Alaskan Justin Birchell is a baritone, conductor, educator and composer. He holds a BA in Music Performance (2019) and an MM in Voice Performance (2021), both from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music. He is currently studying toward a DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington. At UCLA, Birchell was a recipient of the Elaine Krown Klein Fine Arts Scholarship, The Mimi Alpert Feldman Scholarship, and a Dean’s Medal for academic excellence, and was a Fellow of the Gluck Fellows Music Outreach Program. Justin was a 2019-20 winner of the UCLA Philharmonia All-Stars concerto competition
Justin is currently the Music Director of Wallingford United Methodist Church in Seattle, the Artistic Director of Vivat Musica! Polish Choir of the Seattle Polish Home, and an assistant conductor of the U.W. Chorale. He is also a member of Choral Arts Northwest, and of the U.W. Chamber Singers.
Justin began his career in Anchorage Opera’s chorus while still in high school and later sang the role of Sacristan in Anchorage Opera’s Tosca and Samuel in their Pirates of Penzance. Other notable opera roles include Figaro in UAA Opera’s The Marriage of Figaro, Dr. Falke and Herr Frank in Portland State University’s Die Fledermaus, Silvio in Opera Fairbanks’ I Pagliacci, along with numerous roles through Opera UCLA, including creating the roles of Manfred in Lost Childhood and Padre Antonio in Juana, both world premieres.
