Bee Chow

Bee Chow has a Master of Arts degree in Music Education from the University of Iowa. She holds certifications in Kodaly and Suzuki instruction from Holy Names University.  Bee taught music in the public schools for close to 10 years; then while maintaining a thriving private piano studio in Livermore, she founded the Cantabella Children’s Chorus in 1992 with 11 members in her own living room.  She was inspired by Zoltan Kodaly’s philosophy that the singing voice should be every child’s first and lifelong musical instrument, and motivated by the desire for her own two kids, then ages 8 & 6, to experience the joy of singing in a choir.  From this humble beginning, Bee grew and nurtured Cantabella Children’s Chorus into an international awards-winning organization with a total membership of over 250 singers ranging from kindergarteners to high school students by the time of her retirement as artistic director.

After her official retirement as artistic director of Cantabella in 2015, Bee continues to serve on the board as Director Emeritus providing guidance and direction for the choir.  In addition, she served as Festival Director for the Young Voices in Harmony Festival, a biennial youth choral event sponsored by Cantabella featuring internationally-acclaimed choral conductors and clinicians and attracting more than 200 middle and high school choristers and their directors from throughout the bay area and beyond. 

In 2019, Bee was awarded the Alameda County Arts Leadership Award by the Alameda County Arts Commission, in recognition of her outstanding achievements and contributions impacting the arts community and the residents of Alameda County.  Acknowledging that “success without succession is failure”, Bee is extremely grateful for the successful passing of her conducting baton to Eileen Chang, the current artistic director, and for all the committed staff and directors at Cantabella who share her vision and passion to benefit the children of Alameda by “making Cantabella great”!