Mark Robinson, Conductor

Mark Robinson is serving in his 25th year with the Kenai Peninsula Borough School District as choral director for Homer High School and Homer Middle School. After 18 years as Artistic Director of the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra, Mr. Robinson resigned in 2007 but continues as Director Emeritus. In this dual capacity he has had the opportunity to bring the orchestra and students together for a number of projects, including annual musicals, the Brahms Requiem, the Vivaldi Gloria, the Mozart Requiem, and Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana. Mr. Robinson has been invited as guest conductor of festival choirs in the state of Alaska. His honors include:  the Homer Chamber of Commerce Citizen of the Year, Homer Rotary Educator of the Year, Who’s Who of American Teachers, KPBSD Teacher of the Year, and finalist for the Alaska State Teacher of the Year. Mr. Robinson has served as President of the Alaska Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association. Mr. Robinson holds a Master of Music degree in conducting from Ball State University in Muncie, Indiana.

JulieAnn Smith, Accompanist

Miss JulieAnn Smith, pianist and harpist, holds a Master of Arts degree in music, and a degree in harp therapy.  Miss Smith is an accomplished chamber musician, soloist, accompanist, musical vocal director, and teacher. She has performed on piano around the world with Yehudi Menuhin, Paul Roland, the DeVere Quartet, and Madison String Quartet. She has accompanied singers Christina Carroll and Warren Hoffman. Miss Smith has accompanied the Homer Middle School Concert Choir, Homer High School Concert Choir, and the Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus for the last 20 years as well as numerous Honor Choirs during that time. She has played with the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra and the Anchorage Symphony Orchestra.  Miss Smith recently released a CD of original harp music and is one of only two certified harp therapists in Alaska. Miss Smith continues to teach, direct, provide harp therapy, compose, and perform while living in Anchor Point, Alaska.

Homer High School Concert Choir

Homer High School has a student body of approximately 400 students. More than one fourth of them are in the choir program, which consists of a Treble Choir, Mixed Choir and a small select Swing Choir.  Homer High students are regularly honored in district, state, and regional honor choirs.  Homer High routinely sends more students to these choirs than any other school in the state of Alaska and in the Northwest Region. Homer High soloists and ensembles also routinely score superior ratings in the Alaska State Solo and Ensemble Festival.  Members of the Homer High Choirs have traveled to Los Angeles, California, Honolulu, Hawaii, New York City (where they performed in Carnegie Hall and St. Patrick’s Cathedral), and Rome, Florence, Assisi, Venice, and Milan.  While in Italy, these choirs performed in St. Peter’s Basilica – Rome, the Duomos in Florence and Milan, and San Marco in Venice.

Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus

The Kenai Peninsula Community Chorus was founded by Mark Robinson to provide adult choral musicians with an opportunity to perform choral masterworks. Members of the chorus travel great distances, often in extreme weather, in order to rehearse and perform. KPCC members range in age from 18 to 83 and represent a cross section of our community, including commercial fishers, doctors, teachers, homemakers and homesteaders. A number of the members are former members of the Homer High School choir program. The KPCC concerts are held in conjunction with the Homer High School Choirs and the Kenai Peninsula Orchestra.  It is not uncommon for KPCC members to have their own children in the Homer High choir program and it has been particularly meaningful for both adult and student singers to share their love of great choral music with each other. These combined forces had the honor of representing the Alaska time zone in the Rolling Requiem, a world-wide singing of the Mozart Requiem on 9/11 2002. They have also performed such masterworks as: the Vivaldi Gloria, the Brahms Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, and Handel’s Messiah.