Conductor and Musical Director for Chor Anno,

Howard Meharg

Howard Meharg began his work as a choir director in 1958, working with a church choir in Bellingham during his junior year in college. He holds a Master's degree in music education and taught in the schools of Castle Rock, Kelso, and Longview, Washington.

His professional career includes two tours with the Norman Luboff Choir and he founded (in 1982) and sang in Male Ensemble Northwest, a professional ensemble of twelve, also (perhaps not so coincidentally) made up of choral directors. MEN sang for several conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, including a national convention in Washington, D.C., and at divisional conferences of the organization. Howard retired from singing in MEN in 2002. The group has been, and continues to be, a major force in promoting male participation in choirs, especially in the northwest, through their workshops and festival events.

His high school and community groups were invited several times over the course of his career to sing for ACDA and music educator conferences, including one national conference for the choral director's group.

Howard has been active in the American Choral Directors Association since 1963. He has served twice as president of Washington's chapter.

He has edited the six-state northwest division's newsletter since 1995, moving it from a print version to online only in 2002. At about that time he developed the web site for both Washington and the division and since then has built and maintains sites for all six states of the division as well as the NW site.

In 2008 Howard was awarded the divisional award for Leadership. Excellence in and Devotion to the Choral Art at the NW divisional ACDA conference in Vancouver, B. C.

He retired from full time work in the schools several years ago. He directed music at St. Stephen's Episcopal Church in Longview, Washington until his retirement from that position in May of 2011.