The 2015 ACDA Conference--Wednesday

Hello, kiddies. It's Wednesday- the very first day of ACDA in Salt Lick City. The weather is gorgeous- about 50 degrees and that strong sun you get at elevations like this. We Midwesterners and Easterners who have been hit hard by snow and/or epic frigidness are already enjoying being  here.

Caveat- I'm blogging while crazy busy here- if my grammar and syntax isn't perfect, please forgive! Also, as attendees, including myself, become more and more sleep-deprived we sometimes say idiotic things- so you might see this here as well.

So let me say this right out- the Salt Lake Convention Center is HUGE. You have no idea! And thankfully the whole city is on a total grid- so it's hard to get lost.

I started the day off visiting the booths here. Plenty of 'em, also giving away lots of swag. Everybody seems super-energized but-hey, it's Wednesday! And honestly, I have NEVER seen this many people already on site for an ACDA on Wednesday. Tim Sharp, our fearless leader, says that  pre-registration is at a record-setting level. I believe him. I'm also seeing a TON of attendees between 20-30 years old. Yay!

After just milling around and seeing plenty of friends in the booth area I went to the MusicSpoke reading session at noon. MusicSpoke is a new venture by Kurt Knecht and Jennifer Rosenblatt. Pete Eklund from U of Nebraska led the reading session which held works by Andrea Ramsey, Kurt Knecht, myself, and some young up-and-coming composers like Josh Rist and Connor Koppin. The session went very well--and honestly, it was some of the best sightreading I have ever been around at a conference!

After that, I attended the first blue track concert. Here are the groups that sang and their repertoire:

Univ. of South Cali Thornton School of Music Chamber Singers, directed by my friend Mike Scheibe,

Batter my Heart, Three-Personed God, by Richard Nance

The Heart's Reflection, by Daniel Elder

De Circuito Aeterno, by Petr Eben (1929-2007)

Trois Chansons Bettones, by Henk Badings (1907-1987)

Alleluia, by Jake Runestad

Micro-review (the opinions expressed on this blog are mine only, and if you want to disagree, do so, but don't hassle me about my right to express my opinions--thank you very much)

MIRANDA sez "no haters"

A beautiful, deep, rich sound from the USC Chamber Choir, especially on the first two selections. A warm, velvety sound you just want to collapse into, like sinking into a brand-new five thousand dollar leather sofa which has been lubed up with cocoa butter. Bravo, USC.

I was really thrilled to hear the Eben and the Badings (I actually know Badings' music fairly well). We just don't hear this kind of mid-twentieth century repertoire at ACDA conferences, which is unfortunate. So bravo, Mike, for sharing these very rich, full-dimensional pieces with us, and they were pieces which really showed off this choir's strong points. I can't overstate how happy I was to hear some music that has been sort of forgotten about featured in front of a large audience.

BYU Womens Chorus, directed by Jean Applonie

Psalm 100, Rene Clausen

Wie Lieblich sind deine Wohnungen, Joey Flat-Nose Rheinberger

Reflections from Yad Vashem, Daniel Hall

Amazing Grace, arr. Michael Hanawalt

Adon Olam, by Eliezer Gerovitsch, arr. David Zabriskie

Micro-review: Jean pulled an amazing variety of dynamics from a choir which, I am guessing, numbered 120 or maybe way more. A gorgeous sound all around- bravo. The harpist on the Rheinberger, Anamae Anderson, was fantastic. This is a very notey harp part, which can be a real challenge (I used to play harp, btw), but Miss Anderson was spot-on throughout. And let me add, Rheinberger has had a resurgence in performances lately, which is a good thing. I love his harmonies and the fact that they exist within a (modest) contrapuntal framework- best of both worlds.

The Metropolitan Chorus of Tokyo, directed by Ko Matsushita

Sacred music in Latin composed by Ko Matshutshita

Japanese folk songs arrgned by Ko Matsushita

Micro-review:

You either loved or hated this performance.

