Professor of Music Solveig Holmquist is in her twelfth year as Director of Choral Activities at Western Oregon University. Her teaching duties include conducting the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, providing musical direction for the yearly musicals in collaboration with the department of Theater/Dance, and teaching Conducting, Choral Methods, and Choral Literature. As a certified adjudicator, Holmquist is in demand at numerous clinics, festivals, and contests throughout the Northwest; guest conducting appearances include the Spokane Festival of the Arts, the Colorado Western Region Honor Choir, and the Anchorage High Schools Choral Festival. She made her fourth appearance conducting on the Carnegie Hall stage in February 2007, with WOU Chamber Singers as the core ensemble.

Dr. Holmquist is the founder and Artistic Director of the Festival Chorale Oregon, a civic choir in its 28th season which has developed a reputation for musical excellence in Oregon and in the international community. Festival Chorale Oregon has enjoyed performing tours through Germany, France, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Spain. At home, FCO regularly performs major choral/orchestral works for Willamette Valley audiences.

Dr. Holmquist received her musical training at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she sang with the renowned St. Olaf Choir; at Western Oregon State College; and at the University of Oregon. Her professional affiliations include the American Choral Directors Association, serving as President of the Oregon chapter from 2003-2005 and also as a Repertoire & Standards Chair on the Northwest Board. She was President of Oregon Music Educators National Conference from 1992-1994, and has filled appointments on many committees for both state and national organizations. She was recently named President-elect of the Northwest Division of the American Choral Directors Association, a position she will assume in July, 2008.

Since 1985, Holmquist has been an auditioned member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Helmuth Rilling, conductor, and In 1991 was selected to the festival s conducting master class. The Oregon Bach Festival Choir won the 2000 Grammy for Best Choral Performance for its premiere recording of Credo by Polish composer Krzystof Penderecki; the OBF Choir was subsequently invited to perform the work at the World Symposium of Choral Music in the summer of 2002. In the summer of 2006, the OBF choir and orchestra began a 3-year project which will conclude in 2009, recording the late Haydn masses for Hanssler-Verlag.