artistic director

Stephen Galván is the Artistic Director and Conductor of ISing Community Choir, and has worked with the group since 2001. Stephen has worked in community and church music for thirty years directing choirs of adults, youth, and children along with brass and handbell ensembles and orchestras. He is currently the Music Director at Bethel Congregational United Church of Christ in Beaverton, Oregon.

Mr. Galván was Professor of Music at Concordia University in Portland, Oregon and conducted the Concordia Choir on tours of the Western United States. He has conducted the northwest premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “Requiem” and the U.S. premiere of Peter Louis van Dijk’s “Sän Gloria.” Stephen was selected to be one of the judges in the Wendy Fine Opera competitions in South Africa and while in Cape Town conducted the South African premiere of Norman Luboff’s “African Mass” with the St. George’s Singers at St. George the Martyr Cathedral. This cathedral became widely known as a site and focus of resistance against apartheid, and so St. George's won the splendid accolade contained in the title "The People’s Cathedral."

In response to the decrease of funding for music in the public schools, Stephen founded the South West Music School which has served thousands of students in music instruction. While at South West Music School he served as Executive Director and formed the New World Singers Community Choir, taking them on a successful concert tour of England and Greece in 1997.

Stephen Galván has a Bachelor of Arts with honors and a Piano Performance Certificate from Point Loma University, in San Diego, California and a Masters of Music from Portland University, in Portland, Oregon where he served as a Graduate Conductor. He served as Vice-Chair of Beaverton Arts Commission and as Executive Director for Choral Cross-Ties.