Dale Adelmann

Dale Aldermann, Choirmaster of St. Paul's Cathedral in Buffalo, N.Y., outgoing president of the Association of Anglican Musicians, and former music director of the Gentlemen of St. John's College Ensemble, Cambridge, England, has accepted the call to become All Saints' new Director of Music. He replaces Tom Foster who retired in June after 27 years which saw the shaping of the music program to one of national acclaim, incorporating two adult choirs, a children's choir, four commercial CDs for Gothic and two in-house recordings; and an outstanding Music Guild concert series.

"I can't say enough about Dale, as a musician and person," said the Rt. Rev. Michael Garrison, bishop of western New York. "When I am at the cathedral, I am exalted by the music, and he is the backbone of that. His moving will be a big loss not only to the church but to the community."

John Alexander

Artistic Director since 1972, John Alexander is considered one of America's finest choral conductors. His inspired leadership both on the podium and as an advocate for the advancement of the arts has generated international respect and acclaim throughout his career.

His long and distinguished career has encompassed conducting hundreds of choral and orchestral performances in 27 countries around the globe. Alexander is not only recognized for his exceptional talent in bringing the masterworks to life, but is also eminent as a strong proponent of contemporary American music. He regularly programs works by American composers, and has presented many premieres of their works.

The 2007-2008 season saw the world premieres of works by Zachary Wadsworth and Michael Eglin, commissioned through Pacific Chorale's Young Composers Competition, and the West Coast premiere of David Del Tredici's Paul Revere's Ride. Previous premieres have included performances of works by John Adams, Dominick Argento, Eric Whitacre, Howard Hanson, Stephen Paulus, Frank Ticheli and James Hopkins.

Vassil Arnaudov

Vassil Arnaudov was the conductor of the Sofia Chamber Choir since its foundation and is an outstanding figure in Bulgaria's cultural life. A name of world renown and prestige, he embodies the best of the national choral conducting school. A teacher of long-standing at the Sofia Musical Academy, he has created a whole generation of young talented conductors who provide the face of contemporary choral art and performance in Bulgaria, and in a number of foreign countries. His pupils are now working in Germany, Denmark, Finland, France, Belgium and the USA. Professor Arnaoudov is the first President of the Bulgarian Choral Union.

Jeremy Backhouse

Jeremy Backhouse is now established as one of Britain's leading choral conductors. He is the conductor of the 150-voice Vivace Chorus (formally the Guildford Philharmonic Choir). He is also the conductor of the Vasari Singers, widely acknowledged as one of the finest chamber choirs in the country.

Head chorister at Canterbury Cathedral, he studied music and composition at Liverpool University and began his career as a Music Editor with EMI. From 1998 to December 2004 he was Conductor of the Wooburn Singers - only the third in the choir's history, following Richard Hickox and Stephen Jackson. He has also worked with the BBC Club Choir, Kent Youth Choir, Brighton Festival Chorus, London Choral Society, Trinity College of Music Chamber Choir, Philharmonia Chorus and the BBC Singers.

Eric Banks

Conductor, composer, instructor, vocalist, linguist, and ethnomusicologist, Eric Banks has garnered significant acclaim as one of the most creative and compelling choral directors in the United States - for his unwavering commitment to new music for unaccompanied voices. In 1992, Eric founded The Esoterics, a professional-caliber chamber chorus in Seattle whose mission is to perform and perpetuate contemporary choral music beyond the scope of the established a cappella canon. In 2004, Banks founded yet another group, the all-male vocal ensemble AEDONIS, whose mission is to perform choral music exclusively by gay and lesbian composers.

After completing his BA in Composition at Yale University in 1990, Eric relocated to Seattle to study in the departments of Choral Studies and Music Theory at the University of Washington. His MM thesis (1992) is a performance edition of Dixit Dominus by Chiara Margarita Cozzolani; his MA thesis (1995) is a postmodern analysis of Arvo Part's symphonic Credo; and his DMA dissertation (1996) surveys the choral music of Mexican composer and Aztec ethnomusicologist Carlos Chavez.

Daniel Bara

Daniel Bara joins the Hugh Hodgson School of Music as Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music in fall of 2010, having served as Associate Professor of Music, Director of Choral Activities at East Carolina University, in Greenville, North Carolina. While at ECU, his university choirs were invited to perform for state, regional, and national conventions of ACDA and MENC, and the ECU Chamber Singers completed two professional recordings for the Gothic Records label (Greater Love, 2007; Eternal Light, 2010). His conducting students have consistently advanced into the live rounds of the ACDA National Conducting Competition, and several of his former MM conducting students now hold collegiate conducting appointments at New England Conservatory, Miami University of Ohio, University of Idaho, and William Jewell College.

John Bertalot

The English choral conductor, John Bertalot, won Organ scholarships to the Royal College of Music, London, and to Oxford and Cambridge.

After his studies, John Bertalot first appointment was Director of Music for 6 years of St. Matthew's Church, Northampton, UK (a successor of Alec Wyton), the church for which Britten wrote Rejoice in the Lamb. He then became director of music at Blackburn Cathedral (for 18 years) where he founded the Blackburn Bach Choir and was Associate Professor (Senior Lecturer) at the Royal Northern College of Music, Manchester.

In moving to the USA, John Bertalot has been Director of Music for 16 years of Trinity Church, Princeton, NJ. succeeding Dr James Litton. He led for sixteen years one of the most ambitious Episcopal Church music programmes in the USA, where he founded the acclaimed Princeton Singers. He was also Adjunct Associate Professor, Westminster Choir College, Rider University. In over forty years of professional music-making he has led choral workshops all over the world.

