2025 Presenters

(Vocal Technique)
Kristi Crusan studied Vocal Performance and Music Dance Theatre at BYU and traveled with University Singers and Young Ambassadors. She studied with Meyer Friedman at the International School of Voice and presented vocal techniques at the International Symposium of Audiology. She taught private voice lessons at BYU before opening her own vocal studio. Her talents have taken her to Opryland USA in Nashville, Russia, and South Korea. She has performed with such artists as Michael McLean, Janice Kapp Perry, Donny Osmond and Michael Ballam. She currently resides in Ridgefield, WA with her husband Ben and the youngest three of her five children.

(Primary Workshop)
Sharla Dance is passionate about Primary music and teaching the best that we can to prepare the children spiritually. She bases her teaching on research and principles gleaned over 25 years of teaching workshops all over the United States. She is always learning new things! Sharla’s post graduate studies are grounded in how children learn music.
Sharla has five children and a wonderfully supportive husband. In addition to music, she loves kayaking, good books, and playing with her children and grandchildren.

(Choral Reading)
With a degree in math, nearly a minor in music, and learning French for her mission to France, RuthAnne sees languages in them all and enjoys her calling as the choir director for the Bull Mountain Ward in Tigard. Continuing her interest in music, she has studied music theory and choral conducting as a hobby for years. She currently works as a Software Engineer and her greatest joys in life are her four grown up children.

(Organ classes)
Kevin has spent 15+ years in IT with some side quests in home theater design & audio calibration, software development, and currently works for Columbia Sportswear in the eCommerce division. He has found success and enjoyment existing in the relatively uninhabited area between technical and artistic disciplines.
He has been playing and studying the organ since he could reach the pedals, and has listened to organ music almost every day since buying his first CD in the mid 90s. While at Dixie State University in St. George, UT, he studied piano and organ performance. Kevin believes that while the mechanics and history of the organ may be fascinating to study, the power and majesty of the organ cannot be matched, and the organ, as W.A. Mozart once said, is the “king of instruments.”
Kevin, his wife Lori, and their five children live in the Cedar Hills area in Beaverton, OR, having moved from the St. George, Utah area in August, 2020.

(Ward Music Chair)
Jennie Peterson is the assistant choir director of the Portland Choir and Orchestra. She has been involved in the leadership of the organization for over 12 years. Jennie earned her bachelor’s degree in Music Education with an emphasis in choral music from BYU in 2007. She has held almost all of the music callings in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints at some point, and she is passionate about supporting her ward choir. She is a proud mother of five children.

(How to Build a Successful Ward Choir)
I taught music in the Beaverton School District for 30 years: mostly as the Westview High School choir teacher. I served in church music callings beginning at the age of 16 as the Jr. Sunday School Chorister and currently as the Ward Director. I have held other callings but the majority of my service has been Ward Choir Director. Music is a wonderful way to teach and learn doctrine and feel the Spirit.

(Choral Conducting Master Class)
Dr. David Thomas studied conducting and performance at BYU as well as at the Rimsky-Korsakov Conservatoire in St. Petersburg, Russia. He is the Artistic Director of Portland Choir & Orchestra. He and his wife Emily enjoy performing together and operating Studio Thomas: Music Performance Instruction.