Dr. Sonja Sepúlveda Receives Lifetime Achievement Award from South Carolina ACDA

Veteran choral conductor recognized for her lasting contributions to choral music, music education, and the preservation of the American spiritual

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. — October 14, 2026 — Dr. Sonja Sepúlveda, MidAmerica Productions' Conductor-in-Residence and Director of Program Development for MidAm International, received the Lifetime Achievement Award from the South Carolina chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (SC ACDA) on October 10, 2026. The award recognizes significant achievement in the field of choral music.

Dr. Jeremy Mims, Associate Professor of Music at Winthrop University and president of SC ACDA for the 2025–2027 term, presented the award at the organization's ceremony. Fellow alumni and colleagues joined Sepúlveda in celebrating her career and contributions to the choral arts. Members of the Palmetto Voices Spiritual Ensemble marked the occasion with a performance of Only in Sleep by Eriks Ešenvalds.

“What an honor! I love ACDA and the work it does!” Sepúlveda said. “I have loved every inch of this journey and I plan to keep making music with my wonderful Palmetto Voices Spiritual Ensemble, All States, Festivals and MidAmerica Productions!”

She also expressed gratitude to the singers who have shaped her career. “Thanks to all the singers in the past, in the present and in the future who will allow me to breathe life into the notes on the page as we work together.”

Sepúlveda credited her education and mentors at Winthrop University and the University of South Carolina with establishing the foundation of her musical career. At Winthrop, she earned bachelor's and master's degrees under the mentorship of Dr. Robert Edgerton. She later earned a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of South Carolina, where she studied with Dr. Arpad Darazs, Dr. Larry Wyatt, and Dr. Carol Krueger.

Her professional experience also includes eight years with the Robert Shaw Festival Chorus and numerous concerts with Sir John Rutter. These experiences, she said, helped shape her development as a conductor and musician.

A career dedicated to music and community

Sepúlveda has served as Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music Theory at Salem College in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she conducted the Salem Chamber Choir, Chorale, and SuperTonics. Before joining Salem College, she held faculty positions at Western Kentucky University and Brewton-Parker College. She also spent 20 years teaching at Sumter High School in South Carolina, where she influenced generations of young musicians.

Her service to choral music in South Carolina includes serving as SC Choral Festival chairman, SC All-State chairman for four years, and state ACDA chairman for jazz and show choirs. She is also widely recognized for her work with youth choruses and is sought after as a choral adjudicator and clinician. Under her leadership, choirs have toured Europe, Mexico, and Canada, providing singers with opportunities to share their music across cultural boundaries.

In 2006, Sepúlveda founded Palmetto Voices, a choir comprising alumni and singers connected to institutions including Western Kentucky University, the University of South Carolina, Brewton-Parker College, Salem College, and Sumter High School. The ensemble is dedicated to preserving the legacy of the Negro spiritual and sharing this uniquely American choral tradition with audiences of all backgrounds.

Her work with the ensemble has included a collaboration with the late composer and arranger Moses Hogan, who wrote his masterwork My Soul's Been Anchored in the Lord for Sepúlveda and Palmetto Voices. Through performance and education, the ensemble continues to celebrate the spiritual as an enduring American art form.

Sepúlveda's impact extends beyond the concert stage. In 1995, while directing the Sumter High School Show Choir, she partnered with Andrea Freed-Levenson of the Sumter Civic Dance Company to establish Jingle with the Arts, a holiday production that became a longstanding Sumter community tradition. She has also supported music education and student scholarships, adjudicated local music competitions, and helped connect South Carolina singers with performance opportunities at Carnegie Hall and abroad.

Continuing the musical journey

Sepúlveda continues to share her expertise through her work with MidAmerica Productions, where she serves as Director of Program Development for MidAm International and Conductor-in-Residence. In these roles, she helps bring ensembles together for performances and international residencies, extending opportunities for musicians to collaborate and perform in distinguished venues around the world.

Former students describe her influence in terms that reach beyond technique and musicianship. Terry L. McCathern Sr., one of her former students, recalled that her teaching gave him the confidence to keep trying. Christopher Williams, who met Sepúlveda during his freshman year at Western Kentucky University, praised her ability to bring music to life and unite singers from diverse backgrounds through the American spiritual.

For Sepúlveda, the Lifetime Achievement Award represents not an endpoint but a continuing commitment to music and the people who make it possible.

“Thanks to Jeremy Mims, NeTorrian Patton and others for such a great convention,” she said, also acknowledging DeAnna Lyons Lee, Herbert Johnson, and Christina Infelise for joining her on the occasion.

As she celebrates this recognition, Sepúlveda plans to continue conducting, mentoring singers, preserving the American spiritual, and creating opportunities for musicians to experience the shared power of choral music.

About Dr. Sonja Sepúlveda

Dr. Sonja Sepúlveda is the founder and artistic director of Palmetto Voices Spiritual Ensemble and serves as Director of Program Development for MidAm International and Conductor-in-Residence for MidAmerica Productions. A graduate of Winthrop University and the University of South Carolina, she has dedicated her career to choral conducting, music education, youth development, and the preservation and performance of the American spiritual.

About MidAmerica Productions

Founded in 1984 by conductor and entrepreneur Peter Tiboris, MidAmerica Productions is an independent producer of classical concerts, presenting choral and instrumental ensembles, soloists, and conductors from the United States and around the world. MidAmerica has produced concerts at Carnegie Hall’s Stern Auditorium / Perelman Stage, Weill Recital Hall, and Zankel Hall, as well as Lincoln Center’s Alice Tully Hall and David Geffen Hall, and in concert venues throughout the United States and abroad.

Through its MidAm International program, MidAmerica also offers concert residencies in Europe and other international destinations. Over more than 40 years, the organization has presented thousands of performers and ensembles and worked with hundreds of conductors, while commissioning and premiering new works that continue to expand the choral and classical repertoire.

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Media Contact:
MidAmerica Productions
Website: https://www.midamerica-music.com/