ACDA NATIONAL CONFERENCE MARCH 13-16, 2013 DALLAS, TEXAS PPERFORMINGERFORMING CCHOIRSHOIRS Arlington High School Colt Chorale Varsity Men Arlington Martin High School Chamber Singers Wednesday 8:00 pm Winspear Opera House (Gold track) Thursday 12:00 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Gold track) Thursday 4:30 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Blue Track) Wednesday 12:00 pm Winspear Opera House (Blue Track) The Martin Cham- ber Singers is a vocal ensemble comprised of the top students in the Martin choral program. The program has a total of 385 stu- dents involved. Among the thirty-seven mem- bers of Chamber Sing- ers, the students are The choral tradition at Arlington High School includes 320 involved in theatre, students in eight performing ensembles. The Varsity Men of band, orchestra, athlet- Colt Chorale range from fourteeen through eighteen years ics, student council, and of age. These young men are involved in AP and IB academic many different clubs on classes, ROTC, athletics, and many are employed in after- campus. Seventy-five school jobs. The Varsity Men are consistent UIL Sweepstakes percent of the students recipients and include many Texas All-State Choir members. in Chamber Singers take advanced placement courses. Colt Chorale has performed at the 2005 and 2009 Texas Martin Choirs performed at TMEA conventions in 1995, MEA Convention and the 2007 ACDA National Conference 2005, and 2008 and the 1997 and 2005 ACDA National in Miami. ACDA Conference. In 2006, Martin Chorale was selected by Carnegie Hall as one of three high school choirs to perform Dinah Menger is in her eighteenth year of at the National Youth Festival at Carnegie Hall. teaching at Arlington High School and is proud to share the duties of conducting Kay Owens has taught secondary choral the Colt Chorale Varsity Men with Mason music in public schools for thirty years. Barlow. Menger received her degree from Prior to joining the Arlington Indepen- the University of Arizona She has served dent School District in 1993, she taught on the UIL Prescribed Music Committee, elementary, junior high, and high school is President-Elect of the Texas Music Adjudicators Associa- choirs at Natchez Public Schools in Nat- tion and is the Vocal Convention Coordinator for Texas MEA. chez, Mississippi and Tupelo Public Schools Menger has served two terms as Region fi ve’s Vocal Chair. in Tupelo, Mississippi. She received a BME with emphasis in piano and voice from Mississippi State University in 1983, and Mason Barlow is in his third year as associ- an MM in choral conducting from Mississippi College in 2000. ate director of choirs at Arlington High During her tenure as the assistant director, Chamber School. He is a graduate of the University Singers performed at the 1999 Fringe Festival in Aberdeen of Texas at Arlington and serves as the Scotland, TMEA, and ACDA in 2005. Under Owens’s leader- technology chairperson and has been a ship, Martin Chorale debuted at Carnegie Hall in 2006, and region and district choir section leader for the Chorale Varsity Women performed at TMEA in 2008. Also Region Five. Menger and Barlow “team- at Martin, Owens serves as the Fine Arts Department Chair. teach” many of the choirs at Arlington High and fi nd that their combined creative teaching style builds memorable moments for their students. CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 53 Number 6 17 22013013 ACDAACDA NATIONALNATIONAL CONFERENCECONFERENCE PRREVIEWEVIEW California State University - Fullerton Camerata Musica Limburg Fullerton University Singers Wednesday 4:30 pm Winspear Opera House (Gold track) Wednesday 8:00 pm Winspear Opera House (Gold track) Wednesday 8:00 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Blue Track) Thursday 4:30 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Blue Track) The male vocal ensemble Camerata Musica Limburg was founded in 1999 and has since been under the musical direc- tion of Jan Schumacher. The choristers looked at the formation California State University, Fullerton's University Singers, of the choir as developing their shared roots from singing with directed by Robert Istad, rank among the nation’s premiere the Limburg Cathedral Boys Choir. collegiate choral ensembles. The University Singers have The ensemble received 1st prizes at competitions in Tours performed throughout the world and regularly perform with (France), Maasmechelen (Belgium), Bremen (Germany), and a variety of professional orchestras, such as the Los Angeles in 2010 at the German National Choir Contest, which is the Philharmonic, the Pacifi c Symphony, the Hollywood Bowl most prestigious competition for German choirs. Orchestra, and the Boston Pops Esplanade Orchestra. They The ensemble has been invited to festivals and concerts all have earned praise for their work with conductors Carl St. over Europe and the world, i.e., Schubertiade Schwarzenberg, Clair, John Mauceri, John Williams, and Keith Lockhart. They movimentos or Mozarteum Argentino. In 2011, the Camerata have been invited to perform at conferences