About the Choir
The Camerata Singers rehearse and perform in Pocatello, Idaho, USA on the western slopes of the Rocky Mountains. Our climate is high desert, warm and dry in the summer with crisp nights, cold and dry in the winter, with substantial snows in the mountains. We are in “open range” country where the cattle and sheep are free to roam. Deer, moose, elk and cougar abound in the surrounding countryside. A series of hydroelectric dams on the Snake River provide electricity to our region and irrigation water to the fertile volcanic soils of the Snake River Plain known for its extensive potato crop.
Pocatello, a city of 50,0000 people, is 160 miles north of Salt Lake City and shares its culture, including the tradition of infusing music into daily life. Within a three- hour drive we can enjoy the peaceful slopes of Sun Valley, Idaho and the natural wonders of Yellowstone and Grand Teton National Parks. Pocatello is known as the “Gate City” in reference to both its geological history as a natural gate through the Portneuf Mountains and to its most recent history as an important railroad hub. The Oregon Trail runs just south and west of the city. Pocatello is also home to Idaho State University where a new state-of-the-art Performing Arts Center has been built. This has enhanced the musical offerings in the region. Since 1999 Pocatello has been home to the Idaho International Choral Festival where singers from all over the world assemble to share their rich musical traditions.
Jeff Francom, Director
Dr. Jeffrey Francom is Director of Choral Activities at Idaho State University, where he conducts the ISU Chamber Singers and Concert Choir, teaches courses in choral music education and conducting, and serves as artistic director of Pocatello's Camerata Singers and the Idaho International Choral Festival. From 2009 to 2024, Dr. Francom served as Associate Professor and Choral Area Coordinator at SUNY Potsdam Crane School of Music, and as faculty for Crane Youth Music. Prior to 2009,Dr. Francom taught at Suffolk County Community College and Stony Brook University on Long Island, and for Duval Public Schools in Jacksonville, Florida.
Highlights of Dr. Francom's career include performances and presentations at state and regional ACDA/NAfME conferences; commissions and premieres for chorus and orchestra by Rollo Dilworth, Gary Fry, William Averitt, Shavon Lloyd, Gregory Wanamaker, Michael Sitton, and others; chorus master for Helmuth Rilling, JoAnn Falletta, Joseph Flummerfelt, Larry Rachleff, Ann Howard Jones, Duain Wolfe, Kent Tritle, Antony Walker, and others, for performances at Carnegie Hall, the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and elsewhere; international guest residencies and student tours in Costa Rica, Argentina, Spain, Germany, France, Peru, and Czechia; and piano concerto performances with orchestras in California and Utah. He serves as a Repertory and Resource Coordinator for Idaho ACDA, and as advisor for ISU's student chapters ofACDA and NAfME.
Dr. Francom was recipient of the Stony Brook University Ackerman Prize, and the Ralph Vaughan Williams Research Fellowship sponsored by the Carthusian Trust. Dr. Francom holds degrees in conducting from Stony Brook University (DMA) and the University of Florida (MM), in educational leadership from St. Lawrence University (MA), and in piano performance from Utah State University (BM).
Adonna Drake, Accompanist
Adonna Drake, pianist and organist, has been the accompanist for Camerata Singers since 1991. She has worked under conductors Sherrill Redd, Farris Edgley, Larry Anderson, Dr. Scott E. Anderson (for the majority of the years), Jerry Shively and Gail Birdsong, Mark Lawlor, and Dr. Jeffrey Francom.
Adonna accompanied the Camerata Singers on their foreign tours to Costa Rica in 2025, Spain and Portugal in 2013, Germany in 2011, Scandinavia in 2008, the British Isles in 2003, Italy, Slovenia, and Austria in 2001.
She accompanied the Idaho State University Chamber Choir in the first Idaho International Choral Festival held in Pocatello, Idaho, in early July 1999. Later that summer, she accompanied the ISU Chamber Choir for the tour to Brazil where they were invited to be the demonstration choir for Weston Noble at the International Convention for Choral Conductors.
Accompanying since she was 12 years old, Adonna has played for vocal soloists, ensembles, church choirs and congregations, university and community choirs, and instrumentalists.
Adonna, then Adonna Watkins Schow, earned both Bachelor of Science and Master of Science degrees in mechanical engineering, the first woman to graduate with an engineering degree from Utah State University.