Steve Dresen has spent more than three decades building choral programs in eastern Idaho. Since 1999 he has been vocal music director at Bonneville High School in Idaho Falls, where he conducts the school’s choirs — including the auditioned Bonnevaires along with the men’s and women’s ensembles, Apollo 6 and Chanteuse — and serves as Fine Arts Chair and PLC Chair. He also teaches voice as adjunct faculty in the Department of Music at Brigham Young University–Idaho.
He is a product of the region he now serves. Dresen began his studies at Ricks College before earning a Bachelor of Music in Music Teacher Education, cum laude, from Utah State University, where he was active in ACDA, MENC, and NATS and was elected to the Gold Key National Honor Society. He completed a Master of Music in choral conducting at Brigham Young University, serving as teaching assistant to Dr. Ronald Staheli and the BYU Singers, teaching aural skills, and directing the University Chorale.
His teaching career began at South Fremont Junior and Senior High School, where he led choral and general music and musical theater from 1990 to 1994. He then joined the music faculty at Ricks College from 1996 to 1999, conducting choirs and teaching private and group voice, diction, and aural skills.
Beyond his own classroom, Dresen has served the profession as Gem State President for the Idaho Music Educators Association and in leadership with Idaho ACDA, and he is a frequent conductor of the community Thanksgiving choir in Rexburg. He has also taken his Bonneville singers well beyond eastern Idaho, including a performance at Carnegie Hall.