Principals

 

At the heart of Rainier Chorale are the dedicated artists who guide, support, and inspire our singers. Meet the principals whose leadership and musicianship help bring our music to life.

 

Ron Bayer, Artistic Director

Ron Bayer has been the artistic director of the Rainier Chorale since the 1996-1997 concert season. Ron recently retired from Green River College where he served as Chairman of the Fine Arts Department. Ron was inducted into the Washington Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 2004. He began his teaching at the high school level in Wisconsin and Minnesota, where he gained recognition as a strong, traditional choral director and also a leader in the then-emerging vocal jazz scene. After completing a nine-year stint in the upper Midwest, he came to the Pacific Northwest following the lure of the mountains, teaching briefly at Mount Vernon High School before coming to Green River. Ron received a bachelor’s degree in music education (in both vocal and instrumental music) at the University of Wisconsin-Parkside, and a master’s degree in choral music and conducting at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he studied with Harold Decker. Further graduate studies in jazz education were pursued at Western Michigan University where he studied piano with and assisted Steve Zegree. An avid mountaineer in his off time, Ron is currently in demand as an adjudicator, clinician, pianist, and arranger.

Dr. Stephen Olsen, Principal Accompanist

Called “Superb” by the Boston Globe, pianist and educator Dr. Stephen Olsen commands a wide range of repertoire, from the standard classical repertoire to avant garde music of our time.

Dr. Olsen has performed concerts with world class musicians in some of the most prestigious concert halls in America, including Carnegie Hall and Bruno Walter Auditorium in Lincoln Center, and Paine Hall and Jordan Hall in Boston. Dr. Olsen has performed numerous solo recitals throughout America, including at Seattle University, Renee Weiler Concert Hall in New York City, and Harvard University’s Paine Hall. Dr. Olsen has also appeared as soloist with orchestra in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia (Beethoven 4th piano concerto) and with the Western Washington University Orchestra (Bartok 3rd piano concerto). As a collaborative pianist he has performed with soprano Wonjung Kim, flutist Sooyun Kim, clarinetist Michael Norsworthy, and violinist Eiko Kano.

As a performer of contemporary music, Dr. Olsen has collaborated with some of the most esteemed composers of our time, including Helmut Lachenmann, John Luther Adams, Jonathan Harvey, Frederick Rzewski and Michael Finnissy (who wrote and dedicated a new piano piece to him). Dr. Olsen has appeared with dozens of new music ensembles across America, including regular performances with the Fromm Foundation Players at Harvard University, the Calitthumpian Consort, and The Seattle Modern Orchestra.

Dr. Olsen holds a Masters in piano performance and Graduate Diploma in Piano Performance from the New England Conservatory of Music, and a Doctorate of Musical Arts in piano performance from Stony Brook University in New York. While studying at Stony Brook University, Dr. Olsen had the great honor of receiving regular coachings from the Emerson Quartet. He studied piano with Stephen Drury, German Diez, Jeffrey Gilliam, Christina Dahl, and Margaret Brink.

Dr. Olsen is also a highly regarded teacher and adjudicator. He has given master classes in the US (including at Seattle University, New England Conservatory, and Stony Brook University), and in Asia (including in Bangkok, and Ho Chi Minh City, and at universities in Xiamen, China and Hanoi, Vietnam). For many years Dr. Olsen was on the piano faculty of the historic Greenwich House Music School in New York City. He also served for 9 years as asistant to director Jerome Rose at the International Keyboard Institute and Festival in New York City, which brings together piano students and teachers from all over the world every summer. He has served as a judge in piano competitions in America, Singapore, China, Taiwan and Vietnam.