Past Music Directors
Don Austin, founding music director, directed the Magnolia Chorale at its inception in 1989. He received a Bachelor of Science degree in Music Education from Miami University, Oxford, Ohio in 1962 and a Masters of Arts for Teachers degree in Music from the University of Washington, Seattle, Washington in 1971. Since 1983, Mr. Austin has performed frequently as interim choral director at the Magnolia United Church of Christ. He graciously stepped in to direct the Chorale during the winter concert series, 2003 and again for the spring concert series, 2007.
Ronald Haight replaced Mr. Austin at the podium for the 1997-1998 concert series. Mr. Haight has been the Music Director at the First Free Methodist Church on Queen Anne Hill for many years. He oversees and directs the growing music program featuring choirs, instrumental ensembles, handbells, and drama groups. Mr. Haight is a graduate of Seattle Pacific University. For a time he directed the Seattle Pacific University Symphonic Wind Ensemble .Mr. Haight has worked for the Seattle Chamber Singers/Orchestra Seattle serving as Assistant Conductor. He has been the tenor soloist and interim Music Director at St Paul's Episcopal Church in Seattle. Previously he spent nine years teaching music in the Northshore School District.
Heather MacLaughlin Garbes completed her Doctorate of Music Arts in Choral Conducting at the University of Washington, where she studied with Geoffrey Boers. As one of the teaching assistants for the choral department, she conducted the University Singers and the Summer Chorale. She received her M.M. in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington and her BME from the University of Wisconsin – Eau Claire. With a strong interest in Baltic choral music, Heather has helped develop and maintain the Baltic Choral Library at UW, the first of its kind in the United States, and is wrote her dissertation on Estonian composer, Ester Mägi. Ms. MacLaughlin Garbes is currently the music director at Youth Theatre Northwest, where she has directed numerous musical theater productions and maintains a voice studio of twenty students and is the choirmaster for the Annas Bay Music Festival. Heather also sings and has been guest conductor with the Cathedral Choir at St. Mark's Cathedral in Seattle.
Julia Tai is the music director of the Magnolia United Church of Christ and the conductor of Westside Symphonette. Previously she was the associate conductor of the Rainier Symphony, and the music director of the Concert Singers, Melodia Sinica Chorale, and the First Presbyterian Church of Santa Monica in California. She was a member of the Los Angeles Master Chorale and collaborated with the Los Angeles Philharmonic frequently. Julia has conducted professional and youth orchestras around the world, including the American Youth Symphony, the Bakersfield Symphony Orchestra, Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, the Estonian National Youth Symphony, the New Symphony Orchestra, and the Orquesta Sinfónica Juvenil Charlos Chávez. Her guest conducting appearances include Drums Along the Pacific Festival, the Seattle Chamber Players, Seattle Experimental Opera, Seattle Latin American Music Festival, Summer Institute for Contemporary Performance Practice in Boston, and the Washington Composers Forum.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Julia studied violin, piano, and voice from a young age. She obtained her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts Performance and Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and was honored with the departmental award of “Outstanding Graduate of 2004.” She moved to Seattle in 2005, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Washington, where she conducted the University Symphony and Contemporary Ensemble in many concerts, and the UW Opera in their productions of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden. Julia has given many recitals in violin, piano, voice, and chamber music, and performed concerts with choirs and orchestras, which toured extensively in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, United States, Japan, and Taiwan.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan, Julia studied violin, piano, and voice from a young age. She obtained her Bachelor of Music in Vocal Arts Performance and Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music, and was honored with the departmental award of “Outstanding Graduate of 2004.” She moved to Seattle in 2005, and earned her Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Orchestral Conducting from the University of Washington, where she conducted the University Symphony and Contemporary Ensemble in many concerts, and the UW Opera in their productions of Mozart’s La finta giardiniera and Kurt Weill’s Die sieben Todsünden. Julia has given many recitals in violin, piano, voice, and chamber music, and performed concerts with choirs and orchestras, which toured extensively in Australia, Austria, Belgium, France, Germany, Spain, United States, Japan, and Taiwan.
