Growing up in Tampico and on the Yakama Reservation, (AA, 2011) was surrounded by singing.
His mother, grandmother and aunt regularly sang together as a trio in various venues. And while his grandfather had trouble carrying a melody, Goertzen recalls how he loved singing along to country western songs that he’d memorized after hearing a tune just once on the radio.
Goertzen himself started playing the French horn in middle school, but after coming to 鶹Ƶ as a Running Start student in 2008, he discovered his passion for singing. Since then, Goertzen has served as music director of a local opera company, composed music, helped conduct a community orchestra and performed as a soloist with the Yakima Symphony Orchestra.
While carving out his own professional career in music, he’s also advocated for other musicians to find outlets to express themselves.
“Performing music is good for the sake of performing music,” Goertzen said. “In a world that is increasingly isolated and fractured, where people are constantly on their phones, [performing music] is something you have to do in person. It maintains that social network that so many people are missing.”
ABOVE: John Goertzen, middle, on stage in the role of The King in YVC's production of "Cinderella" during his time as a student. TOP: Goertzen in the role of Farmer Carnes during a production of "Oklahoma!" during his time as a student at the University of Denver. BELOW: Goertzen sings as bass soloist during a 2025 performance by the Yakima Symphony Orchestra and Chorus of Verdi's "Requiem."
Embracing opportunity
When Goertzen first enrolled at YVC, he had dreams of becoming an actor. But he quickly got involved with choral activities at the college, then led by Scott Peterson, who his mother also had sung for as a YVC student.
“I started off as a drama major, and I played Prospero in Shakespeare’s ‘The Tempest’,” Goertzen said. “Then one of the reasons I got pulled into singing is because I’ve always been a big fan of Beethoven, and the college choir joined the in singing Beethoven’s 9th Symphony.”
During his time at YVC, Goertzen took advantage of nearly every opportunity available to perform — singing in the college chorus and chamber choir, performing with the jazz ensemble and an African percussion group, and continuing to be involved in theatre productions such as playing the King in the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical “Cinderella.”
“Performing music is good for the sake of performing music. It maintains that social network that so many people are missing.” — John Goertzen
Such was his passion to perform that he even missed his high school prom to take part in a Latin percussion concert at the college.
“I considered that more important than prom, so if there was an opportunity to do music, I did it,” Goertzen said.
Where passion and profession meet
In 2009, Goertzen joined the fledgling Yakima Valley Light Opera, in which he both performed as a bass-baritone soloist and served as principal conductor.
“The Yakima Valley Opera was an amazing opportunity to be in from the beginning,” he said. “It was small enough that we were able to play loosey-goosey with a lot of the rules that generally govern an established organization.”
As a 20-year-old, for example, he conducted a performance of the Gilbert and Sullivan opera “The Mikado.”
“Conducting ‘Mikado’ with a chamber orchestra and a full ensemble at that age just doesn’t happen,” Goertzen said.
Thankfully, he had his experiences in YVC’s music and drama programs to draw upon. In addition to performing as both a musician and actor, Goertzen took a directing for stage class at YVC, winning two prizes based on audience voting for the student directors.
The opera company was so successful, in fact, that after a few years a number of its performers were able to secure bigger and better professional opportunities.
Goertzen himself was accepted into the vocal performance bachelor’s program at University of Denver, performing with multiple ensembles and serving as assistant conductor for the Cherry Creek Community Orchestra during his studies.
After completing the program, Goertzen returned to Yakima and has worked for Costco in a variety of roles since 2016, currently focused on fraud prevention.
He’s remained active in the region’s music scene, and in 2024 was selected for the , which was created to offer career-oriented singers experiences to strengthen their development as soloists and professional choral singers.
That led to what has been the highlight of Goertzen’s singing career to date: performing as bass soloist for the and Chorus performance of in March 2025. The concert-drama tells the story of Jewish prisoners in the Terezín concentration camp during World War II who performed Verdi’s “Requiem” in defiance of their captors.
“It was a level that I hadn't gotten to in my career,” he said. “I've done opera, I've done all sorts of things, but doing the bass solo on a piece that big and for me being Jewish, the fact that it was tied to the Defiant Requiem at Terezín, was especially meaningful for me. Even if you're doing an opera where your character is supposed to be crying, you don't want to cry because it gums up the singing works. But I got very emotional the first time we did our full run through.”
Goertzen, who also serves as cantor for his local synagogue, Temple Shalom, notes that his faith has contributed to his love for music and development as a performer.
“Judaism is a very musical religion,” he says. “When we read from the Torah, it’s chanted. Music infuses itself in every aspect of Judaism, not just synagogue services but home rituals. Friday night we're singing, welcoming in the Shabbat.”
ABOVE: John Goertzen, left, and other YVC choir members performing in the college's "Madrigal Feaste" during his time as a student.
Beyond performing with local choral ensembles such as the Yakima Symphony Chorus and , led by his former YVC instructor Scott Peterson, Goertzen is looking to take another step forward in his professional singing career by recently beginning to work with a new vocal coach.
“I’d like to bring up my vocal technique and get myself to a point where I can, with full confidence, start sending out my resume to ensembles around the Pacific Northwest and try to get more concert gigs,” he said.
In the meantime, he encourages other young people who love music to find ways to pursue that passion and know that opportunities exist for them close to home.
“Philip Glass, one of the most famous composers of the last 30 years, drove a taxi for a decade before he got famous,” Goertzen said. “If you love it, don't stop. Don't let the fact that you have to do a day job stop you from doing the thing that you love."
Story by Dustin Wunderlich, director of community relations. Photos from YVC archives and provided.