Matthew Best

Matthew studied at Kings College, Cambridge, and at the National Opera Studio, and in 1982 won the Decca-Kathleen Ferrier Prize. At the outset of his career, he sang as a principal bass with The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, and as a guest with many other companies, and in recent years he has moved into the bass-baritone and Heldenbariton repertory. This process reached a significant landmark when he sang the role of Wotan/The Wanderer in Scottish Opera's new production of Der Ring des Nibelungen, first seen at the Edinburgh International Festival.

His various recordings include Beethoven's Leonore, Berlioz' L'enfance du Christ, Britten's Billy Budd and Peter Grimes, Elgar's The Dream of Gerontius, Falla's El Retablo di Maese Pedro, Menotti's Martin's Lie and Rossini's Il barbiere di Siviglia.

Robert Bode

Robert H. Bode is in his fourth year as Artistic Director of Choral Arts. In addition to his work in Seattle, Bode is also on the faculty at the Conservatory of Music and Dance at the University of Missouri at Kansas City, were he is the Raymond R. Neevel/Missouri Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities. Prior to going to UMKC, Dr. Bode was the Alma Meisnest Endowed Chair in the Humanities and Fine Arts and Director of Choral/Vocal Studies at Whitman College, Walla Walla, WA, where he conducted the 100-voice Chorale and the 30-voice Whitman Chamber Singers.

Robert Bode received his doctorate in Choral Conducting from the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati, Ohio. Prior to attending the Cincinnati Conservatory, Dr. Bode won a conducting scholarship at the prestigious Aspen Music Festival, where he studied opera conducting with Fiora Contino.

Peter Broadbent

Peter Broadbent is the founder conductor of Joyful Company of Singers and is one of Britain's leading choral conductors, enjoying a versatile career with an extensive repertoire ranging from baroque music performed on period instruments to contemporary music, including many first performances. Broadbent has conducted the London Mozart Players, Divertimenti Chamber Orchestra, the English Chamber Orchestra, the City of London Sinfonia, the Southern Sinfonia, the Guildford Philharmonic Orchestra, Apollo Voices and the BBC Singers, broadcasting frequently on BBC Radio 3 and Classic FM. Engagements outside the UK include concerts with the Debrecen Philharmonic Orchestra & Kodaly Chorus in Hungary and a broadcast with the National Chamber Choir in Dublin. In 2003 he conducted an Atelier at the XV Europa Cantat in Barcelona, including music by Tavener, Rautavaara and Tarik O'Regan and in 2006 he conducted the World Youth Choir in their summer session giving concerts in Italy, Switzerland, France, Belgium and Germany. He appears as an adjudicator at International Choral Competitions throughout Europe and the UK and conducts workshops and masterclasses throughout the UK, Europe, the US and Canada and was a member of the Artistic Committee of the Polyfollia International Choral Showcase in Normandy. In 2007, Peter Broadbent was awarded the honour of the Pro Cultura Hungarica Award by the Hungarian government in recognition of his services to Hungarian music.

Timothy Brown

The English choral conductor, Timothy (Tim) Brown, received his initial musical training as a chorister at Westminster Abbey, and later as a member of the King's College Choir, Cambridge.

For many years Timothy Brown conducted the Cambridge University Chamber Choir and is now the director of the London-based professional chamber choir, English Voices. He has been Director of Music at Clare College and director of Choir of Clare College, Cambridge since 1979.

Timothy Brown is Director of Studies in Music at Clare and Pembroke Colleges, Cambridge.He has been guest chorus-master at the Berlin Staatsoper and at the Flanders Opera, and is a popular conductor at singing weeks, including Europa Cantat and the Berwang Holiday Music Course. In November 2002 he directed a project with the Berlin-based RIAS-Kammerchor, and in April 2005 conducted a series of concerts with RAM, the National Male Voice Choir of Estonia. He has edited a number of choral volumes for Faber Music and is a contributing editor to the complete edition of music by William Walton, published by Oxford University Press.

Charles Bruffy

Charles Bruffy is one of the most admired choral conductors in the United States, respected and renowned for his fresh and passionate interpretations of standards of the choral repertory and for championing new music. He currently conducts the Kansas City Chorale, the Kansas City Symphony Chorus and the Phoenix Chorale, and is Director of Music at Rolling Hills Presbyterian Church.

He is dedicated to commissioning and premiering works by contemporary American composers, and has received ASCAP's Adventurous Programming award. Recent commissions and premieres include works by Jean Belmont, Matthew Harris, Libby Larsen, Zhou Long, Stephen Paulus, Stephen Sametz, Eric Whitacre, Rene Clausen and Chen Yi. The Roger Dean Company, a division of the Lorenz Corporation, publishes a choral series under Bruffy's supervision specializing in music for professional ensembles and sophisticated high school and college choirs.

Philip Brunelle

Philip Brunelle is an internationally renowned conductor, choral scholar and performer. He founded VocalEssence (previously known as the Plymouth Music Series) in 1969 and remains the artistic director today. Brunelle's conducting engagements have taken him across the United States, South America and Europe. Recently, he has conducted the BBC Singers, the Seattle Symphony and the Cleveland Orchestra. Brunelle has served on the board of directors of Chorus America and the National Council on the Arts and he currently serves on the Board of Regents at St. Olaf College and the Board of Directors of the Greater Minneapolis Convention and Visitors Association. In 2001, he was inducted into the Minnesota Musical Hall of Fame and he has won a myriad of awards including the Kodaly Medal from the government of Hungary, the Stig Andersson Award for contributions to Swedish music and the Minneapolis Award presented to him by Mayor Sharon Sayles Belton. In 2002, he was honored with the U.S. Bank Sally Ordway Irvine Award for Commitment, recognizing lifetime achievement, contribution and leadership in culture and the arts.

