Dr. C. Michael Porter

“The students at Boise State University are world class: they are inquisitive, talented, driven, and, most importantly, the most fascinating people you will ever meet. This combination makes every ensemble a joy to conduct, and I have been so proud of their accomplishments.”

Dr. C. Michael Porter is a Professor of Music and the Director of Choral Activities at Boise State University, where he conductors the Boise State Meistersingers, University Singers, and Vox Angelis. Prior to this appointment, Dr. Porter held conducting positions at Brevard College in Brevard, North Carolina, and Bloomsburg University in Bloomsburg, Pennsylvania. His ensembles have performed throughout the nation and have traveled overseas to many central European countries. Past choral performances under Dr. Porter’s leadership include J. S. Bach’s cantatas No. 4, 72, 80, 131, 140, and Bach’s Weihnachtsoratorium and Magnificat; Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms; Handel’s Messiah and Zadok the Priest; Haydn’s Missa in tempore belli, Mozart’s Vesperae solennes de confessore; Britten’s Saint Nicolas and Rejoice in the Lamb; Carissimi’s Jephte; Pergolesi’s Stabat Mater, and Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard.

In addition to choral conducting, Dr. Porter also has extensive experience conducting operatic and musical theater works. As the Associate Conductor and Assistant Music Director of the Asheville Lyric Opera Company, Dr. Porter has conducted such opera masterworks as Così fan tutte, L’elisir d’amore, Rigoletto, and The Merry Widow. Other stage works conducted by Dr. Porter include Sondheim’s Into the Woods and A Little Night Music, Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas, Monteverdi’s L’Orfeo, and Krása’s Brundibár. In 2008 Dr. Porter was the guest associate conductor and chorus master for the Utah Opera Company at the Deer Valley Music Festival. In 2014, Dr. Porter made his Opera Idaho debut with Gianni Schicchi and Bernstein’s Trouble in Tahiti.

Apart from his conducting responsibilities, Dr. Porter’s research interests pertain to the musical development in late 16th-century Salzburg, and he has received numerous grants to continue his study of Magnificat traditions found in counter-reformation Austria.

Dr. Porter received his DMA in Choral Conducting and Pedagogy from The University of Iowa, under the tutelage of Dr. Timothy Stalter, and his Bachelors and Masters Degree from Truman State University, where he studied with Dr. R. Paul Crabb. Dr. Porter received further conducting training at the 2009 Oregon Bach Festival Conducting Master Class with Helmut Rilling, conductor and artistic director of the Internationale Bachakademie Stuttgart. As a singer, Dr. Porter regularly performs with the Carnegie Hall Choral Workshop Chorus: where he has sung under many prominent conductors including Robert Spano, Helmut Rilling, Charles Dutoit, and Peter Schreier.