Steven R. Hodson, conductor and musical director

Our Conductor and Rehearsal Accompanist

Steven R. Hodson, Artistic Director and Conductor, is a native of Portland, Oregon. He holds a bachelor's degree from Lewis and Clark College, a master's degree from the University of Oregon, and a doctor of musical arts degree in the literature and performance of choral music from the University of Colorado, Boulder.

Dr. Hodson has directed honor choirs and adjudicated choir festivals around the West. He is a past president of the Western Division of the American Choral Directors Association. The ACDA Western Division represents approximately 2,000 choral directors out of the national membership of over 18,000. Dr. Hodson was responsible for the Western Division conference held in Santa Barbara during the spring of 2014, which included conductors and choirs from Hawaii, California, Arizona, Nevada, and Utah.

Since 1996, he has been a professor of music at Westmont College, where he teaches piano, organ, music survey, and conducting. From 1990 to 1996, Dr. Hodson was Director of Choral Activities at Modesto Junior College, where he conducted the Collegiate Choir and Masterworks Chorus.
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While a part-time instructor in the choral doctoral program at the University of Colorado, Boulder, Hodson served as assistant conductor of the University of Colorado Graduate Choir, director of the University of Colorado Jazz Choir, and instructor of computerized music sequencing and editing. Prior to moving to Boulder, he lived in Roseburg, Oregon, where he was director of choral activities at Roseburg Senior High School and conductor of the local master chorale.​

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​Heather Levin, Rehearsal Accompanist, is originally from Redlands, California. This talented musician attended the University of California at Santa Barbara, ​where she received her master's degree. While a student there, she also worked as an accompanist for voice lessons and singing classes, studied voice with Marjorie McKay, and played in the ​jazz band. During her junior year, she participated in the Education Abroad Program furthering her studies in French and Music at the Université Paul Valéry in Montpellier, France.

Upon completing her M.A. at UCSB, she became a member of the Music Teacher’s Association of California and has since become extremely active in Santa Barbara and vicinity as a solo pianist and teacher in the areas of vocal accompaniment; choral accompaniment; chamber ensemble performance; music programs at church and religious organizations; school and community music theatre productions; and opera.