Simon Carrington

In 1967 Simon Carrington co-founded co-founded at Cambridge University the internationally acclaimed British vocal ensemble The King's Singers, and was its Director for 25 years. He gave 3,000 performances at many of the world's most prestigious festivals and concert halls, made more than 70 recordings (for EMI), and appeared on countless television and radio programs including: Regular TV appearances worldwide, including Live at The Boston Pops, 1983; BBC TV series, The King's Singers Madrigal History Tour, 1984; On Stage at Wolftrap, PBS TV, USA, 1986; ABCTV (USA) The Sound of Christmas: Salzburg, 1987; nine appearances on the Tonight Show with the late Johnny Carson.

Tom Carter

My name is Tom Carter, and for the past 25 years I've been helping actors and singers create engaging experiences for themselves and their audiences. Lately, I've been doing this type of work with choirs, and the results have been extremely rewarding. When singers connect deeply and specifically to text and music, their faces and bodies are dynamically expressive, their singing is vibrant and nuanced, and -- most significantly -- their connection draws the audience into the heart and soul of the music. This is exciting stuff! In fact, Choral Coaching has become so fulfilling that I retired as Drama teacher and head of a private school's Performing Arts department so that I could work with more choirs and write a book on this subject. The second edition of Choral CHARISMA: Singing with Expression is now available. Since "playing with expression" is a very similar process (witness Gustavo Dudamel & the Los Angeles Philharmonic), I have begun to work with instrumentalists as well. It's an equally rewarding experience.

Andrew Carwood

Andrew Carwood is one of the most versatile musicians of his generation, working both as an international solo and consort singer and as director of The Cardinall's Musick. A choral scholar at St. John's College, Cambridge and a lay clerk at Christ Church, Oxford and Westminster Cathedral, he was also Director of Music at the Brompton Oratory in London for five years.

Andrew's impressively diverse vocal repertoire encompasses the renaissance to the contemporary: from the consort songs of William Byrd to the role of the Male Chorus in Britten's The Rape of Lucretia. As a soloist he has worked worldwide with conductors such as Sir Roger Norrington, Joshua Rifkin, Harry Christophers, Richard Hickox, Paul McCreesh, Phillipe Herreweghe, Robert King and Christopher Hogwood. He is also a regular member of The Tallis Scholars. His discography includes works by Hassler, Vivaldi, Haydn, Warlock, Howells, Poulenc, Janacek and Christopher Headington.

Joel Cohen

Joel Cohen, (born 1942) was the Music Director of the Boston Camerata from 1968 to 2008. He remains connected to the Boston Camerata as Music Director Emeritus. Cohen founded the Camerata Mediterranea in 1990 and incorporated it as a nonprofit research institute in France in 2007. He has collaborated very frequently with French soprano Anne Azema. His professional honors include the Signet Society Medal (Harvard University), the Howard Mayer Brown Award, the Erwin Bodky Award, and the Georges Longy Award. He was a government-appointed artist-in-residence in the Netherlands during the year 2000, and is an Officier de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres of the French Republic. Cohen studied composition at Harvard University. He was awarded a Danforth Fellowship and spent two years in Paris as a student of Nadia Boulanger. In the 1970s he spent two seasons as a producer of musical radio programs for the French National Radio (France Musique), where he originated the concept of an all-day musical celebration on the days of the solstice. This annual event is currently known as the "Fete de la Musique" also known as "World Music Day".

Marcus Creed

The English conductor, Marcus Creed, began his studies at King's College in Cambridge, where he had the opportunity to sing in the famed King's College Choir. Further studies took him to Christ Church in Oxford and the Guildhall School in London.

Marcus Creed began living in Berlin in 1976 (or 1977). Stations along his way have been the Deutsche Oper Berlin (where he worked as opera coach and choir director), Hochschule der Kunste (lecturer on song), as well as the Gruppe Neue Musik and the Scharoun Ensemble (pianist and conductor). In 1987 he was appointed artistic director of the RIAS-Kammerchor, which won numerous international awards under his direction (including the Edison Award, the Diapason D'Or and the Cannes Classical Award). His work together with the Akademie fur Alte Musik Berlin, the Freiburger Barockorchester and the Concerto Koln formed an important part of his concert activities.

Joseph Crnko

Joseph Crnko joined Seattle Symphony as the Associate Conductor for Choral Activities in September 2007. He is in his 25th year as Music Director of the Northwest Choirs, the Northwest's premier youth choral organization, which includes both the Northwest Boychoir and Vocalpoint! Seattle. In addition to his work with the Northwest Choirs, Crnko regularly conducts professional orchestral and choral recording sessions for movie and video game soundtracks, including those for the films Millions, O, Boondock Saints and The Celestine Prophecy, and video games Halo, Medal of Honor and The Age of Mythology. Crnko served as Music Director for Civic Light Opera in Seattle and for productions with Alaska Light Opera Theatre, Evergreen Theatre Conservatory, Seattle Children's Theatre and the Professional Actors Training Program at the University of Washington.

