Diane Retallack, Artistic and Executive Director
Celebrated for her passionate leadership, rich imagination and expressive performance, Dr. Diane Retallack has served as Artistic Director for Eugene Concert Choir since 1985, the Eugene Vocal Arts since she founded the chamber ensemble in 1986, and the Eugene Concert Orchestra since 2015.
Read Diane’s full bio here.
Jill Switzer
Office Administrator & Music Education Director
Alyssa Morar
Marketing & PR Director
Matt Yuknas
Orchestra Personnel Manager
Christina Lay
Payroll & Reconciliation
Nathalie Fortin
Piano Accompanist
Alex Amick
Piano Accompanist
Jill Switzer, Office Administrator
& Music Education
Jill is a proud member of the Eugene Concert Choir and has also sung with the Eugene Opera Chorus. She currently serves as both the Office Administrator and Music Education Director.
She earned a Bachelor of Music Education at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She has worked extensively with children, youth and adult choirs, most notably as Music Director at the Indiana University Newman Center for eight years. While she is classically trained, her performance background also includes musical theater and Latin American folk music.
Her teaching credentials encompass vocal technique and music theory workshops in both English and Spanish.
Alyssa Morar, Marketing and PR Director
Thrilled to be a part of the thriving Eugene performing arts community, Alyssa Morar comes to Oregon from Las Vegas Nevada where she was a freelance circus performer for 12 years.
As a circus artist, she specializes in Aerial Silks, Trapeze and Spinning Cube. She has performed throughout the US and internationally with credits including: A Circus Symphony (Switzerland), Celebrity Cruises (At Sea), Venardos Circus (USA), and prestigious festivals including the Golden Karl International Circus Festival (Latvia) and Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival (USA). In her free time, Alyssa can often be found on the local hiking trails, at dance class, doing pull-ups, or at home cooking something delicious.
Matt Yuknas, Orchestra Personnel Manager
Christina Lay, Payroll and Reconciliation
A second-generation Eugenean and graduate of the University of Oregon, Christina has managed to combine her concerns for the community and love of the arts with her bookkeeping skills by working for several nonprofits in the Eugene area, including the Shelton-McMurphey-Johnson House, Lane County Historical Museum, Eugene Opera, Eugene Ballet, The Very Little Theatre, and The Eugene Concert Choir. When not keeping the books, she writes them. She’s a published author, director of ShadowSpinners Press, and a member of Wordcrafters In Eugene’s Board of Directors.
Nathalie Fortin, Piano Accompanist
Nathalie Fortin was born in Montréal, Canada. She holds degrees
from the Eastman School of Music and the University of Southern
California. In the Pacific Northwest, where she has lived since 2001,
she is an accompanist at the University of Oregon Community Music
Institute, Willamette Violin Academy, the Eugene Gleemen, Pegasus
Playhouse, Eugene Opera, and she has been the Eugene Vocal Arts
collaborative pianist since 2019.
Alex Amick, Piano Accompanist
Alex Amick is a Washington native from Whidbey Island. He started piano when he was six-years-old, however, his formal training began at the age of 16 when he met Dr. Kay Zavislak. He received his Bachelor's Degree in Music and Spanish from Western Washington University, where he studied under Dr. Kay Zavislak and Professor Jeffrey Gilliam. During his undergraduate studies, he was twice recipient of the Dean's Scholarship Award and was the winner of the 2022 Concerto Competition.
He has worked with several major music ensembles in Washington state, namely with Vox Pacifica (under Wendy Bloom), Choir of the Salish Seas (under Kevin Schmidtt), and the Bellingham Festival of Music. During the last part of the 2023-2024 academic year, he was part of the staff collaborative pianist at Western Washington University. Alex was also a piano teacher and has worked for Bellinghome School of Music and Evergreen Music School in Bellingham, Washington.
Currently, he will be pursuing a Masters in Solo Piano Performance at the University of Oregon starting the fall of 2024.