On this page: Karen Drouhard, Paul Pritchard, David Hockman-Wert, Patty Gerig, Anna Rikli, Joseph Battrick, Emily Thielen-Mercado, Pete Butler

Karen Drouhard has 450 pupils in grades K-5 who come to her music room twice a week at Weddle Elementary School in Keizer. She also has two volunteer choirs—one before school and one during recess—who put on five programs a year. Her busy day also includes a run across the street to assist with the fifth-grade band at Claggett Middle School. Whew!
Karen’s music career began on a farm in eastern Washington. Her parents valued music and paid for lots of lessons over the years. Karen even sang in a touring choir as an elementary student.
Karen originally planned to become an English teacher, but college scholarships in music helped her change directions. The original choice is no doubt reflected in her voracious reading habit.
As the newest member of the CRS board of directors, Karen puts enough value on that responsibility to arrange days away from school to attend board meetings.
Karen completed a Master of Music degree at OSU and sang with Steve Zielke in his first year on faculty. Singing the Rachmaninoff Vespers is a favorite moment of her CRS experience.
A bit of an audiophile, Karen has a huge collection of boxed-sets and LP recordings of orchestral and choral works. Perhaps she can share them with students so they’ll know what recordings were like in “the old days.”
Karen’s husband, Robert, is a theologian in search of a doctoral program that fits his point of view. Let’s hope one can be found close enough to keep Karen in the alto section of CRS.

Paul Pritchard is a PK (preacher’s kid) who grew up in a singing family and became a preacher himself. He followed his father’s footsteps to Northwest Christian College in Eugene for a Bachelor of Divinity degree. NCC gave him his first look at Oregon—it stuck, and choral listeners have been blessed ever since through Paul’s work in church choirs, musical theater, solos, and the Repertory Singers.
Paul successfully auditioned for CRS shortly after he heard an early performance and said, “I want to get in that group.” He says that CRS is the “highest quality group he has been a member of”—high praise coming from a person who has been singing all his life.
As a PK, Paul lived in several Midwestern states. He sang “everything I could” in high school in Oelwein, Iowa before enrolling at NCC where he was in choral groups and a touring quartet.
After completing a Master of Divinity, Paul took a position as Associate Pastor at the Albany Christian Church. He later served as Minister of Music at the Corvallis Christian Church before returning to Albany.
Paul throws himself into music theater roles, even shaving his head for his role as Daddy Warbucks in Annie. His lead roles include productions for Albany Civic Theater, LBCC, OSU, Western Oregon University, and Corvallis Opera Theater. In retirement, Paul, and his wife, Mary, like to travel. They have a daughter and granddaughter who live in Oregon City.

David Hockman-Wert is a biologist with the U. S. Geological Survey studying the effects of forestry practices on fish and their habitat. He probably whistles and sings a lot while he works because his musical talents cover a wide spectrum. He sings bass in CRS, plays saxophone (soprano, alto, and tenor), blows a mean penny whistle which he brought back from Ireland, and can be found playing a West African drum called a djembe.
In addition to CRS, David puts his musical talents to work at Corvallis Mennonite Fellowship, where he provides leadership and participation for both vocal and instrumental performing groups. He sang in high school and college choral groups and has been a member of the Eugene Concert Choir and the Eugene Chamber Singers.
David spent much of his early life in Goshen, Indiana. He earned a biology degree at Eastern Mennonite University in Harrisonburg, Virginia and completed an M.A. in Environmental Studies at the University of Oregon.
David describes the experience of singing Carmina Burana as, “Amazing—the energy and enthusiasm that came from being a part of that was fantastic.” The format of CRS fits David—“Steve Zielke assumes that we come to rehearsals prepared and that we will know the material; therefore, there are few rehearsals and they are efficient. Steve comes in to a rehearsal full of energy and enthusiasm and it just goes from there.”

Patty Gerig joined CRS after their first concert. Her singing friend, Peter Butler, told her, “You should come sing with this group.” Except for a few performances, she’s been a regular soprano member and occasional soloist ever since.
Patty’s parents encouraged all twelve children to try some musical instrument from the large collection in the home. Patty chose clarinet and stuck with an instrumental life until high school experiences and opportunities started a gradual shift to choral work (she hasn’t played the clarinet in a while, but she keeps looking for new places to sing).
Singing led Patty to the altar—she met her husband when she was cast opposite him in an Albany Civic Theater production of Carnival (in the role, she rejected him; in life, she did not).
Patty completed a music performance degree at OSU in 1987 where she sang with Ron Jeffers and Kathryn Olson and studied with Constantina Tsolainou, whom Patty identifies as “the most influential person” in her music career. Patty says that as an eighteen-year-old, it was hard to hear her voice teacher tell her, “Be patient, your voice won’t really mature until your mid-30s.” Patty says she can see the wisdom of the statement now.
The Repertory Singers provide a place where Patty can sing “in my own voice” and not have to hold back. “I love to sing solos, but CRS gives me a place where I can continue to grow.”
Patty teaches voice part time at Linn-Benton Community College. She and her husband, Darwyn, live in Albany. They have two children and one delightful grand child.

