Iese is ecstatic to sing in LALÒ and meaningfully connect with his Filipino roots–having descended from Ilocano & Cebuano plantation workers who ventured to Hawai’i over a hundred years ago! For him, it is an honor to be a part of the representation of diasporic Filipinos in this space.

As a choral educator, Iese’s life mission is to hold space and build bridges at the complex intersections of society. Due to his backgrounds of being Samoan, Hawaiian, Filipino raised in the US while also claiming space in both the LGBTQ+ & Faith communities, empathy turns to advocacy and becomes the guiding star in which he focuses the use of choral music to become the primary catalyst to resolve social dissonances and create models for an ideal society in the choral classroom. He believes when done with well informed context, choral music can preserve, express, and advance indigenous cultures or other marginalized communities while at the same time expose singers to cultures around the world to root out xenophobia and enable singers to become better world citizens. Singing with the Na Wai Chamber Choir, which championed Hawaiian choral music, and now LALÒ, is a rich fulfillment of that mission.

Iese earned an MM in Choral Conducting from ASU and a BA in General Music from BYU Hawai’i and is currently teaching at Maricopa High School in Arizona. His dream is to produce the first conductor’s guide for Polynesian choral music and has presented on the topic at Indiana University and University of Washington.