Western Slope Choral Festival

The dates for this year’s festival are February 27th – March 1st 2025. The Treble Choir guest conductor is Sean Stanton. Our Mixed Choir conductor is Dr. Hingrid Kujawinski.

Contact WCU Director of Choirs Lillian Magrinelli at lmagrinelli@western.edu for audition information.

About the Guest Artists

Mixed Choir Conductor: Dr. Hingrid Kujawinski

Dr. Hingrid Kujawinski is a versatile musician and educator with a dynamic career spanning continents and disciplines. Originally from Brazil, Dr. Kujawinski earned undergraduate degrees in piano performance and choir conducting, while dedicating over a decade to teaching piano and collaborating with vocalists and instrumentalists. At the Pontifícia Universidade Católica do Rio Grande do Sul, Dr. Kujawinski prepared a community choir for operatic and symphonic productions and accompanied opera rehearsals, laying the groundwork for a distinguished career in choral and collaborative music.

In 2009, Dr. Kujawinski moved to the United States, earning dual master’s degrees in collaborative piano and choir conducting, as well as a doctorate in choir conducting, under the mentorship of renowned choral directors Dr. Peggy Dettwiler and Dr. Patrick Gardner. Highlights include conducting Schubert’s Psalm 23 with the Mansfield Concert Choir at the 2011 Llangollen International Competition in Wales, where the performance earned the highest score in the women’s chorus division. While at Rutgers University, Dr. Kujawinski led the Voorhees Choir in premiering The Three Seasons by Edgar Girtain IV and received national recognition for innovative programming in the American Prize Competition.

As an interim professor at the College of Central Florida, Dr. Kujawinski taught an array of courses, directed choirs and musical theater ensembles, and spearheaded the college’s first opera scene recital. Most recently, at the Universidad Austral de Chile, Dr. Kujawinski directed the University Choir and expanded its reach by establishing new choral ensembles and implementing inclusive, multi-disciplinary performances. Dr. Kujawinski also developed a government-funded project to enhance regional choral skills through workshops in conducting and vocal coaching.

With extensive experience in conducting, piano, and vocal pedagogy, Dr. Kujawinski is a passionate advocate for accessible, stylistically versatile music-making rooted in technical excellence.

Mixed Choir Pianist: Dr. Edgar Girtain

Edgar Fikes Girtain IV is an American composer. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from Rutgers University, where he also obtained a Master’s degree in Music Theory and Composition. In 2023, he completed his Doctorate on scholarship at the State University of New York (SUNY) Buffalo under David Felder. His compositions have been performed and commissioned across Western Europe, the Americas, Asia, and the Middle East. Between 2012 and 2019, Dr. Girtain taught general, vocal, and instrumental music at K-12 schools throughout New Jersey and the Región de Los Lagos, Chile. He has worked as the organist at the Lutheran Church of Puerto Montt, conducted choirs, founded the Southern Chilean Composers Forum, and served as the director of the Casa de las Artes at the Universidad Austral de Chile’s Puerto Montt Campus from 2019-2024. In Southern Chile, he is recognized for his significant contributions to music education as a performer, arranger, and composer. In 2022, his climate change cantata, “Otro Viento Cantará,” premiered at the Teatro del Lago as part of the “Puedes Cantar” program by the Ibáñez Atkinson Foundation, featuring over 300 children from schools in the Los Lagos region. In the same year, he was honored by the municipality of Puerto Montt for his composition, “Una Joya Perdida.” His music is published by First String Press, JW Pepper, and is also available through his website.

Treble Choir Conductor: Sean Stanton

Sean Stanton is a dynamic conductor, singer, and clinician whose career spans choral music,
opera, and science-informed voice pedagogy. As an esteemed choral artist, he has performed
with Lyric Opera of Chicago Chorus, Grant Park Chorus, and the Chicago Symphony Chorus
serving as the bass section leader under the direction of Duain Wolfe.

A dedicated choral conductor, Sean has led high school and collegiate ensembles, coaching vocalists for competitions and preparing choirs for high-profile performances such as Varsity Vocals, ILMEA, and ACDA. His leadership in choral directing extends to his work with Music of the Baroque’s Strong Voices Program, where he mentored choral programs at multiple high schools and prepared singers for professional performances with MOB. The 2024–2025 season highlights Sean’s versatility across performance and academia. He will
present a Los Angeles NATS-sponsored recital of Schubert’s Winterreise, perform J.S. Bach’s Ich habe genug (BWV 82) with the St. Paul’s Chamber Orchestra in Philadelphia, and take part in An Evening with Willa Cather apart of the Library Foundation of Los Angeles ALOUD series. In addition to his performance schedule, he will present Empowered Performance From the Core: Practical Techniques to Optimize Breathing and Posture with Pamela Mikkelsen (PT, DPT, OCS) at the Performing Arts Medicine Association International Symposium in Washington, DC.

As a performer, Sean has appeared with leading opera companies, including Central City Opera, Opera North, Opera Southwest, Opera on the James, and Opera Steamboat. Sean has been recognized with numerous awards, including the Lola Fletcher Award from the American Opera Society and honors from James Toland Vocal Arts, the New York Lyric Opera Theatre, Classical Singer, the Bel Canto Foundation, and the Luminarts Cultural Foundation. His competitive achievements include first-place awards in the Chicago, Illinois, and Central Region NATS competitions and the Los Angeles NATS Young Artist Award in 2024. He has appeared in masterclasses led by legendary artists such as Sherrill Milnes, Renée Fleming, Dame Emma Kirkby, and John Wustman.

Currently pursuing a Doctor of Musical Arts at the University of Southern California, Sean serves as Head Teaching Assistant in Vocal Arts, studying with Professor Lynn Helding and conducting with Dr. Tram Sparks and Dr. Emily Sung. A committed educator, he teaches applied voice lessons to musical theater and classical voice minors, graduate students, and Kaufman School of Dance students, coaching students in various vocal styles.

Treble Choir Pianist: Anna Bagley

Anna Bagley began accompanying school choirs and worship services when she was a teenager. She graduated from Benedictine College in 2005 with a degree in music ministry and served at various camps and churches in Kansas, Iowa, Michigan, and Colorado until 2022. This is Mrs. Bagley’s eighth year as accompanist at Rifle High School. In addition to working at RHS, she writes Christian summer camp curriculum for Camp315. Mrs. Bagley is married to Danny and they have two sons, Mike and Nate.