Festival: April 25-26, 2025

This two-day event, located at Plymouth United Church of Christ in Des Moines, IA, brings together singers from throughout the state for an exciting time of learning and fun. Day one is devoted to high school (and older) choirs. Day two features treble choirs of singers in grades 4 - 8. An internationally known choral composer serves as the in-residence clinician and conductor for the event.

The composer's own music is the focus of the festival. Our guest composer works with students throughout each day of the festival, and at the end of the day, the singers deliver a public concert. The featured clinician for our 2024 Meet the Composer Festival is Leeann Starkey. The concerts will include the world premiere of a newly composed work by Ms. Starkey which was commissioned by Heartland Youth Choir for this year’s Festival.

Past composers at this event include: Jim Papoulis (2008), Stephen Hatfield (2009), Mark Sirett (2010), Z. Randall Stroope (2011), Paul Caldwell (2012), Sean Ivory (2012), Jay Broeker (2014), Dr. Rollo Dilworth (2015), Andrea Ramsey (2016), Ken Berg (2017), Elaine Hagenberg (2018), Jacob Narverud (2019), Tom Shelton (2022), Laura Farnell (2023), and Victor C. Johnson (2024).

For the 2025 Festival, Friday’s concert will feature high school choirs. Saturday’s concert will feature treble choir singers in grades 4 - 8 including singers from three Heartland Youth Choir ensembles, amongst other visiting choirs.

To register your school, church, or community choir to participate in the 2025 Meet the Composer Festival, please click on the link below. The registration fee for this year’s Festival is $350 per choir.

Heartland Youth Choir
Phone: 515-221-3922
Email: office@joinhyc.org

Leeann Starkey is a dedicated music educator, conductor, and composer with a passion for enriching children’s lives through music.
Leeann has conducted with the Indianapolis Children’s Choir for over a decade and is a sought-after guest clinician at choral festivals and honor choirs across the Midwest. She also serves as the ICC Curriculum Manager and Co-Editor of the ICC Publishing House.

With over twenty years of experience in composing and arranging music, Leeann’s expertise in choral works, particularly for children’s voices, is rooted in her extensive background of singing in choirs throughout her childhood and professional career. As the Composer-in-Residence for the Indianapolis Children’s Choir (ICC), Leeann composes original songs, custom arrangements, and instrumental accompaniments each season. She has been commissioned to write original choral works for notable occasions, including the 2025 Indiana Music Educators Association Elementary Honor Choir, the 50th Anniversary of the Fort Wayne Children’s Choir, the 30th Anniversary of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, and the 2023 Southwest Indiana Choral Festival. Her choral compositions are published by Colla Voce Music and the ICC Publishing House, and they are featured in festivals and honor choirs across North America.

Leeann graduated summa cum laude and as a Presser Scholar from Taylor University in 2008, earning a Bachelor of Music in Music Education. She then received a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Butler University in 2012, where she studied with Henry Leck and Dr. Eric Stark. During her classroom teaching career, she taught general music and choir to preschool through 8th grade students in the Tippecanoe School Corporation and Archdiocese of Indianapolis. She also conducted the Lafayette Children’s Choir of the Lafayette Master Chorale for nearly a decade.

Leeann is a member of the National Association for Music Education, Indiana Music Educator Association, American Choral Directors Association, Indiana Choral Directors Association, Organization of American Kodály Educators, and the Indiana Kodály Educators. She holds certifications in Orff Schulwerk, Kodály, Conversational Solfege, and First Steps in Music.