Dr. Justin Birchell is a baritone, conductor, voice teacher and composer. He holds a BA in Music Performance and an MM in Voice Performance, both from UCLA’s Herb Alpert School of Music, and a DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Washington. Justin’s dissertation work at U.W. was on “Indian Music in the Choral Classroom.” 

Dr. Birchell offers private voice lessons from his teaching studio in Seattle, WA, or online via Zoom.

As an opera and concert performer (baritone soloist), Justin began his career in Anchorage Opera’s chorus while still in high school and later sang the role of Sacristan in Anchorage Opera’s Tosca and Samuel in their Pirates of Penzance. Recent notable concert performances include Mozart’s Requiem with Seattle Harmonia Orchestra and Chorus, singing Bizet’s “Toréador” aria to packed audiences of schoolchildren with the Auburn (WA) symphony, and “The Fence” in Considering Matthew Shepard with Choral Arts Northwest. Recent opera roles include the title role in Puccini’s Gianni Schicchi with Tacoma Opera (a rendition that also marked Dr. Birchell’s stage-directing debut) and Gubbins & The Dragon in The Dragon of Wantley with Anchorage Festival of Music.

Dr. Birchell is also in demand as a stage director, and has been praised for his “signature theatrical intelligence.” His recent reimagining of Gluck’s Orfeo ed Euridice was a great success at Tacoma Opera, premiering in the historic Pantages Theater in downtown Tacoma.

During his time in Seattle, Justin has been the Music Director of Wallingford United Methodist Church in Seattle and an assistant conductor of the U.W. Chorale. He was also an instructor at U.W., teaching courses on writing about music. As an educator, Dr. Birchell has presented workshops, masterclasses, and guest lectures for the University of Washington, University of Alaska Anchorage, Palmer Arts Council, Anchorage School District and others. Justin has also added Seattle Symphony pre-concert lectures to his range of artistic and educational activities in the Seattle area; he has also formerly acted as the season lecturer for Tacoma Opera. He advised Choral Arts Northwest on Indian Music topics, and wrote the program notes for their 2024 performance of Reena Esmail’s Malhaar: A Requiem for Water. He has also guest-lectured on the classical music of India for the University of Alaska Anchorage. Justin is a member of the National Association of Teachers of Singing, the American Choral Directors’ Association, and the College Music Society.

Justin was the 2018 winner of the Ted Stevens Young Alaskan Artist Award from the Anchorage Festival of Music.

Justin is also a passionate lover of wilderness, and alternates artistic activities with living in a remote wilderness lodge in the Brooks Mountain Range of Northern Alaska, about 250 miles from the nearest town (or concert stage!).

Dr. Birchell also remains active as a composer. Based on his in-depth scholarship in the music of the Republic of Georgia, he was commissioned in the Fall of 2025 to score the documentary film Two Steps Back: Georgia’s Uncertain Future by director John Brooks.