Cambodian-American conductor, haute-contre, and composer, DARITA SETH, serves asFounder, President, and Director of CHORAL AUDACITY. This fall, he is proud to join the faculty at University of the Pacific serving as Interim Director of Choral Studies and Conducting. Prior conducting affiliations include: St. Luke's Episcopal Church in Long Beach, CA; St. Timothy’s Episcopal Church in Danville, CA; Danville Girls Chorus; Cantabella Children’s Chorus; the Grammy-Award Winning Pacific Boychoir Academy.
Darita holds a Bachelor of Music in Vocal Performance from Capital University’s Conservatory of Music and a Masters of Music in Choral Conducting from the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music at CSU Long Beach. Additionally, he is a proud alumnus of the Interlochen Arts Academy and Camp, where he participated in the composition, opera, and choral programs. Darita is an active member of ACDA, NATS, ASCAP and is a Sigma Alpha Iota distinguished member.
His voice is praised for his “technical deliciousness; power and precision of the connection between the colors of the voice; and beauty of delivery,” (Aspen Music Festival) Darita has been featured in performances of choral masterworks including Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms, Durufle’s Requiem, and Handel’s Messiah. In 2016, Darita concluded his tenure with Chanticleer, the Grammy Award-winning, San Francisco-based men’s vocal ensemble and is currently singing with the Grammy Award-winning Los Angeles Master Chorale. Additionally, Darita has recorded with AireBorn Studios (Zionsville, IN), featuring his voice on premiere recordings for various new music publications. He has performed in many notable international concert venues including Musikverein in Vienna, Austria; The Liszt Grand Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary; Endler Hall in Stellenbosch, South Africa; The National Concert Hall in Taipei, Taiwan; and The Esplanade in Singapore. His voice has led him to sing under the baton of some of the nation’s leading composers and conductors such as Eric Whitacre, Jake Runestad, Grant Gershon, and Gustavo Dudamel. Most recently, his voice is featured singing Handel's "Ombra Mai Fu" in the film score to the movie The Tutor.
As a freelance composer, he is recognized by the National youngARTS Foundation, and continues to write for the Anti-Racism, Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Choral Series for Choral Audacity. Darita is a published choral music editor with Hinshaw Music Publications with his own writing published through Pavane Publishing. In 2016, he received the John Ness Beck Foundation Scholarship to study composing and arranging with Craig Courtney, Dan Forrest, and Howard Helvey. Choral Audacity's viral performance of his arrangement of "Champa Battambang" has garnered over a million views on YouTube, Facebook, and Instagram with the majority of its viewership in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Outside of music and teaching, Darita enjoys cooking meals from his proud Cambodian-American heritage, weight-lifting, traveling with his partner, and being a dog-dad to his American Dingo, Remy Martin.