Colleyville Heritage
Panther Choir
Thomas J. Rinn, Director of Choirs
817-305-4726
Thomas Rinn holds a Master of Music Education from Florida State University and a Bachelor of music, magna cum laude, from the University of Texas at San Antonio. In addition, he holds a certificate of completion from the Institute of Voice Pedagogy and Performance at Oberlin Conservatory of Music. His principal teachers include Dr. Andre Thomas, Dr. Judy Bowers, Dr. Kevin Fenton, Dr. John Silantien, and Dr. Diana Allan.
Previously, Mr. Rinn held positions as Head Choir Director and Fine Arts Department chair at Juan Seguin High School in Arlington, TX, Assistant Choral Director at Clear Lake High School in Houston, TX and Head Choral Director at John Jay High School in San Antonio, TX. In addition, while in Houston, Mr. Rinn served as director of the Houston Boychoir Chamber Choir where he led the choir on both domestic and international tours. Choirs under his direction are consistent recipients of UIL Sweepstakes awards and have been recognized as “Best in Class” in regional performance festivals. Choirs under Rinn's direction have been honored with invitations to perform for the Texas Music Educators Association in 2010 (Juan Seguin High School Chamber Choir), 2018 (Colleyville Heritage Panther Chorale) and for the 2018 Southwest American Choral Directors Association (CHHS Panther Chorale). Rinn is a frequent choral clinician, conductor of regional and festival choirs, adjudicator, and presenter of teacher training nationwide with engagements most recently in Texas, Michigan, Florida, Tennessee, and Colorado.
A recipient of the 1998 TMEA Bill Cormack Scholarship for Music Education, Mr. Rinn happily strives to give back to our professional organizations on the state and local level. He has served as High School Vice-President for the Texas Choral Director's Association, a TMEA Region Vocal Chair, a section leader for the Texas All-State Choir, currently serves as President of the Texas Choral Directors Association and Chair of the State UIL Vocal Sight-Reading Committee.
As a composer, Mr. Rinn was honored to have his compositions featured in an American Composers Recital in Bucharest, Romania in the summer of 2010 and has been published with Classical Vocal Reprints. Locally, Mr. Rinn was honored to be named the 2009-2010 “Teacher of the Year” for Juan Seguin High School. In addition to his work at CHHS, Mr. Rinn also serves as Director of Music at St. Alban’s Anglican Parish in Arlington, TX.
Nick Standish joins the Panther Choir program having spent the last three years studying music education at the University of North Texas. Mr. Standish received a Bachelor's degree in Choral Music Education where he had the pleasure of studying with Dr. Jessica Napoles, Dr. Jamey Kelley, Dr. Don Taylor, and Dr. Donna Emmanuel.
Mr. Standish was a part of the UNT A Cappella Choir for the three years he studied at UNT (where he served as President of the choir for one year) and had the honor of working with Dr. Allen Hightower. He was lucky enough to be a part of the 100th TMEA Convention in San Antonio this last year where he and the UNT A Cappella Choir performed. He was a member of the UNT Concert Choir under the direction of Dr. Jessica Napoles and a member of the UNT Grand Chorus. Standish was a member of the UpFront! Organization at UNT and served as lead intern for the UNT All-State Choir Camp for two years. He is a member of the Texas Music Educator's Association and the Texas Choral Director's Association.