Pluses-- the music by Matsushito isn't shy-- it's bold and full of tons of divisi. There was no safety net. Dynamics were extreme, especially on the high end. Kind of like a double IPA or beyond, if ya know your beer talk. Or a big Cab at 14.5%.

Minuses (where I pretty much weigh in- though some people totally disagreed with me and I punched them in the larynx)-- I felt they never tuned any of this often quite dissonant music due to their method of sound production -- all way back in the throat. The murky, turgid hyper-divisi issues just made it even harder to hear intonation and also scope the arc of the pieces. The lack of tuning, to me and a few other friends I polled, was extremely distracting. I also felt that the Latin on the first few pieces was simply bizarre to the ear. It could have been Yiddish and I wouldn't have been able to tell the difference.

What was very good is that this choir and its composer/conductor challenged us and provoked a bit of discussion. You have to ask- do we want pretty all the time and nothing to argue about? Or something else at times? And do we really always have to agree?

The Evening Program

Kings' Singers and the Real Group

Heavily attended, especially by the young folk, those precious and endearing cute and cuddly millenials (sorry, I'm being very silly)! ACDA is no longer so heavily populated by old folks. We needed this youth movement and in the last 3-4 years it has really happened!

Fearless ACDA leader Tim Sharp gave a state of the organization speech. It was pretty great and I hope to share it with you soon, thanks to Tim. You will like what he had to say abut where we are and where we are going!

Micro-reviews: Hmmm, do I want to diss "institutions"? Nah, not right now.  But I do wish Kings' Singers would add something new to their gig. Something, anything?! I feel Swingle Singers has evolved over the years, so it proves evolution is possible, ja?

Real Group- I am a HUGE fan, especially of the true vocal jazz they become famous for back aways. This night was more about new tunes with a rock beat, I guess you could call it. Many of these songs had great, social  issues lyrics which were not cheesy. So I dug that as did most of the audience.  I just wish that they would have done more of the stuff that absolutely kills me- fer instance something like this:

And this was amusing- they launched into Chili con Carne and every 15 to 30 year old went crazy- and then they only sang 8 bars and morphed into a different one of their hits over the years. It was pretty funny to see them fake out the audience! All in all they were great fun and their love of music and performing shone through.

NEXT: Thursday at ACDA, including an absolutely stunning performance by the Estonian Philharmonic Chamber Choir!

Memories of the ACDA 2007 National Conference in Miami

Hi all, here is a re-run of the guest blog I wrote for last Saturday's Choralnet. I am posting that full content here PLUS way more background info (scroll way down) on the music that Aida Swenson's group sang. Thanks to Aida for sharing this!

You can still sign up to attend the 2013 ACDA National Conference in Dallas- get off that fence and join the fun and excitement of world class music and the amazing fellowship which choral music brings to us all.

Today I am going to relate personally memorable experiences I had at the great conference in Miami in 2007 (to read last week's guest blog about ACDA LA/2005 click here). Believe it or not, this was my first time visiting the state of Florida. New adventures awaited me, and that was obvious in the first hour after getting off the plane from Chicago. I got in a mini-van taxi full of fellow Midwesterners heading from the airport out to Miami Beach. Everyone seemed tired and silent- it was quite eery that no one had anything to say to each other. I sort of settled into this silence, but as we wound our way through the streets of South Beach and started dropping folks off to their hotels I saw an Adonis of a young man with blonde dreadlocks, wearing the tiniest of shorts and nothing else, and with a LARGE albino boa constrictor wrapped around his body. This fellow was just strolling down the street doing his thing, he seemingly wasn't trying to be a Times Square street performer. I finally broke the silence and said deadpan, “Well there's something you don't see in Iowa”, and the whole van erupted into laughter and soon everyone was talking. I felt proud of myself for breaking down the barriers of these folks and I think we all realized that we were in for some fun out South Beach way.

