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The Canadian-born choral conductor, Elisabeth Cherland, obtained her Bachelor of Arts degree in Music and English from Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota (2001); her Master of Music Education with Certification degree from VanderCook College of Music in Chicago (2005); and her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington in Seattle (2016-2019).
Elisabeth Cherland is a fourth-generation choral conductor as well singer, song leader, violinist, music educator, and Lutheran church musician. She served as soprano section leader for both the Rockefeller Chapel Choir in Chicago under the direction of Randi Ellefson and James Kallembach, and the Concordia Choir where she studied with René Clausen. She taught choir and band at the High School and Middle School level in Custer and Rapid City, South Dakota for 7 years, as well as private violin, voice, and piano lessons. She was the Village Musician in Holden Village, a Lutheran retreat center near Chelan, Washington for two years (summer 2014-2016). While in Seattle she was a frequent soprano and violin soloist. She was then an Associate Director of the Rapid City Children’s Chorus (until 2018); and Visiting Assistant Professor of Music at Gustavus Adolphus College in St. Peter, Minnesota, where she conducted the Lucia Singers, the Choir of Christ Chapel and the Justice Choir (August 2019-2022).
Since August 2022, Elisabeth Cherland serves as the Director of Choral Activities at Minnesota State University, Mankato. In this post, she teaches courses in choral methods, conducting, private voice, and conducts the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers. Her research interests include women in academia, feminist and narrative research, choral settings of Emily Dickinson poetry, song leading and paperless music pedagogy, social justice in the choral classroom, the role of the modern cantor, and the effects of corporate singing on mental health. She is a frequent adjudicator and clinician. In addition, she has been the Music and Artistic Director of the Mankato-based chamber choir Musicorum since September 2023.
Elisabeth Cherland lives with her partner Kent and their two sons, Elijah and Leif, in St. Peter, Minnesota. She loves storytelling and story-hearing, doughnuts, bubble tea, knitting, walking outside, and sunshine when it’s available. |
