Keith McCauley is co-founder, Vice President and Associate Director of Cantus Youth Choirs, a non-profit community choir in the Boise, Idaho area. McCauley co-founded Cantus with his wife, Erika (Artistic Director and President), and Melody Paskett.
McCauley has been arranging music and directing choirs at Cantus since 2012. He directs Fortis, an all-male contemporary a capella ensemble (18 members); and co-directs VoiceOver, a mixed contemporary a cappella ensemble (18 members); and Concordia, the largest ensemble, which is a mixed varsity choir performing traditional choral music.
In addition to Cantus, McCauley is on the ownership teams of Container and Packaging, a packaging distribution company; PrintTracker, an enterprise print management software company; inkr Printing, a commercial printing company; an investment company; and also serves on the boards of Hand in Hand Family Mentorship, a nonprofit dedicated to providing a friend for families in need; the Distinguished Young Women of Boise Valley, the Treasure Valley Chapter of the National Association of Teachers of Singing (TVNATS), and the Idaho Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association (IDACDA).
Keith McCauley earned a BA in Marketing Communications with minors in Music Performance and Japanese from Brigham Young University in 2004.
Prior to his current roles, McCauley worked as the art director of seven radio stations in Portland, Oregon for Entercom, the largest radio-only company in the US, and did projects for the NFL, Toyota, Miller Genuine Draft, Saatchi & Saatchi, Mercedes-Benz, and Vitamin Water, where he received the President’s Award and had the surreal experience of having his work featured in the New York Times, and shown on billboards, bus wraps, train wraps and websites across the Portland area. He championed several new technologies and practices within his company (podcasting, internet streaming, web-based advertising, email marketing, street marketing, online auctions) during the radio-web boom of the early 2000’s and was a nationally sought-after consultant for combining traditional radio campaigns with web-based support.
McCauley met his wife and Cantus partner, Erika Carlson McCauley, in the internationally-renowned BYU Singers, directed by Dr. Ronald Staheli. McCauley has sung under the direction of Rosalind Hall and Mack Wilberg in the BYU Concert Choir and Men’s Chorus, respectively. He had the privilege of spending a week with Eric Whitacre recording the highly acclaimed CD, Eric Whitacre: The Complete A Cappella Works, 1991-2001 with the BYU Singers. McCauley was a demo recording vocalist and was a founding member of two successful collegiate male acappella ensembles: Inside Out and Moose Butter. He has had the privilege of performing as a soloist and with various ensembles in Arizona, Hawaii, Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Utah, Washington, Wyoming, Canada, Sweden, and Japan, where he was a featured soloist at the Kanagawa Arts Theater (KAAT), the largest performing arts center south of Tokyo-proper.
McCauley has also spent a little time on stage and in front of a camera. He was Lord Montague in Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet; the Prince in a French adaptation of Snow White & The Seven Dwarves, Bert Healy in Annie; Snoopy in You’re A Good Man Charlie Brown, the narrator in The Bells of BYU, a short musical-parody that he co-wrote and starred in; chorus member in Mozart’s The Magic Flute, Rapunzel’s Prince in Into the Woods, disciple in Savior of the World, and Noah in the off-broadway musical The Ark. McCauley also spent six months as the host of a Japanese cable television program teaching English to Japanese elementary kids.
McCauley has been studying voice since high school. McCauley has taken lessons from Linda Walker, director of Treasure Valley Young Artists; Anna Gray, founder of the orchestra program in the Meridian School District (currently West Ada School District); and Dr. Barry Bounous of Brigham Young University’s Music Dance Theatre Department.
McCauley currently studies classical and contemporary voice with Allison Linton; and has had lessons or master classes with Dr. Laura Rushing-Raynes, head of voice at Boise State University; Dr. Johnathon Retzlaff, associate professor of voice at Eastman School of Music; Dr. Robert Breault, professor of voice and director of opera at University of Utah; Dr. Darrell Babidge, professor of voice at Brigham Young University (now at The Juilliard School); Dr. Melissa Heath, associate professor of voice at Utah Valley University; and Gayle Lockwood, retired professor of voice at Brigham Young University’s Music Dance Theater Department.
He has performed in several community recitals, musical theater reviews, and master classes. In April 2017, McCauley was the tenor for Handel’s Messiah, directed by Luke Lords of BSU’s LDS Institute Choir.
Mr. and Mrs. McCauley have been married since 2004 and have two sons. He loves cooking/eating, reading, making movies, singing, playing the piano, and graphic design. McCauley’s mentors include: Linda Walker, Anna Gray, Carrie Bastian, John Hamilton, Mack Wilberg, Rosalind Hall, Ronald Staheli, Barry Bounous, and Allison Linton.