Photo: David Scherrer

Deborah L. Brown has been Artistic Director and Conductor of Whatcom Chorale and Whatcom Chorale Sinfonia since 2009. Prior to that, she served as the Assistant Director for four years. An accomplished conductor, teacher, and soloist, Brown is proud to work with our gifted, dedicated singers and board of directors who are "Anchored in the classics, focused on the future."

In addition to earning a bachelor’s degree in voice and a lifetime teaching credential in music from the University of California at Irvine, Brown attended the American Institute of Musical Studies summer program in Graz, Austria, on full scholarship, and toured and performed in operas and concerts in Europe and the United States. She has worked with numerous notable choral conductors, including Howard Swan, Maurice Allard, Martial Singher, Maurice Abravanel, Henrietta Pelta, Natalie Limonick, Linda Frost, Vance George, Ann Howard Jones, and Mary Terey-Smith. Brown has also completed an intensive vocal pedagogy course and studied voice with Charles Peterson, Whatcom Chorale's previous Artistic Director and Conductor.

As the director of award-winning choirs in schools in California, on Waldron and Shaw Islands, and at Squalicum High School in Bellingham, Brown instilled a love of choral music and vocal excellence in her students. She frequently serves as a guest clinician for choral festivals and solo vocal competitions in northwest Washington.

Her comedic side was evident at Bellingham Music Club’s first “Night Beat” concert of the 2018–2019 season, when Brown was among the women of Whatcom Chorale appearing in “A Grand Tour of Europe” via international songs and vignettes.

On a nonmusical note, many athletic singers have been surprised to find their conductor wielding a tennis racquet in her work as tennis pro at the Bellingham Training & Tennis Club! Brown can also be spotted paddling a surf ski, surfing, and stand up paddling, and helping introduce new players to Washington State’s official sport, pickleball.