About Us
The music we make and the making of it aims to prove the best of humanity, centering equity and inclusion, connection and care, beauty and joy.
A Notion, A Scream was founded in 2024 in Portland, Oregon, with DeReau K. Farrar as Artistic Director. Our community choir is an accessible and inclusive ensemble committed to raising our voices against white supremacy culture and oppressions of any kind. A Notion, A Scream is a non-auditioned SATB choir that sings almost entirely the music of living composers. In that way we support the livelihood of composers, and enhance the field of contemporary choral music. We offer concert performances twice a year, as well as community outreach events. For more information, please contact info@anotionascream.org.
Artistic Leadership
Artistic Director (he/him)
DeReau K. Farrar is also Artistic Director of Portland's queer and allied youth choir, Bridging Voices, and Director of Music Ministry for the Ainsworth United Church of Christ. Additionally, he sings with Resonance Ensemble and served on its Artistic Advisory Team for the 2022 premiere of Damien Geter's An African American Requiem with the Oregon Symphony. DeReau was Musical Director for the 2024 Portland Opera production of The Juliet Letters, the 2024 Portland Center Stage production of Sweeney Todd and their 2023 production of Choir Boy, and the 2022 Portland Revels Spring production of Un Pajarito Canto. Prior to moving to Portland in 2016, he was a music director in Los Angeles where he worked with A Noise Within (The Threepenny Opera, A Christmas Carol), DC6 Singers (SxSW, Jessye Norman’s Stand Up Straight and Sing! Tour, Sundance, Norman Lear, Jerry Kohl), Monkeypaw Productions (Get Out), HBO (All the Way), Selah Gospel Choir (Coachella, RuPaul’s DragCon), University of California Los Angeles (The First Lady), California State University Los Angeles (A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum), The Verdi Chorus, The RED Stamp (The Wiz, Ragtime, Songs for a New World), MUSE/IQUE Symphony Orchestra, and others.
DeReau K. Farrar
Accompanist (she/her)
Kelly is thrilled to be the collaborative pianist for A Notion, A Scream. Her love of accompanying began at 12 years old as a member of Columbus Indiana Children’s Choir. Currently, she loves to accompany in and around the Portland area, most often performing with middle and high school choirs, Solo & Ensemble participants, in musical theater pit orchestras, and at local churches. She is also an arranger, a vocalist, and a budding vocal coach, and she periodically performs at Portland City Grill. In 2023, she proudly served as music and vocal director for the first time for Magenta Theater’s production of Amélie. She taught elementary school music for five years before pivoting to pursue the most important role of her life—being a mother.
Kelly Angle
Board of Directors
(from left: Evan Williams, Lynn Fendler, Jane Manthei, Julie Earnest, DeReau Farrar)
President (she/her)
Julie is one of three co-founders of A Notion, A Scream community choir in Portland. She has spent most of her career in research administration within healthcare and biotech settings (Children’s Hospital Oakland, Oregon Health & Sciences University, Applied Biosystems), focusing on development of innovation and collaborative tech transfer programs. In addition, she is the former executive director of the Deacon Charitable Foundation and currently sits on their board. As an avid musician since age 6, Julie has participated in local community choirs and orchestras for over fifty years, and considers the co-creation of this choir to be a culminating expression of the values she holds dear: inclusion, equity, beauty, and joy of creating something with friends!
Julie Earnest
Secretary (she/they/他)
Lynn is one of three co-founders of A Notion, A Scream community choir in Portland, Oregon. She retired in 2020 from Michigan State University where she focused on social theory and power relations in educational settings. Lynn has been singing in choirs since 1960. In 1974-75 she conducted a church choir in Taipei, Taiwan. From 1980-90 she conducted Womonsong, a feminist choir in Madison, Wisconsin. Building a retirement life, Lynn has been traveling, gardening, cooking, scuba diving, singing, and dancing as much as possible. The creation of A Notion, A Scream has been an exciting and fulfilling adventure that supports a wide array of voices in an ensemble to bring more love and equity into our lives.
Lynn Fendler
Member at Large (she/her)
Jane Manthei is a member-at-large of the Board of Directors. Former spelling bee champion and current queen of the soundbite, Jane specializes in precise and accurate communications through multiple formats. Originally from Winslow, Arizona, Jane now works as the Healthy Native Youth Outreach Specialist, Northwest Portland Area Indian Health Board. Jane believes that the stories that we tell each other really matter. To take care of ourselves these days, Jane suggests that we drive to the desert, take dramatic selfies, and greet the local wildlife. Jane considers it an honor to serve on the Board of A Notion, A Scream where she brings fresh perspectives to the aging boomer Board’s decision-making.
Jane Manthei
Member at Large (he/him)
Evan Williams is proud to serve on the board of A Notion, A Scream, and has been an active member since the ensemble’s first season. A Chicano from Southern California, Evan earned his Bachelor of Music in Music Education from Biola University in 2019. After moving up to Portland in 2021, he has served for five years with Portland Public Schools, where he teaches music at Rigler and Vestal Elementary Schools. Evan is deeply committed to young students as they discover their creative voices through music. He has been actively involved in a variety of initiatives with the district’s Visual and Performing Arts department, including teaching with the Summer Arts Academy and serving as a teacher liaison on projects such as the PPS Latinx Youth Choir. Outside of the classroom, Evan also performs with “The Latinx Choral Project”, enjoys spending time in nature, and engages in community advocacy work.
Evan Williams
DeReau K. Farrar, ex officio