Matthew Culloton

Matthew Culloton is the Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists. In August 2010, Matthew became Choirmaster at The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. He holds degrees from Concordia College, Moorhead (B.M. in Music Education) and the University of Minnesota (M.M. in Choral Conducting, D.M.A. in Conducting). Matthew has studied conducting with Rene Clausen, Kathy Romey, Craig Kirchhoff, Paul Nesheim, Matthew Mehaffey, Mark Russell Smith, and Bruce Houglum.

As a composer, Matthew has been commissioned by The Singers, the Dale Warland Singers, Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester (MN), Ames Chamber Artists, Chanson, the Minnesota MMEA All-State Choir, and numerous high school, collegiate, and church choirs.

Stephen Darlington

Stephen Darlington is one of England's leading choral conductors. His links with Christ Church began in the early 1970s, as Organ Scholar under Simon Preston. After four years as Assistant Organist at Canterbury Cathedral, he was appointed Master of the Music at St. Albans Abbey, and a year later, became Artistic Director of the world-famous International Organ Festival in succession to Peter Hurford. In 1985 he returned to Christ Church as Organist and Tutor in Music. Since then he has divided his time between establishing the college as an acknowledged centre of academic musical excellence, and maintaining the highest choral traditions of the Church of England in Christ Church Cathedral. His outstanding strength is in his performances of choral music of the 16th century, and of modern sacred music. An extensive discography comprising over 50 CD's, includes several award-winning recordings such as: Ralph Vaughan Williams's An Oxford Elegy (nominated for a Grammy Award), Giovanni Pierluigi da Palestrina's Missa Dum Complerentur and William Walton's Choral Works. Recent releases, Haydn's Stabat Mater and De Monte's Masses and Motets have received Gramophone magazine recommendations.

Brazeal W. Dennard

Brazeal Dennard attended Detroit Public Schools as a youngster and began private music study with such notables as the late Johnnie Reid, Professor S. A. Ratliff, Dean Robert Nolan, Lloyd Murphy, and Virginia Persons. He completed his formal education at Wayne State University, earning a Masters Degree in Music Education. Throughout his career, Brazeal has served in many roles, such as guest conductor, clinician, lecturer, and church choirmaster.His numerous professional affiliations include National Endowment of the Arts, Department of Cultural Affairs for the city of Detroit, former trustee and member of the Advisory Committee of the Detroit Community Music School, former Chairman of the Music Advisory Committee for the Michigan Council for the Arts, and President of the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc.

Peter Dijkstra

Peter Dijkstra is artistic director of the Choir of the Bavarian Radio in Munich and the Swedish Radio Choir. He co-operates with conductors such as Mariss Jansons, Nikolaus Harnoncourt, Riccardo Muti and Claudio Abbado but also conducts many Choir-Symphonic concerts next to his main series of a cappella concerts. In the Netherlands, Peter Dijkstra is the first guest conductor of the Nederlands Kamerkoor, artistic leader of vocal ensemble MUSA, a mixed choir based in Utrecht, and founder of vocal ensemble The Gents in Holland. With this all-male ensemble he won many prizes on international festivals and toured in Japan, Spain, Sweden and Great-Britain.

Currently, Dijkstra is regularly invited to conduct all major choirs such as the Netherlands Chamber Choir, BBC singers, RIAS Chamber Choir Berlin, Collegium Vocale Gent, Danish National Choir, Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir, Radio Choir of Berlin and the Netherlands Radio Choir. With these fine ensembles he performs a broad repertoire, from early music to premiers of newly composed works. Alongside Choir conducting, Peter Dijkstra quickly became a well sought after guest conductor with orchestras such as the Munich Radio Orchestra, Munich Symphony Orchestra, DSO Berlin, Gavle Symphony Orchestra, Tokyo Philharmonic Orchestra, the North Netherlands Philharmonic, The Residentie Orchestra of The Hague, The Bochum Symphonic Orchestra, the Netherlands Radio Chamber Philharmonic, etc.

Noel Edison

Noel Edison is well established as one of the most versatile and charismatic conductors in the world today. As conductor and artistic director of two world-class Canadian ensembles, the large-scale Toronto Mendelssohn Choir (TMC) and the chamber-sized Elora Festival Singers, Mr. Edison is widely recognized and appreciated for his skillful interpretive blending of rigorous musical purity together with warm emotional content. In addition to full seasons with the TMC and the Elora Festival Singers, he is in demand for guest engagements with such orchestras as the Winnipeg Symphony, Toronto Symphony and Symphony Nova Scotia. His recording on the Naxos label, featuring the choral music of Eric Whitacre, has just been nominated for a Grammy.

Karle Erickson

Dr. Karle Erickson, Artistic Director and Conductor of World Voices, the Twin Cities based choral ensemble that specializes in performing exclusively global music , is internationally known for his excellence as a choral conductor, clinician and educator. He has conducted over 475 choral festivals and clinics, all-state and honors choirs and church music festivals across the United States and internationally.

He has been one of two American conductors for the Prague International Choral Festival and Competition in the Czech Republic, and is the Choir Director at St. Andrew Lutheran Church, Eden Prairie, Minnesota. When asked what continues to provide the excitement in working with World Voices , Dr. Erickson responded: "It is the professional energy and artistic stimulation that comes from working with singers, collaborators and instrumentalists representing the different cultures and countries. Each concert presents new artistic and educational opportunities as well as unique challenges."

