Choral Institute >Faculty

Camp Director - Karen Soderberg-Sarnaker
Dr. Karen Soderberg-Sarnaker is the Director of Vocal/Choral Activities and Chair of the Department of Music. She earned degrees of B.MEd. from Pacific University in Forest Grove, Oregon; M.MEd. from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon, M.M. and D.M.A. in Conducting and Vocal Performance from the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona. She studied conducting under Brock McEhleran, L. Stanley Glarum, Norman Luboff, Paul Salamunovich, Maurice Skones and Eric Ericson in Stockholm, Sweden.

Dr. Sarnaker's choral program is noted for its excellence, and, for its performances of music of many cultures. Highlights of the choral program include performances of Handel's Messiah, Brahms's German Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Poulenc's Gloria, Hadyn's Nelson Mass, Mozart's Requiem with professional orchestras and soloists. Dr. Sarnaker has also conducted the Goldsmiths University of London Chamber Choir and University Chorus. She also performed with the Kalina Choir, who specializes in Russian Choral Music, at the Royal Festival Hall in London, England and the Asia Pacific International Choral Institute Chamber Choir in Singapore. She will be taking the FSU Chamber Choir to China this spring performing in Beijing and Chansha, Hunan.

She is active as a guest conductor, solo performer, adjudicator and clinician.

Tenor Jonathan Hodel
Jonathan Hodel is the head of Opera Theatre and teaches all opera related courses, including Diction for Singers, Vocal Pedagogy, Applied Voice, Opera History and Opera Workshop. He received his B.MEd. degree from Valparaiso University, a M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Iowa, a M.M. in Vocal Performance and his D.M.A. n Vocal Performance and Vocal Pedagogy from Indiana University.

Dr. Hodel has appeared in opera, concert and oratorio in the United States and in Europe. With over thirty-five roles in his repertoire, he has appeared the Pittsburg Opera, Opera San Jose, Asheville Lyric Opera, Bayshore Lyric Opera, St. Petersburg Opera, the Heschise-Stattstheater (Wiesbaden, Germany), the Compagnia d'opera italiana di Milano international tour, the Pine Mountain Music Festival and the Breckenridge Music Festival. He was an apprentice artist with Central City Opera, Opera Theater of Saint Louis and the John E. Connelly Pittsburgh Opera Center at Duquesne, where he performed the role of Rinuccio in the world premier of Michael Ching's, Buoso's Ghost.

As soloist, Dr. Hodel has performed Mendelssohn's Lobgesang, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony and Choral Fantasy, Berlioz's Te Deum, Britten's St. Nicolas, Handel's Messiah, Rachmaninov's The Bells and Verdi's Requiem.