Anna Rikli, who many concertgoers know as Anna Seitz, has a new name, having married Tony Rikli on July 17, 2010. This young lady with a soaring soprano voice is a Corvallis native and a CHS grad. She comes from a musical family. Both parents and all five siblings sing or play instruments, including CRS tenor Josh Seitz. Anna sang in Heart of the Valley choirs from 4th grade onward and added oboe to her repertoire during middle school. She completed a music education degree at UO, where she sang in many choirs, then a Master’s degree at OSU, where she was a teaching assistant for Steve Zielke and part of a Chamber Choir trip to Germany. Anna teaches music at Walker Middle School (Salem).
Anna joined CRS in 2008. She “likes being part of a group of talented people who enjoy working on a wide variety of music at a high level.” She admires the trust that Dr. Zielke has in the singers he selects, including the freedom to be expressive in one’s own individual way.
Anna takes pleasure in performing early medieval and baroque music at least once a year with the Oregon Bach Collegium. In addition to her full-time job, she teaches voice and conducts a children’s choir at Keizer Academy of Music and Art. But her activities are not limited to music. In mid-September, she ran her first half-marathon. Her original goal had been to build up to full marathons, but she is beginning to think that half the distance might be plenty. Wise choice!

Joseph Battrick got hooked on choral music at age eight when he began tagging along to church choir rehearsals with his Dad. Despite some significant stage fright in his youth, Joe gradually overcame it in high school and began to take on the kind of solo roles listeners in Albany and Corvallis have come to enjoy. Joe has since had more than 20 roles in local musical theater and opera productions.
Joe, a tenor, joined CRS in 2003 after completing music and English studies at LBCC, Brigham Young University (where he performed with BYU’s premier a cappella group Vocal Point), and OSU. Carmina Burana sticks out for Joe as a CRS highlight.
Joe says that his choir colleagues might describe him as “the guy who can’t stand still.” He tends to sway and must often be reminded not to conduct along with Dr. Zielke. To manage his audition and performance jitters, Joe often can be found pacing in the back of the auditorium or backstage before entrances. He also admits that he is notorious for forgetting lyrics, “but I always manage to make up something that fits.”
Joe enjoys Dr. Zielke’s enthusiasm as a director. “He brings such joy to the music; he enjoys every minute of rehearsal and performance—and it is catching.”
Joe is a funeral director for Demoss-Durdan. He has also recently started a new company for voice properties—“Mutant Tenor Productions.” Away from work, Joe enjoys spending time with his two children—a daughter (5) and a son (3).

Emily Thielen-Mercado grew up in a musical family. Her mother taught elementary school music; her engineer father composed music for every special family occasion, and her sister, Marianna, sang with her in music camps when they were both in primary school. Marianna, a professional musician in Portland, wrote and sang a song at Emily’s recent wedding.
Steve Zielke invited Emily to be associate director of CRS and she alternates between the alto section and the podium. Emily takes major responsibility for selecting repertoire for the spring production, Curtain Up!.
In high school, Emily conquered some of her shyness and stepped out of the choirs to take on solo parts in school musicals. Her first year of college at Northern Colorado was a start on an operatic career. A transfer to OSU began the move away from opera and toward her current life as director of vocal music at Crescent Valley and Cheldelin Middle School. Among the seven choral groups between the two schools, she even has two groups meeting during the same period!
Emily talks eagerly about her choirs. She takes them on retreats and keeps a busy schedule of performances. She is also active in the state music educator group and organized a mass choir festival in Corvallis in 2008.
Working with Steve Zielke “ . . . is like having a master mentor; I don’t have to work alone.” She added, “He’s fascinating to watch. His brain works at a whole different level than mine. He takes the music seriously, but also has a good time.”
Emily and her husband, Mike, enjoy Oregon. They hike, bike, and camp a lot.

For Pete Butler, it all started with a ukulele. Everyone in the family had one. It was “boys’ glee” at Beaverton High School, then choir and French horn at Lewis and Clark College, where Pete also played football and excelled as a wrestler. Current audiences know him as a frequent soloist with a marvelous bass voice, a skilled, versatile choral conductor, and a superb musical theatre performer.
Following his Lewis & Clark degree in music, Pete enlisted in the Air Force and played horn in the 724th Air Force Band for four years. Then came teaching/choral directing positions at Taft HS (where he also coached wrestling), Woodburn HS, and 22 years at Lebanon HS. Pete also directed the Lebanon Community Chorus for 11 years and Salem’s Thorsmen Norwegian Male Chorus for the last 32 years. He is proud to be a bugler for the American Legion Honor Guard, playing taps and firing the 21-gun salute at funerals and memorials to honor U.S. veterans. He is also proud to have always been a “partner in music” with his wife, Anna Marie, another exquisite singer. They met, of course, in the L&C choir.
Pete is a charter member of CRS. He is “honored to sing with Steve Zielke and such wonderful musicians.” He says he appreciates Steve in a special way from his own long career as a choral director.
“Three more words,” says Pete: “fishing, gardening, model boats.” That’s actually four words, but we’ll forgive him.

To read more bios click on the name below:

Bio Page 1: Betty Busch, Jerry Bowman, Gale Hazel, Gary Tiedeman, Ken Gryte, Virginia Stockwell, Brett DeYoung, Amy Gilson

Bio Page 3: Julie Manning, Josh Seitz, Judy Corwin, Bruce Hauge