Mark Steighner

Background

Mark Steighner has been living and teaching in the Gorge since 1979, directing choral and vocal ensembles at Hood River Valley High School (HRVHS), and conducting the Columbia Gorge Sinfonietta, Voci Choral Ensemble, Columbia Gorge Youth Choir, and many other ensembles. He has directed over 40 musical theatre productions at HRVHS and at the CAST theatre in Hood River.

As a composer, Mr. Steighner has written a number of full-length musicals and operas (including the recent Avalon, A Steampunk Musical Romance), as well as works for band, orchestra, and choir. Steighner studied composition with Peter Racine Fricker and Thea Musgrave at University of California at Santa Barbara and Bryan Johanson at Portland State University.

In addition to his musical pursuits, Steighner contributes reviews and interviews to a number of videogame and technology websites such as Videogamewriters.com and Gamershell.com. His reviews have been aggregated on Metacritic. Steighner has also contributed articles to a number of regional and music-oriented journals and publications.

Education

University of California at Santa Barbara

Bachelor of Arts in Music, 1977