Eric Ericson

The distinguished Swedish choral conductor and pedagogue, Eric Ericson, acquired his widespread musical education in the Stockholm Musikhogskolan (1941-1943), Schola Cantorum of Basel in Switzerland (1943-1949), Germany, England and the USA. After finishing his studies he was appointed in 1949 as Cantor of Jakobskirch in Stockholm, and professor in the conservatory of the city in 1953.

Eric Ericson was the conductor of three excellent chamber choirs. He formed the Stockholm Chamber Choir in 1945 (renamed in 1988 to be called the Eric Ericson Chamber Choir). This group has remained his main instrument for developing the art of a capella singing ever since. In 1951 the Swedish Radio Choir was formed on his initiative, and the post as its principal conductor and artistic leader was held by him until 1982. During the years 1951-1991 he was also principal conductor and artistic leader of the noted male choir Orphei Drangar, based in Uppsala Sweden.

Doug Fullington

Doug Fullington received his Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Music (concurrent degree in Music History), Masters Degree (Music History) and Juris Doctor from the University of Washington Seattle, where he has since served as guest faculty teaching undergraduate and graduate music history and performance courses. Mr. Fullington is an inactive member of the Washington State Bar.

As a dance historian, Mr. Fullington is an fluent reader of Stepanov notation, a classical ballet notation system developed in Russia and used in the Imperial Theatres, St. Petersburg, between about 1895 and 1915. The Stepanov notations are now housed at the Harvard Theatre Collection as part of the Sergeev Collection. Mr. Fullington, with his colleague Manard Stewart, has reconstructed dances from Petipa's The Daughter of Pharaoh (1862/c.1905) for the Bolshoi Ballet's revival, restaged by Pierre Lacotte (2000). He has also worked with Donald Byrd/The Group to restage dances from Petipa's Sleeping Beauty and La Bayadere and has worked privately with dancers to restage excerpts from ballets choreographed by Marius Petipa from Stepanov notation.

Robert Geary

Robert Geary, founder of Volti and the internationally acclaimed Piedmont East Bay Children's Choirs, also holds directorial positions with the San Francisco Choral Society and the Golden Gate International Children's Choral Festival. For fourteen years, Geary was the director of the Baroque Choral Guild, and served for thirteen years as the Music Director of the First Unitarian Universalist Church in San Francisco.

A champion of contemporary music, Geary and his choirs have won numerous international and national awards. Among Volti's honors are ASCAP's award for "Adventurous Programming of Contemporary Music" in 2009, 2007, 2005, 2002, 1998 and 1995. The Piedmont East Bay Children's Choirs won three gold prizes and a coveted first prize for Contemporary Music at the Choral Olympics in Linz, Austria (July, 2000), the grand prize at the Miedzyzdroje Choral Festival in Poland (July, 1998), gold medal at the Giessen (Germany) International Children's and Youth Choir Festival (1997, and where Geary received a special award for "Outstanding Conductorial Achievement"), two gold medals a silver medal and the "Best of the Choirs" award at the Des Moines International Children's Choral Festival (1997), and first prize for Contemporary Music at the Kathaumixw Festival in British Columbia in 1996 and 1992.

Grant Gershon

Conductor Grant Gershon, entering his 10th season as music director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, is equally at home with symphonic and choral music, opera and musical theater. In 2001 he was appointed Music Director of the Los Angeles Master Chorale, which the Los Angeles Times has proclaimed "the most exciting chorus in the country under Gershon's leadership." Opera News calls him "a first-rate conductor." Composer John Adams declares, "Grant Gershon is one of those rarities we call 'the complete musician.' My respect for his musicality-for his conducting, his extraordinary musical intuition and his formidable ear-knows no bounds." In addition to his post with the Chorale, Mr. Gershon was named Associate Conductor/Chorus Master of the LA Opera beginning in the 2007|08 Season.

An ardent champion of new music, Mr. Gershon, who has led more than 75 performances with the Chorale at Disney Hall, has given numerous world premiere performances, including such major works as You Are (Variations) by Steve Reich; Requiem by Christopher Rouse.

George Guest

George Guest is generally regarded among the finest British choral conductors of his time. Some musicologists have attributed the endurance, if not the very survival, of the English cathedral choir to him. He made more than 60 recordings with St. John's Choir (Cambridge), covering a broad range of repertory (Palestrina and Mozart to Tippett and Lennox Berkeley) and garnering consistent critical acclaim.

Guest was born in Bangor, Wales, on February 19, 1924. He attended the Friars school in his hometown and became a chorister by age 9 at the local cathedral. At 11 he sang in the choir at Chester Cathedral while taking private lessons to develop his keyboard skills. After serving four years in the Royal Air Force during World War II, he returned to Chester Cathedral as sub-organist in 1946. The following year he enrolled at St. John's under an organ scholarship, studying with Thurston Dart and Boris Ord. In 1951 the choir director, Robin Orr, resigned to focus on composition, leaving the post to Guest.

Joshua Habermann

Joshua Habermann, appearing in TRANSCENDENCE with Sandra Lopez, is associate professor and program director of choral studies at the University of Miami Frost School of Music, where he conducts the Frost Chorale and other choral ensembles. He is music director of the Miami Master Chorale and the Desert Chorale (Santa Fe, NM). He is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed doctoral studies in conducting with Craig Hella Johnson. He has also studied under Helmuth Rilling (conducting), Scott Fogelsong (piano) and David Jones (voice). He has appeared in conferences and festivals, including international engagements in Cuba, Germany, Czech Republic, China and France. As a singer (tenor) he performs with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, where he can be heard on the Grammy-Award-winning recording of Krzystof Penderecki's Credo and others. Dr. Habermann also maintains an interest in the Hawaiian choral tradition, and sings periodically with Kawaiolaonapukanileo, an ensemble dedicated to performing and preserving this unique repertoire. Other research interests include Latin American and Nordic music. His dissertation on the a cappella works of Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara was a Julius Herford Prize finalist for music research in 1997.

