Dear BYC Community,

The Bellevue Youth Choirs Board of Directors is pleased to welcome our new Artistic Director, Mr. Nicholas Gorne! After conducting a thorough search, Mr. Gorne stood out as having the experience, ideas, and vision to lead and grow BYC into the future.

As we welcome Mr. Gorne, we also say goodbye to our most amazing Interim Artistic Director, Ms. Melissa Headrick. 

After masterfully leading BYC through all of the changes of the 2018-2019 season, and then topping it all off with an international tour that our choristers will not soon forget, we cannot begin to express how thankful we are for all of her sacrifices in the past year. While we would have loved Melissa to continue on in the Artistic Director role, she is a busy educator and musician, and has a young family that would love to see more of her. We respect and appreciate her decision to hand over the reins, and owe her a debt of gratitude for her work this year. Ms. Headrick will continue to work closely with Mr. Gorne to ensure a smooth transition and get him up to speed for our rapidly approaching 2019-2020 season. Even though she will no longer be the Artistic Director, Ms. Headrick will still be cheering us on.

As you’ll read in his bio below, Mr. Gorne comes to us with a wealth of experience though teaching in public schools and as a performer himself. This summer he attended the Kodály workshop to help prepare for his new role with BYC, and has been working with our teaching staff to gear up for a great season. We are looking forward to working with him and are excited for the future of BYC!

Allison George
BYC Board President 

Please join us in welcoming our new Artistic Director, Mr. Nicholas Gorne! 

Nicholas Gorne has taught music in every grade from Kindergarten to 12th.  He fell in love with music at age eight when he began taking piano lessons and singing in choir at school.  Throughout elementary school, junior high school, and high school, Mr.  Gorne was involved in choir, jazz choir, musical theatre, and solo vocal performance in the Mukilteo School District.

Mr. Gorne entered Pacific Lutheran University in 1998 where, over four years, he developed his solo vocal performance skills performing in opera and musical theatre, sang in the Choir of the West, touring throughout the northwest and Europe, sang in a madrigal group on campus, and graduated in 2002 from Pacific Lutheran University with a Bachelor of Arts in Music.  While at PLU Mr. Gorne was recruited during his junior year to begin singing with Choral Arts Northwest (CANW) in 2001.  As a tenor in CANW, Mr. Gorne has been part of five recordings and has sung for regional and national American Choral Directors Association Conferences.  In December 2015, CANW had a command performance at the White House for the President and First Lady.

In 2007, he decided to pursue a Masters Degree and teaching certificate from the University of Puget Sound, graduating in 2008 with a Master of Arts in Teaching.  He is currently working through the Kodály Levels program at Seattle Pacific University and is an active adjudicator for choral festivals in the region.

Mr. Gorne most recently taught at Snohomish High School where he was honored to receive the award for Best Orchestra in a Musical and an Honorable Mention for Best Chorus at the 2019 5th Avenue Awards.  He was a mentor and conductor with the Vivace! Choral Program from 2011-2018.  Mr. Gorne performs regularly throughout the Puget Sound Region and is active as a musical director for regional theatre.