Adam Steele
COMPOSER - PERFORMER - CONDUCTOR - EDUCATOR
Adam Steele is a Midwest-based composer, conductor, and instrumentalist whose work bridges classical and contemporary styles. With a passion for collaboration and storytelling through sound, he brings decades of performance and professional experience to every project.
Education
Adam holds a Master of Music in Conducting from Portland State University where he studied with Bruce Browne. He also studied also with Rod Eichenberger, Rene Clausen, Dale Warland and Thomas Iverson. His composition teachers included Tim Stephens and Bryan Johanson and he studied Orchestration with Brad Hanson. He earned his Bachelor of Arts in Music Education and Vocal Performance from Pacific University .
Teaching
Adam taught vocal music and music production for more than 25 years at Oregon Episcopal School, Portland’s leading college-prep K-12 institution. He was a long-time member of OMEA (Oregon Music Educators Association) and NAfME (National Association for Music Education). He has served as adjunct faculty at Lewis and Clark College and as a private instructor in both instrumental and vocal music.
Adam has been a guest vocal instructor at regional music festivals, a state-certified adjudicator for local solo and choral contests, and a judge for the Beaverton Symphony Orchestra's Young Artist Concerto Competition.
Performing
Since receiving his degree in Vocal Performance, Adam has performed as a member of Sister Mercy (vocals, saxophone, percussion), the Rachel Taylor Brown Band (vocals, saxophone, clarinet, percussion), as a singer with the Portland Symphonic Choir, Choral Arts Ensemble, Concord Choir, and professional ensembles Choral Cross-Ties, Cappella Romana, The Ensemble, Portland Pro Musica, Resonance Ensemble and Cantabile.
He has appeared as a featured soloist with the Oregon Symphony, Portland Symphonic Choir, The Ensemble, Cappella Romana and Cantores in ecclesia. Adam is active as a studio and session musician, having recorded more than 40 albums with local ensembles and music publishers on the Gagliano, Gothic, Koch Classical and OCP labels. He has toured extensively throughout the US and abroad with Cappella Romana, and he was inducted into the Pacific University Music Alumni Hall of Fame.
Composition / Arranging / SONGWRITING
An active ASCAP composer, Adam writes for film and production music libraries, as well as for live performance. His work was featured in Portland’s 2017 48 Hour Film Project and he is a contributing artist with Velvet Green Music, a music production company located in Santa Monica, California.
Adam’s compositions and arrangements have been premiered by numerous vocal and instrumental ensembles across the Pacific Northwest, including Cappella Romana, Choral Cross-Ties, The Ensemble, Consonare ,and Cantabile. He has received commissions from coro uomo, Concord Family of Choirs and Portland Symphonic Quartet among others.
As a freelance arranger , Adam’s work spans high school, university, community, church, and professional ensembles. His works have been selected for the Project: Encore database and recognized in the C4 (New York) Composition Contest, where he was named first alternate. He now writes, records and produces from his home studio, Cloverlawn Studios.
Conducting
Adam earned his Master's Degree in Conducting from Portland State University and has served as the Oregon State ACDA High School Standards and Repertoire Chair. His conducting experience includes serving as conductor of Voces Auream and coro uomo, interim conductor for Cappella Nova at Lewis and Clark College, and assistant conductor for Cappella Romana and the Portland Baroque Orchestra Chorus.
He was the founding director of Portland State University's men's chorus, and a founder and artistic director of Vir, a men’s vocal ensemble. Adam has conducted numerous concerts, recording sessions and staged musical productions including the "Brothers Sing On" festival and the biannual "Concert for Peace" sponsored by the Institute for Christian-Muslim Understanding.
In 2015, Adam was selected as one of 14 conductors nationwide to participate in the International Conductors Exchange Program fellowship through the American Choral Director’s Association. His two-week fellowship in Sweden culminated in his conducting as part of the Scandinavian Choral Conference in Malmö, Sweden.
Adam has also served as Director of Music at Valley Community Presbyterian Church and St. Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church. Adam was also an active member of the Northwest chapter of Liederkranz.