organized by Musica Limburg was invited to be a guest choir at the 9th ACDA and the MENC. They have sung at the Liszt Academy World Symposium of Choral Music in Argentina. of Music in Budapest, Hungary, for UNESCO in Pisa, Italy, and at the Ottobeuren and Eingen Festivals of Music in Germany. Jan Schumacher received his initial musical Robert Istad is associate professor of mu- education at the Limburger Domsing- sic and director of choral studies at Cali- knaben and in the youth choir of state fornia State University, Fullerton. He has Rheinland-Pfalz. He studied music educa- prepared choruses for Gustavo Dudamel tion and German language at Mainz, choral and the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Carl conducting with W. Schäfer in Frankfurt, St. Clair and the Pacifi c Symphony, Keith and took courses with R. Sund, G. Grün, Lockhart and the Boston Pops Esplanade and S. Halsey. Orchestra, and for conductors Esa–Pekka Salonen, Bramwell Schumacher teaches choral conducting at the music acad- Tovey, Marin Alsop, Sir Andrew Davis, Nicholas McGegan, emies in Freiburg and Rottenburg and is conductor of the John Williams, John Mauceri, Giancarlo Guerrero, and Robert university choir in Darmstadt, where he conducts the big choir Moody. Istad received his BA in music from Augustana College symphonic repertoire (Beethoven’s masses, Haydn’s Creation, in Rock Island, Illinois, his MM in choral conducting from CSU Mendelssohn’s St. Paul, Verdi’s Requiem, and Brahms’s Requiem. Fullerton, and his DMA in choral music at the University of Schumacher has worked in all fi elds of choral music: from Southern California. high level unaccompanied programs (including commissioned works written for him and his ensembles) to preparing choirs for Mahler’s 2nd and 8th Symphony, Baroque opera or con- temporary music to musicals by Loewe or operetta by Of- fenbach to choir theatre or choir improvisation and concerts 18 CHORAL JOURNAL Volume 53 Number 6 ACDA NATIONAL CONFERENCE MARCH 13-16, 2013 DALLAS, TEXAS PPERFORMINGERFORMING CCHOIRSHOIRS with choir and big band. He served for choirs, workshops, and Festival. She has received awards from the NEA, Chorus singing weeks all around Europe, Argentina, Turkey, Iceland, and America, the American Academy & Institute, Meet the Com- Venezuela. He is a member of the board and the music com- poser, and ASCAP, among others. Her conducting has received mission of the European Choral Association—Europa Cantat. critical acclaim for its “integrity and high purpose” and she has been lauded for her “charismatic...magnetic podium presence.” Chroma, the Women’s Ensemble Crystal Children’s Choir of Seattle Pro Musica Thursday 2:30 pm Winspear Opera House (Gold track) Friday 8:00 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Gold track) Wednesday 4:30 pm Meyerson Symphony Center (Blue Track) Thursday 8:00 Winspear Opera House (Blue Track) Chroma, the Women’s En- semble of Seattle Pro Musica, is a critically acclaimed choral ensemble conducted by Karen P. Thomas. Crystal Children’s Choir was founded in 1994. Its mission The ensembles of is to strive for excellence in choral music and blend the best Seattle Pro Musica of Eastern and Western musical tradition. More than 1,000 have appeared on choristers from San Francisco Bay Area in California partici- NPR’s Saint Paul pate in this program. The choir has expanded to include 400 Sunday, are ranked choristers in Taiwan and 100 choristers in Beijing, China. by American Record The choir has toured Asia, Australia, Europe, and North Guide as “among America, and performed at prestigious venues including Carn- America’s very egie Hall, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican, Sydney Opera House, best choirs,” and have garnered international praise for CDs Beijing Concert Hall, and Taipei National Concert Hall. Crystal and performances. aspires to be a cultural ambassador in choral music, with an Chroma specializes in early and contemporary music for emphasis on Chinese folk songs. women’s voices. They perform music from around the globe in dozens of languages, and have appeared at international fes- Karl Chang is the founding director of two tivals such as the World Festival of Women’s Singing, Canada’s choirs in Silicon Valley, California. He is the Festival Vancouver, American Guild of Organists conventions, president of Crystal Children’s Choir. Un- and ACDA NW division conferences. der his leadership, the choir has received The Seattle PI has praised the group’s “crystalline textures invitations to perform at many national and precise musicality” and “provocative and evocative” pro- and international choral conventions, and gramming. The Sun Break says: “It’s no accident that this choir was recognized for its outstanding perfor- is considered one of the best in the country.” mance of repertoire rich in cultural diversity. Chang has been the director of the Ching Ching Chorus for thirty-one years. Karen P. Thomas, artistic director and con- Chang holds an EdD of leadership and management from ductor, has guest conducted at internation- St.