With soaring voices, choral festival returns
Published 1:30 am Friday, March 13, 2026
Four leading ensembles from the Seattle region — boasting a breathtaking array of voices and genres of song — will take the stage in the third annual Katherine L. White Invitational Choral Festival, a weekend-long celebration scheduled for March 28 and 29, at Vashon Center for the Arts.
The festival opens at 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 28, with a dynamic double-bill: Blue Street Voices, Seattle’s acclaimed 18-member jazz vocal ensemble, and Seattle Pro Musica, a beloved and award-winning a cappella choir.
A pre-show performance at 7 p.m. by The Andrews Sisters, a Vashon trio devoted to jazz, swing and Broadway music, will warm up the crowd in VCA’s atrium lobby.
On March 29, Ultraviolet, the most advanced student choir of Seattle’s Garfield High School, will take the stage at 7:30 p.m. and be followed by the 80-voice strong Vashon Island Chorale.
Patrons are urged to come early that night for a 7 p.m. pre-show performance by Bulgarian Voices of Seattle, a long-running women’s folk and heritage choir, in VCA’s atrium lobby.
This lineup — featuring a diverse range of singers spanning different ages and lived experiences — reflects a key curatorial approach by VCA executive director Allison Halstead Reid, who believes the ancient art of choral music has urgent relevance in current times.
“Whenever we feel divided, whenever louder voices make us feel like we have no voice at all, choral music is there to offer another perspective,” Halstead Reid said. “Listening and working together in harmony, singing out boldly, and hearing the power of our combined voices holds a deeper resonance today than perhaps ever before.”
The choral festival, founded in 2024, is named in honor of the life and legacy of islander Kay White, whose passion for choral music and joyous membership in the Vashon Island Chorale inspired her remarkable philanthropic gifts to build and open VCA’s expansive new campus in 2016.
Vocal ensembles in past editions of the choral festival have included Sounds of Light Ensemble, STANCE, Ancora Choir, Vashon Island Chorale, Emerald Ensemble, The Sound of the Northwest, Mirinesse Women’s Choir, Opus 7 Vocal Ensemble, Choral Arts Northwest, Choir of the West and Byrd Ensemble.
2026 Ensembles
Blue Street Voices is an 18-voice vocal jazz ensemble based in Seattle. The group and its four-piece band, presents arrangements in four-to-six-part harmony and performs everything from swinging popular jazz standards to creatively arranged contemporary hits with styles that include Latin, blues, gospel, and rich ballads.
Blue Street is directed by Dave Barduhn, a nationally renowned director, musician and arranger. Each year, the group produces three anchor shows culminating with their flagship finale at The Triple Door mainstage in early June.
Seattle Pro Musica is a critically acclaimed choral organization whose mission is to enrich and inspire audiences, singers, and community through the experience of choral artistry. Recipient of the Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence and the ASCAP/Chorus America Award, Seattle Pro Musica is ranked by American Record Guide as “among America’s very best choirs.”
Under the baton of its artistic director and conductor Karen P. Thomas, Seattle Pro Musica has received international acclaim for its numerous CD recordings and live performances. Choir and Organ writes: “Seattle Pro Musica presents a cappella singing at its best.” Seattle Pro Musica has appeared by invitation for numerous international and national festivals, and has performed with Jane Eaglen, Anthony Dean Griffey, Andrea Bocelli, Josh Groban, Pacific MusicWorks and Seattle Symphony.
Garfield Ultraviolet is the highest choir at Garfield High School and has been under the direction of Blake Saunders since 2019. They are part of the Garfield Jazz Foundation, and in 2024, won the Lionel Hampton Sweepstakes.
The Vashon Island Chorale was established in 1989 and is dedicated to the promotion of fine choral music in the Vashon community. The repertoire of the Vashon Island Chorale focuses on major masterworks from the past four centuries. The Chorale also regularly presents works by local composers, including residents of Vashon Island and the greater Seattle area. Artistic partners have included members of Vashon Opera, the Vashon-Maury Chamber Orchestra, the Portage Fill Big Band, and the Signature Brass Quintet. Gary D. Cannon has led the Chorale as artistic director since 2008.
The Andrews Sisters is a trio of Vashon-based musical theater, jazz and big band standouts Alex Drissell, Lisa Peretti and Maggie Laird, channeling the vocal group who lit up the 1940s with close-harmony hits including “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree” and “Begin the Beguine.” The group first performed with the Federal Way Symphony Big Band and also served as a fundraising act for Peretti’s 1940s-themed “Winghaven Park,” a new musical based on Vashon’s history.
Bulgarian Voices of Seattle is a women’s choir formed in 2011 by founding director Mary Sherhart and now directed by Teodora Dimitrova. The choir is accompanied on accordion by former artistic director Michael Lawson, and sponsored by the Bulgarian Cultural and Heritage Center of Seattle. All its singers, ranging in age from 18-90, were born in Bulgaria. They sing traditional and arranged folk songs from Bulgaria and provide a musical bridge to Bulgarian heritage for the Bulgarian community and the general public.
All performances take place in VCA’s Katherine L. White Hall, at 19600 Vashon Highway SW, on Vashon Island, with passes ($50) and tickets ($35 general admission and free for youth 18 and younger) now on sale at vashoncenterforthearts.org.
Elizabeth Shepherd is a former reporter and editor of The Beachcomber.