My fellow composer friend Reg Unterseher and I took a chance on a very affordable, vintage South Beach hotel with, however, terrible reviews but a great location- about two blocks from the main conference performing venue and a block from the beach. The hotel was really just fine and everyone was ultra-jealous of our location. Reg and I often have fun rolling the dice in these situations. We'd rather have some adventure and embrace the unknown than wind up at a Sheraton or Hilton.

Reg and I knew we had already hit the jackpot when within the first hours of the conference, we heard The Swingle Singers live for the first time. As they finished their early morning set we looked at each other and said- “Yeah, this is why we are here”. Their beatbox version of  Dido's Lament by Purcell was on the program (see the clip below from a different concert). Yes, I said they beatboxed Purcell.

Other listening experiences awaited us; Mike Scheibe's University of Miami choir was the best university choir I have ever heard (though Kent Hatteberg's choir at the University of Louisville ranks right up there with them, as I have heard them now a few times in recent years- AND, you can hear them in Dallas!). To read my blog from Fall 2011 about the University of Louisville Cardinal Choir, go here.

A truly mind-blowing experience was hearing the intentional choirs, especially the young singers of Cordana, the Indonesian Children and Youth Choir directed by the absolutely brilliant Aida Swenson (and if I recall correctly, accompanied by adult percussionists). They sang the most wonderful folk music from their country and the electric moment that seared joy into my mind was when they sat on the front edge of the stage and sang a tune called “Rampai Aceh” (see clip below) with the most mesmerizing singing/body motion/hand motion/clapping/tapping on the stage floor acrobatics you will ever see in your lifetime. These amazing body and hand motions were at lightning speed and daredevil in execution, and of course all perfectly synched from performer to performer. Cordana completely brought down the house- everyone there in the audience was delirious with joy. Aida Swenson has graciously given me background material on the singing and dancing- here is the background info on the latter part of the piece:

The Seudati dance is a name of a dance originating from the province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The dance developed in Aceh over hundreds of years and, originally, did not have any connection to Islam. When the Islamic religion came to Aceh, the Seudati dance became a way of popularizing the teaching of Islam.

The Saman dance is often referred to as the dance with a Thousand Hands. The Saman is, by far, the most well-known  Acehness dance. The number of dancers can vary between eight and twenty. The dance is performed by kneeling in a row and then making various kinds of movements, accompanied by songs and the clapping of hands, slapping of chests ,different part of the body and the slapping of hands on the floor.

The songs used with the dance are praises or prayers to Allah. The tempo of the songs and dances begin relatively slowly but gradually increases in speed until they come to a sudden stop.

Next Wednesday I will re-run this blog post on my own personal blog at http://paulcarey440.blogspot.com and I will include far more of the background on this piece, for those who are interested in knowing more.

 

I was also blessed to be invited to the Walton Music 50^th anniversary reception hosted by the ever-gracious owner Gunilla Luboff. Even though I have pieces published by Walton, including a best seller, I still felt a bit out of place. Everywhere I looked in the room was a famous conductor or composer from one generation or another. I wound up having a very long conversation with Paul Salamunovich there and also got to meet and begin a friendship with Elena Sharkova that night. I was also fortunate to be invited to the University of Miami reception hosted by Mike Scheibe, held aways away at the Coral Gables campus. There was great food and drink and a jazz trio and the reception didn’t shut down until 2 or 3 AM, at which point Mike had a bus take all of us back to our individual hotels- we weren’t expecting that nice touch.

Everyone at this conference enjoyed the mild Miami spring weather and did their best to find an outdoor cafe to enjoy either big meals or quick bites to eat, and we were all trying out Cuban dishes and other local food and beverages.

I think you can tell that I had a great time in Miami, both professionally and personally. Professional and personal development and creating great memories and choral kinship are what our conferences are about- please join us in Dallas so that years from now you can say you were there!

Paul Carey

www.paulcarey.net

P.S. The following news from last from incoming president Karen Fulmer: " The military choruses are rehearsing in Washington DC with Craig Jessop on the Steven Stucky Brock Commission and JFK Remembrance production. Program Chair Stan McGill is there and reports that the joint choirs and music are absolutely amazing. Don't miss this once in a lifetime national conference!"