Paul Halley

Paul Halley was born in Romford, England in 1952, received his early musical training in Ottawa, Canada, and at the age of sixteen was made an Associate of the Royal Conservatory of Toronto. Having been awarded the organ scholarship at Trinity College, Cambridge, Halley received his M.A., and was made a Fellow of the Royal College of Organists.

From 1977 to 1989, Paul Halley was Organist and Choirmaster at the Cathedral of St John the Divine in New York City. He transformed the Cathedral's music programme into a rich combination of classical and contemporary music. He was also a principal member of the Paul Winter Consort, and earned three Grammy Awards for his contributions as a featured writer and performer on many Consort recordings. Halley's music has been performed and recorded by many notable artists and ensembles, including the New Jersey Symphony, and John Williams and the Boston Pops Orchestra.

Richard Hickox

The English conductor, Richard (Sidney) Hickox, studied at the Royal Academy of Music in London from 1966 to 1967, and was an organ scholar at Queen's College Cambridge from 1967 to 1970.

In 1971 Richard Hickox founded in London the Richard Hickox Singers & Orchestra, with which he gave programs of works ranging from the 14th century to the present era. He also founded the City of London Sinfonia in 1971 and is its Music Director, and following a long association with the London Symphony Orchestra he is their Associate Guest Conductor. From 1982 to 1990 he was Artistic Director of the Northern Sinfonia, and is now Conductor Emeritus. In 1990 he formed a new period instrument group together with Simon Standage: Collegium Musicum 90. His contract as Principal Conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales starts in September 2000.

Edward Higginbottom

Edward Higginbottom's early years were marked by distinction as a keyboard player. He gained his Fellowship of the Royal College of Organists before leaving school, winning the Harding and Read prizes for the most outstanding candidate of the year. A long association with Corpus Christi College Cambridge followed, beginning with an organ scholarship (winning the John Stewart of Rannoch university prize in Sacred Music), continuing with graduate work and a doctoral thesis on French baroque music, and ending with a research fellowship (1973-76).

While at Cambridge, he gained recognition at home and abroad as director of the Cambridge University Purcell Society, one of the very first English early music groups to perform regularly in France. Graduate work in Paris from 1970 to 1972 deepened his contacts abroad as he studied organ with Marie-Claire Alain while writing his doctoral thesis. His love of French culture has borne fruit in editions of Francois Couperin's chamber music, many recording projects featuring French music, and frequent invitations for New College Choir to sing in Europe and further afield. He is sought after as president of international music competitions, and as a consultant. The French Ministry of Culture has rewarded him with the honour 'Commandeur de l'Ordre des Arts et des Lettres' for his role in the revival of choir schools in France and support of French cultural activities.

David Hill

David Hill (born on 13 May 1957 in Carlisle, Cumberland), is a choral conductor and organist. His most high profile roles are as Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers from September 2007, and Musical Director of The Bach Choir from April 1998. He was previously Organist and Director of Music at St John's College, Cambridge, in succession to Christopher Robinson from 2002. He formerly held the same title at Winchester Cathedral from 1987 - 2002 and at Westminster Cathedral from 1982 - 1987.

Hill was educated at Chetham's School of Music. He also holds the positions Chief Conductor of the Southern Sinfonia, and Music Director of the Leeds Philharmonic Society. He took up the position of Chief Conductor of the BBC Singers in summer 2007, succeeding Stephen Cleobury, and assumed the presidency of the Incorporated Association of Organists, succeeding Catherine Ennis. He was succeeded at St John's by Andrew Nethsingha.

Daniel Hughes

Daniel Hughes is in constant demand as a conductor, accompanist, coach and choral clinician. He serves as the Artistic Director & Conductor of The Choral Project, a mixed-voice vocal ensemble specializing in dramatic, conceptual performance of high-level choral music from the medieval period to the contemporary. Under his direction The Choral Project has received international recognition, performing to standing ovation crowds in the United States, Mexico, Costa Rica, England, Scotland and Wales. The ensemble has also received top prizes in international competitions throughout the world. They have recorded seven compact discs on the Gothic Records label. Mr. Hughes also serves as the director for two new choirs in The Choral Project musical family: Menharmonics - a men's chorus dedicated to celebrating diversity, creating community, and forming fellowship through quality musical performance; and Amaranth - a small a cappella vocal jazz ensemble specializing in a broad range of styles including contemporary a cappella, world music, and straight-ahead jazz. In addition to his work with The Choral Project choirs, Hughes serves as the Music Director for Los Gatos United Methodist Church.

Kenneth Jennings

Jennings is an alumnus of St. Olaf College and sang as a member of the St. Olaf Choir as an undergraduate. He received his master's degree from Oberlin College and his doctorate from the University of Illinois. Jennings was appointed to the faculty of St. Olaf College in 1953, and ascended to one of the world's most coveted choral podiums in 1968: Jennings was the third director of the internationally renowned St. Olaf Choir, succeeding founder F. Melius Christiansen and his son-successor, Olaf C. Christiansen. He retired from St. Olaf College in 1990, turning over the podium to his former student, Anton Armstrong. His Son, Dr. Mark Jennings, is the director of Choral Activities at Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri.

