Shawn Funk

Artistic Director Emeritus of the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, Shawn Funk has been working with young voices for more than 40 years and recently retired after 32 years of service in public school music education. He has held adjunct professorships in music education and piano at Clarion University, Point Park University and Duquesne University, currently serving as an adjunct professor at the Mary Pappert School of Music, Duquesne University teaching courses in music education and piano. He holds a Bachelor of Science degree in music education as a piano and voice major and a Master of Music degree in piano performance. In music education and performance, he holds postgraduate credits from the University of Memphis, Northwestern University, Penn State University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Colorado. He holds level III Orff Certification from the University of Memphis and pursued advanced choral conducting study with Robert Harris at Northwestern University, Shirley McRae at the University of Memphis, and Christine Jordanoff at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh.

In 2011, he received Pennsylvania Music Educators Association’s “Citation of Excellence Award” for his work in the area of music education. During his public school work in the Fox Chapel Area School District, Funk served as one of the first fully inclusive music classrooms, developing programs for neurodiverse learners to be educated in their home school with their neurotypical peers. In his continued work with Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, he developed and currently leads a choir for neurodiverse singers, ages 6-18, that combines specialized instruction with the large choral community. In addition, future music educators and therapists are part of the program to gain valuable pedagogical experiences.

He has been a featured presenter at numerous national conferences of the American Orff Schulwerk Association, state, division, and national NAfME conferences, as well as state, division and national ACDA conferences. He currently serves as a guest conductor/clinician for numerous choral festivals throughout the eastern seaboard. During the summer of 2017, he led the Pittsburgh Youth Chorus on their first international tour, with performances in Canterbury Cathedral and London. He repeated this itinerary in 2023. During his artistic leadership at Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, the organization has expanded its outreach to develop Neighborhood Training Choirs in 4 locations, including a school-based program in the Pittsburgh Public Schools. In his work with Pittsburgh Youth Chorus, he has prepared children’s choirs for performances in Pittsburgh Opera’s productions of “Hansel and Gretel”, “Tosca,” “Turandot” “La Boheme”, “Carmen,” and “The Summer King”, as well as collaborative performances with the Pittsburgh Symphony, Pittsburgh Public Theater, the Chautauqua Symphony, the Wheeling Symphony, the Mendelssohn Choir and the Jr. Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh among others.

• Orff-Shulwerk Certification, University of Memphis
• M.M., Duquesne University
• B.S., Clarion University

• Music Education
• Group Piano