I am delighted to join the team at Ainsworth United Church of Christ! I am drawn to the congregation’s rich and unique history and excited to be a part of the story it continues to tell. I feel honored to follow the legacies of Lessie Williams, Judy Rose, Cynthia Butts, Dan Gaynor, and Raymond Elliott. How fortunate this congregation has been over the years to have had such dynamic leadership! And, how affirmed I feel that you would count me among that great number. I have now had the pleasure of spending several hours with the church’s music library and was very moved to handle sheet music brought to the church by each of these leaders, as well as sheet music bearing the stamps of both the Second Evangelical and Reformed Church and St. Andrew’s Community Church. It is gratifying to know that we are already set upon such a firm foundation as we launch into all that is next. I very much look forward to what we will discover together.
DeReau K. Farrar is Artistic Director of A Notion, A Scream, Artistic Director of Bridging Voices, and Director of Music Ministry for 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’s local theater and opera credits include the Portland Playhouse (A Christmas Carol, 2025, Music Director), Portland Opera (The Juliet Letters, 2024, Music Director/Conductor), Portland Center Stage (Lizard Boy, 2026, Music Director; The Brothers Size, 2025, Music Consultant; Sweeney Todd, 2024, Music Director/Conductor; Choir Boy, 2023, Music Director), and the Portland Revels (Un Pajarito Canto, 2022, Music Director). 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.