Middle School Choral Festival
Nicole Thietje
Nicole Thietje is Choral Director at New Prague High School, where she directs four curricular choirs, three extracurricular groups, including show choir, and serves as Music Director for NPHS musical productions. She is a native of Louisiana and has taught Pre-K-12th grade in both Minnesota and Florida.
She is an active choral musician and enjoys serving choral communities. She is currently a member of See Change Treble Choir in St. Paul, MN, conducts the 3rd-5th grade Treble Choir with Northfield Youth Choirs, and transcribes the original arrangements of gospel artist Trey McLaughlin. She is also an active member of MMEA and the ACDA-MN, currently serving MMEA as a member of the DEIA Taskforce and ACDA-MN as Repertoire and Resources Chair for Pop music and as member of the IDEA Committee.
She served as co-chair for the Vocal Jazz Immersion Choir at the National ACDA conference in 2023. She has also served as presenter and honor choir director for ACDA-MN (7/8 TTB State Honor Choir), MMEA (All State Soprano Alto Choir), and SDMEA. Ensembles and singers that she has worked with were chosen for conference performances in 2019 (MMEA) and 2021 (ACDA-MN) and have been selected for state, regional, and national honor choirs. She is a co-recipient of the 2024 MMEA High School Music Educator of the Year award. Nicole has also won a Regional Emmy® Award for her work on a pop choral arrangement used on KSTP-TV Fox 9 in Minneapolis.
She received an undergraduate degree in Music Teaching/Performance from the University of West Florida, a Masters of Arts in Music Education Choral Concentration from the University of St. Thomas, and is currently working toward a Certificate in Teaching World Music from UST. She received additional training for three years in the performing and outreach group called The Young Americans, teaching and traveling on five national and international music outreach tours, including tours in the U.S., Germany, Luxembourg, and Japan.
She is passionate about reimagining music education in order to better serve young musicians and grateful for the opportunity to work with them because they are the best teachers. She lives in New Prague, MN with her husband and three children.