As director of the St. Olaf Choir Jennings became noted for guiding and maturing the St. Olaf Choir from one rooted substantially in its 1911 era founding to arguably one of the most highly respected choral ensembles of the world.

Dennis Keene

Dennis Keene is Artistic Director and conductor of the Voices of Ascension Chorus & Orchestra. Known internationally through his many concerts and recordings with Voices of Ascension; his regular guest appearances as conductor and clinician; and his work as Artistic Director of The Dennis Keene Choral Festival, he has emerged as one of leading choral conductors in the world today.

Recognized early as an exceptional organist, Dennis Keene began musical studies and performing in his native Los Angeles. He moved to New York City to study at The Juilliard School, where he earned the BM, MM, and DMA degrees and the coveted Gaston Dethier Organ Prize as a student of Vernon de Tar. Dennis Keene was active as a recitalist until his interest in conducting led him to concentrate on that discipline. He subsequently studied conducting at the Pierre Monteux School for Orchestral Conductors, with Charles Bruck in Paris, and with John Nelson at The Juilliard School. His passion for the finest in professional choral music can be traced to his early work as organist with Gregg Smith, Roger Wagner, and Margaret Hillis.

Pekka Kostiainen

Pekka Kostiainen's long and impressive career as a composer and choir conductor is undoubtedly based on his profound understanding of and widely recognised expertise in choral music. As a conductor, he collaborated for several decades with the Vox Aurea Children's Choir and the Musica Choir. Kostiainen also wrote several of his choral works for these choirs.

His flexible composition technique allows him to adapt his musical goals and intentions into a range of different circumstances. He not only exploits the choir's expressive potential in a captivating manner, but also takes into account the performer's technical capabilities and overall musical experience. His technical flexibility is very much appreciated among the performers, in particular when it comes to the heterogeneous and highly ambivalent language of contemporary music.

Erich Kunzel

Erich Kunzel's distinguished career was personified by his 2006 National Medal of Arts, presented by President and Mrs. Bush at a ceremony in the Oval Office at The White House in 2007. The National Medal of Arts, the highest honor given to artists and arts patrons by the United States Government, is awarded to those who have made outstanding contributions to the excellence, growth, support and availability of the arts in the United States. The legendary "Prince of Pops" was also honored in September 2008 as an inductee into the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

The late Maestro Max Rudolf invited Mr. Kunzel, then a young conductor on the faculty of Brown University, to join the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra as an associate conductor in 1965. That October Maestro Kunzel conducted his first sold-out "8 O'Clock Pops" concert, marking his ascent as a modern orchestral legend. The Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, part of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, was then officially founded in 1977 with Maestro Kunzel at the helm. For decades he led the orchestra, packing houses in Cincinnati's Music Hall and Riverbend Music Center, and also gaining new fans the world over through tour performances, PBS television specials and millions of recordings sold on the Telarc label.

Richard Larson

Richard Larson, Artistic Director of Kantorei, has been involved in community music and music education for over thirty years and is in demand as a clinician, conductor, and teacher. Named "Choral Conductor of the Year," in 1989 by the Colorado ACDA, Mr. Larson taught music both at the University of Northern Colorado and at Metropolitan State College in Denver. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Luther College in Decorah, Iowa, and a Masters in Music Education from the University of Colorado Boulder. Mr. Larson has studied conducting with Otto Werner Mueller, Elizabeth Green, John Nelson, Julius Herford, Richard Westenberg and Margaret Hillis, among others.

Sir Philip Ledger

Sir Philip was born in Bexhill-on-Sea in 1937 and educated at King's College, Cambridge.(1) When appointed Master of the Music at Chelmsford Cathedral in 1961, he became the youngest Cathedral Organist in the country.(1) In 1965 he took up the post of Director of Music at the University of East Anglia where he was also Dean of the School of Fine Arts and Music and responsible for the establishment of an award-winning building for the University's Music Centre, opened in 1973.(1) In 1968 he became an Artistic Director of the Aldeburgh Festival with Benjamin Britten and Peter Pears, conducting at the Snape Maltings on many occasions including the opening concert after its rebuilding, and playing in first performances of works by Britten.(1) He appears as continuo player on Britten's recordings of Bach and Purcell.

Grant Llewellyn

The Welsh conductor, Grant Llewellyn, began developing his conducting reputation in 1985, when he was awarded a conducting fellow position at the Tanglewood Music Center in Massachusetts. There his mentors included Leonard Bernstein, Seiji Ozawa, Kurt Masur and Andre Previn. As Assistant Conductor of the Boston Symphony Orchestra in the early 1990's he conducted concerts at the Tanglewood Festival, the Boston Subscription Series and in the "Boston Pops".

Grant Llewellyn is renowned for his exceptional charisma, energy and easy authority in music of all styles and periods. To date, his career has led him to hold positions with three European orchestras. From 1990 to 1995, he was associate conductor of the BBC National Orchestra of Wales. He was principal guest conductor of the Stavanger Symfoniorkester from 1993 to 1996. Llewellyn served as chief conductor of the Royal Flanders Philharmonic Orchestra (deFilharmonie) from 1995 to 1998. Notable recent European guest engagements have included the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra, Frankfurt Radio Symphony Orchestra, BBC Philharmonic, Helsinki Philharmonic and BBC Symphony Orchestra.

