2022 Howard Swan award winner: travis rogers

Travis Rogers has been a professional choral conductor for 42 years. He retired from Napa High School in June of 2018 after thirty-seven years of service as the choral music director. Mr. Rogers directed the activities of over 300 students (at least half of them boys) each school year in seven different ensembles at Napa High School. Choirs at the school traveled frequently nationally and internationally, performing in world famous venues such as Carnegie Hall, and Lincoln Center in New York City, St. Patrick’s and Christ Church Cathedrals in Dublin, Notre Dame in Paris, the Sydney Opera House in Australia, Westminster Abbey in London, Sagrada Familia and the Barcelona Cathedral in Spain. The Chamber Choir and Concert Choir at Napa High School won twelve first-place awards, the most by any high school in the state, under the direction of Mr. Rogers at the Golden State Invitational Choral Festival, California’s most prestigious high school choral competition. NHS ensembles also earned top honors at several national and international competitions in New York City, Hawaii, Australia, Austria, and England.

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In 1981, during his second year of teaching at Napa High, Mr. Rogers began the school’s first Men’s Choir with 20 students. In subsequent years, as many as 220 men sang in one or more of three separate male ensembles. Typically each year, up to 80% of new enrolling males did so with no previous choral training yet earned “Unanimous Superior” ratings at area choral festivals for the quality of their performances. The 2016-2017 NHS Beginning Men’s Choir was the subject of the documentary film “Top Row” which chronicled the group’s preparation and subsequent performance at their first choral competition. Mr. Rogers has served the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) California Chapter in many capacities including repertoire and standards chair for high school and male choirs, summer conference chair and President. He is currently the President of the western division of ACDA. Travis Rogers has conducted over thirty honor and district choirs in northern and central California. He has been a choral competition/festival adjudicator and clinician for over thirty years as well as a frequent presenter at professional conferences for ACDA and CMEA. Mr. Rogers is not new to Ragazzi as he has worked with several groups as a guest clinician over many years. He is very excited for the opportunity to direct the Young Men’s Ensemble.