Rampai Aceh

 

RAMPAI ACEH	Traditional Aceh
A.  Seudati	The Seudati dance is a dance originating  from the Indonesian province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam. The dance developed  in Aceh over hundreds of years and, originally, did not have any connection  to Islam. When the Islamic religion came to Aceh, the Seudati dance became a way of  popularizing the teaching of Islam.
1.       YaNabi Salam Alaika	This is a song praising the Prophet  Muhammad as a messenger of Allah.
2.       YaRosulallah YaNabi	Allah's Apostles intercede for Muslims.
3. Hai Wa Laet	Poetic music symbolizing the bringing  of people together as through the teachings of Islam.
4. Lawet Bagura	Symbolizes a sense of excitement or gratitude after returning from the battlefield safely.
5.   Hanafi	The expression of human sincerity  to Allah SWT and Muhammad SAW, the prophet.
3. Yahu walah	A story like somebody who is  repeatedly chanting the Moslem confession of faith.
B. Ratoh/Saman	The Saman dance is often referred  to as the dance with a Thousand Hands. The Saman is, by far,  the most well-known Acehnese dance. The number of dancers  can vary between eight and twenty. The dance is performed  by kneeling in a row and then making various kinds of  movements, accompanied by songs and the clapping of hands,  slapping of chests, different parts of the body and the slapping  of hands on the floor. Originally, the dance included  only males, but now it is most often performed by females. The songs used with the dance  are praises or prayers to Allah. In this program, the presentation  begins with a Muslim prayer to Allah. This is followed  by songs and dances begin relatively slowly but  gradually increase in speed and complexity until they  come to a sudden stop.
1.      Millen	The music and dance are used  to give Islamic advice and counsel
2.      Di Laot	Imagining the minds of people  are like the sea, the movements of the dancers  are people rowing through the sea.
3.      Kutiding	The movements in this dance are  similar to people performing Muslim prayers,  chanting the Muslim confession of faith.
4.      Haila Hotsa	Movements are like the rolling  waves of the sea while crossing to the other  side of the ocean.
5.      Hasan Suma Husein	The grandson of the Prophet  Muhammad, gives the spirit of unity and progress for  the people of Aceh

Concert #4: Highlights from the 2011 NCCO Conference

Friday evening programs

By looking at the names of the choirs and conductors about to take the stage, it was fairly obvious that the Friday night program was potentially spectacular, and I am happy to report that it truly was. While these choirs were different from each other (most noticeably the youthfulness of the all-undergrad Iowa State Singers) what connected them was the maturity and experience of their conductors- Kent Hatteberg, James Rodde, and Jo-Michael Scheibe. These three fine musicians have conducted thousands of concerts over the years and they may well still conduct thousands more- their love of the choral art knows no boundaries.

University of Louisville Cardinal Singers, dir. by Kent Hatteberg



Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Amazingly beautiful- I don't think I have ever heard a choir so perfectly and sweetly in tune in my life. This performance glowed from within. People were gasping at the end.

Der 2te Psalm: Warum toben die Heiden, by Mendelssohn (Carus)

Mendelssohn was on more than one program- bravo. This performance was full of depth and emotion

Veni, dilecte mi!, by Wolfram Buchenberg (ms from composer)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita (Carus)

Another performance of this piece (the first was by John Byun's fine group on Thursday) and I like it more and more- so much energy and so many voices to listen to. The performance was flawless and exciting. If one were keeping score, Louisville was the best choir of the three day conference. Their singing was impeccably tuned on such a magisterial level that the sound seemed to magically hover and shimmer in the air around you; every phrase and tiny, tiny nuance of the music was unified in all members of the choir. It was virtually impossible to find fault with anything they did. This was singing not just on a high collegiate level but on a truly professional level.


