Harmony Classic, as well as several Audience Choice Awards.

 

Hailed as exciting, dynamic and charismatic, Ryan’s full time job is leading the award-winning Chorus Austin as Conductor and Artistic Director, having joined Austin’s vibrant classical music scene in 2009.

Ryan and Chorus Austin have received numerous awards, including the Dale Warland Singers Commission from   Chorus America, a two-time American Prize finalist, and winner of the national Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker   Award, given to recognize a chorus for programming recently composed music. The ensembles of Chorus Austin have   been named one of the Top 10 Classical Musical Treasures by Robert Faires of the Austin Chronicle several times since   Heller has led the organization.  

He has led ensembles across the United States with appearances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center and Chicago’s Symphony Hall. He has toured internationally in Italy, Germany, New Zealand, Finland, Estonia, Sweden and, China, where he led combined choirs from Texas at the Forbidden City Concert Hall in Beijing and at the 2010 World Expo in Shanghai. Most recently, he was invited to conduct Mozart’s Requiem in Vienna, with additional appearances in Salzburg.

He served as Co-Founder, Conductor and Artistic Director of the Portland Vocal Consort, one of Portland, Oregon’s, premier professional choirs, and spent a decade as the Conductor/Artistic Director of the Southwest Washington Symphony; In 2001, he Co-Founded the Columbia Chorale of Oregon, a group he led until 2010.

 

A passionate advocate of new music, as well as a lover of opera and musical theater, Heller’s credits include: Music Director/Conductor for the world premiere of the opera The Canticle of the Black Madonna; Music Director/Conductor for regional productions of Brigadoon, Pirates of Penzance, H.M.S. Pinafore, Sweeney Todd, Annie, Company and Into the Woods; Chorus Master for Norma, La Cenerentola, Die Fledermaus, Carmen, and The Magic Flute, among others.  An active performer, he has appeared and/or recorded with the REVEL chamber music, Portland Opera, William Hall Master Chorale, Choral Cross-Ties, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Capella Romana, Lakewood Theater Company and the Broadway Rose Theater Company. He has collaborated with or guest conducted the Austin Symphony, La Follia Austin Baroque, Orchester Wien, and the Rose City Chamber Orchestra.

 

An Oregon native, Mr. Heller received his Master of Music degree in Conducting from Portland State University and his Bachelor’s of Music degree in Conducting from Chapman University. He is in frequent demand as a conductor, clinician, singer and coach.