Dr. Monte Atkinson has been Director of Choral Activities at Mesa State College, Grand Junction, Colorado, since 1985, where he leads an active choral area, oversees choral music education, and conducts the Mesa State Concert Choir and Chamber Choir.  Choirs under his direction have performed with the Denver Chamber Orchestra, Mexico National Symphony, Vancouver Symphony, annually with the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, and the Mesa State Symphony Orchestra.  He has conducted the Mesa State Chamber Choir in performance throughout the United States and Canada, Europe and Great Britain.

Dr. Atkinson continues to serve as Artistic Director and Conductor of the Western Colorado Chorale, a 45-voice semi-professional choral ensemble he founded in 1985.  The Western Colorado Chorale’s concert series showcases choral and solo repertoire of great diversity, highlighted by their annual masterworks in which they are joined by the Grand Junction Symphony Chamber Orchestra.  In addition, as chorusmaster for the Grand Junction Symphony Orchestra, Dr. Atkinson has prepared many of the great choral works for the symphony’s annual masterworks concert.

Prior to his appointment at Mesa State College, Dr. Atkinson served on the choral faculty at the University of Tennessee-Knoxville.  An accomplished pianist, he holds a Bachelors degree in choral music, piano and strings from Utah State University.  His Masters in Choral Conducting and Doctorate of Musical Arts in Choral Music were earned at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.  In 1999 Dr. Atkinson was honored as the recipient of the Distinguished Faculty Award at Mesa State College.  In February, 2008, Dr. Atkinson will make his first appearance as guest conductor at Carnegie Hall of the New England Symphony and Festival Chorus, which includes the Mesa State College Chamber Choir and Western Colorado Chorale. A long-time member of the American Choral Directors Association, Dr. Atkinson is married to flautist Gail Patten Atkinson, and continues to be in demand as an adjudicator, clinician, and guest conductor.