Norman MacKenzie

Norman Mackenzie's abilities as musical collaborator, conductor, and concert organist have brought him international recognition. As Director of Choruses for the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra since 2000 and holder of its endowed Frannie and Bill Graves Chair, he was chosen to help carry forward the creative vision of legendary founding conductor Robert Shaw to a new generation of music lovers. At the ASO he prepares the Choruses for all concerts and recordings, conducts holiday concerts annually and works closely with ASO Music Director Robert Spano and commissioned-composers in the creation and premiere of new works.

His leadership was rewarded in 2003 with Grammy awards for Best Classical Album and Best Choral Performance for the ASO and Chorus recording of A Sea Symphony by Vaughan Williams, in 2005 with another Best Choral Performance Grammy for the Berlioz Requiem and in 2007 for Best Opera Recording with Golijov's Ainadamar. Mackenzie also serves as Director of Music and Fine Arts for Atlanta's Trinity Presbyterian Church, and pursues an active recital and guest conducting schedule.

Michael McGlynn

Michael's harmonic language combines elements of traditional Irish music such as modal melodic lines and ornamentation, fixed and shifting drones and jazz-tinged chordal clusters. These features can be heard in his contribution to the Chanticleer commissioned "And on Earth Peace : A Chanticleer Mass". Michael contributed the "Agnus Dei" (2007) to this multi-composer work

His best-known choral work is "Dulaman" (1995), a setting of the traditional Irish poem of the same name. This work has been performed and recorded extensively. It features another characteristic aspect of his musical language in its use of multiple alternating rhythms.

Michael McGlynn's music has been recorded and performed by such internationally recognised vocal ensembles as Rajaton, the National Youth Choir of Great Britain, The Dale Warland Singers, Conspirare, the BBC Singers, the Phoenix Chorale and Chanticleer.

Jonathan Miller

For his innovative programming and high musical standards, Jonathan Miller has gained international accolades, most recently the 2008 Louis Botto Award for Innovative Action and Entrepreneurial Zeal from Chorus America. Since founding Chicago a cappella in 1993, he has guided the ensemble through more than 130 concerts, six commercial CD releases, and thirty choral-music demo CDs.

Passionate about bringing new music to Chicago audiences, Jonathan has presented more than sixty-five new a cappella works in their local, national, or world premieres. His skills at presenting a wide spectrum of music are a combined product of his singer's ear, scholar's training, and composer's temperament. He was exposed at an early age to a wide range of music by a remarkable group of mentors, including Christopher Moore, Lena McLin, Max Janowski, Joseph Brewer, Howard Mayer Brown, Richard Proulx, John Nygro, and Anne Heider.

Leo Nestor

Leo Nestor (B.A., Music-Composition, California State University, East Bay; M.M., D.M.A., Choral Music, University of Southern California), Justine Bayard Ward Professor of Music; Director of Choral Activities, Director, Institute of Sacred Music; member of the conducting faculty, co-operating member of the composition faculty, The Catholic University of America Benjamin T. Rome School of Music, Washington, District of Columbia, USA.

Dr. Nestor conducts the CUA Chamber Choir and University Chorus, teaches undergraduate conducting and guides the formation of graduate students in choral music and musica sacra.

Leo Nestor's works are published principally by ECS Publishing, a division of the E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Boston; other works appear in the catalogues of Oxford University Press, MorningStar Music, Oregon Catholic Press and Selah Publishing House.

Donald Neuen

After twelve years on the faculty of the prestigious Eastman School of Music, Rochester New York, Donald Neuen accepted the position of Professor of Music/Conducting and Director of Choral Activities for UCLA in 1993.He immediately developed the highly acclaimed UCLA Chorale and an outstanding graduate program in choral conducting with both the Master of Music (MM) and the Doctor of Musical Arts (DMA). Fall, 1996, Neuen also accepted the position of Conductor and Artistic Musical Director of the 130-voice, highly select Los Angeles based Angeles Chorale, a large chorus whose repertoire emphasizes major works for chorus and orchestra.

In 1999, he accepted the additional position of Choral Conductor and Minister or Music for the internationally televised Crystal Cathedral Choir with Robert Schuller's "Hour of Power", seen weekly in over 100 countries totaling 20 million viewers. The repertoire ranges from traditional anthems to opera and oratorio choruses, sung in both English and many foreign languages.

Wendell Nisly

An instructor at Calvary Christian Academy, Wendell teaches music and other subjects to students grades 7-12. He also conducts Oasis Chorale. He completed a Bachelor of Music Education degree at Wichita State University, and a Masters in Choral Conducting at James Madison University. He is passionate about unleashing the beauty of choral music, and exploring with his choirs how beauty in music points to the Author of beauty. He risks periodic reconnaissance missions onto such foreign battlefields as philosophy of education, Christian apologetics, and philosophy of music. Natives of Kansas, Wendell and his wife, Jeanene, live in Harrisonburg, VA.

James ODonnell

James O'Donnell is among the leading British organists of his generation. While some might further define him as a church organist and choir director-roles he has fulfilled with the utmost commitment-he has been active on the concert stage both as an organist and conductor. His choice of repertory has been broad, taking in the music of Renaissance-era icons like Palestrina, Josquin Desprez, Victoria, Lassus, and Guerrero, as well as that of twentieth century masters like Stravinsky, Poulenc, Janacek, and Kodaly. As a conductor he has often worked with period-instrument ensembles such as the Hanover Band and the Orchestra of the Age of Enlightenment; as a keyboard soloist or continuo player he has frequently appeared with the Gabrieli Consort and the King's Consort. O'Donnell has made more than 30 recordings for the British label Hyperion.