About Dr. Niké St. Clair:

Born and raised in Hungary, Niké St. Clair attended the Liszt Academy of Music in Budapest and earned bachelor’s and master’s degrees in music, specializing in Choral Conducting, Music Theory, and Music Education. Having completed her studies at the Academy, St. Clair arrived in Los Angeles to pursue her dream: a doctorate degree in Choral Conducting at the University of Southern California Thornton School of Music. Currently the Director of Choral Activities at California State Polytechnic University in Pomona, Dr. St. Clair’s duties include directing the Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers, as well as teaching courses in conducting and musicianship.

Under the auspices of the Organization of American Kodály Educators, locally and nationally, St. Clair is in demand as a master teacher, and teaches certification courses in musicianship and choral conducting using the renowned Hungarian Kodály methodology.

St. Clair is in her eighteenth year of directing the Sanctuary Choir at the La Verne Church of the Brethren. Together with Shawn Kirchner, internationally acclaimed composer and choral arranger, she has co-led four international choir tours to Hungary, Denmark/Germany, France, and, Ireland.

In addition to her teaching and conducting duties, she is an active roster singer of the Grammy Award-Winning Los Angeles Master Chorale and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, both of which perform regularly in Walt Disney Concert Hall and the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles, CA. St. Clair was the mezzo-soprano soloist in the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s performances of J. S. Bach’s St. John and St. Matthew Passions, B Minor Mass, Magnificat, also Handel’s Messiah, Israel in Egypt, Alexander’s Feast, and Stravinsky’s Les Noces. St. Clair is one of the small-ensemble members in the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s two internationally touring productions: Lagrime di San Pietro and the newly premiered Music to Accompany a Departure. Both productions were stage directed by world renowned Peter Sellars and appeared at the prestigious Salzburg Music Festival/Salzburger Festspiele in Austria as well as in Germany, England, France, Australia, New Zealand, and several major US metropolitan areas.

Dr. St. Clair’s Los Angeles Master Chorale choral discography includes Verdi’s Messa da Requiem, Gabriela Ortiz’s Revolución Diamantina (8 solo singers), Gustav Mahler Symphony no. 8, Charles Ives Complete Symphonies alongside with the LA Philharmonic Orchestra and directed by Gustavo Dudamel; Górecki Miserere, Itaipu and Three Songs, David Lang’s the national anthems and Nico Muhly’s A Good Understanding directed by Grant Gershon, and The Sacred Veil directed by Eric Whitacre.

As an ensemble singer for the Screen Actors Guild, highlights of St. Clair’s movie soundtracks include Star Wars, Avatar, Frozen, Godzilla, Transformers, The Minions, Pixels, Big Hero 6, Earth, Ice Age, Despicable Me, Jumanji, Jungle Cruise, Venom, Mulan, X-Men, Wreck-It Ralph, Sing!, Accountant, Smallfoot, The Secret Life of Pets, Dungeons and Dragons, Ghostbusters: Frozen Empire, Twisters: Dirt Road, and Super Pets.