Iowa State Singers, dir. by James Rodde





Deus in adiutorium meum intende, by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (Vanderbeek and Imrie)


O Radix Jesse, by Vytauta Miskinis (Ferrimontana)

Sitvit anima mea, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Just as gorgeous as Louisville was in this repertoire

Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, by Johannes Brahms (Peters)

Satamasho, by Otar Taktakishvili, adapted Rodde (earthsongs)

A great piece- highly recommended!

A Worshipper and a Man, Tinothy Takach (TimothyCTakach.com)

So this was a great, fun moment of contrast- as the audience showered the mixture of undergrads and grad students making up the Louisville choir with enormous amounts of applause, on walked Iowa State, looking super young, an entire large ( 80-90 voices, perhaps?) choir of undergrads. And in fact Rodde told me later that half of these kids are freshmen and sophomores! Wow, upper Midwest choirs are amazing. Their entire program was spectacular, and I wonder what Rodde could further achieve if do if he were leading a choir at a school with an MM/DMA program. I loved watching and listening to these young artists as they sang with joy on a level far beyond their chronological age.

University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers, dir. by Jo-Michael Scheibe



A Retrospective of the Music of Morten Lauridsen

Lament for Pasiphae, from Mid-Winter Songs (Opus)

This is an early piece, before Lauridsen had discovered his signature sound, harmonies. etc. I found it be the most interesting thing on the program- it was full of angularity, counterpoint, large dynamic contrasts, a very engaging and independent piano part- overall far more dramatic than his later, more languid music- very interesting stuff. Folks should look at this piece and perform it. In talking to Morten on Saturday night at Buddy James' intimate Saturday night reception, he told me that he devised this program personally and he very much wanted this piece on the program.

Contre qui, Rose (Peer, plus all following pieces by Peer)

Amore lo Sento L'alma (Fored Songs)

Se Per Havervi, Oime (Fire songs0

Soneto de la Noche (from Nocturnes)

Sure on this Shining Night (from Nocturnes)

The entire program was beautiful and memorable, and I had been very much looking forward to hearing Mike's USC choir- I had not yet heard them (I was an enormous fan of his University of Miami choirs). I was surprised to hear how big the sound was on the mostly gentle Lauridsen pieces everyone knows- I love that Mike expanded the sound that much in mf/f passages. I know Mike is very proud of his current grad conducting students/singers, and I believe the choir is going to get better and better as they learn more of what he wants from them. I would love to hear this group again in 1-2 years, for sure. Of course there will be turnover, but by then Mike will have his complete stamp on the approach and the sound. I would also like to make a shout out to ChoEun Lee, whose subtle phrasing was the epitome of expressive choral accompanying. Every note and phrase she touched was golden, EVERY note mattered, and that is something you do not often hear. Lauridsen replaced her for the final number, Sure on this Shining Night, and the audience simply melted with joy as the entire program, and magical evening, ended. This was a night that validated NCCO beyond measure- there was so much magical musicmaking by so many people - from teenagers in the Iowa choir all the way to Morten Lauridsen himself.

After this concert there was a wonderful reception at the Hilton with yummy beverages and food. Everyone mingled and chatted things up. What I especially loved here (as in elsewhere during the three days) was that I could not detect a single occurrence of jealousy among these folks, they are all there for each other- amazing. At the reception I was able to chat with old chums like Nancy Menk, Sarah Graham, and others, and still also meet and get to know a few people I did not know yet, but who had impressed me greatly in concerts or sessions-folks like Michelle Jensen, Joshua Bronfman, Nicole Lamartine, and many others. What a great day and evening of concerts and and a great reception too!

Day Two Repertoire from the NCCO Conference in Ft Collins

Day Two

Here is the repertoire from day two of NCCO-- many stunning performances. I don't necessarily like rating choirs- I surely do not like all the choral competitions/battles in Europe- but FYI University of Louisville was beyond amazing...more on them later when I find time to blog in more detail.

By the way, you do not want to see spellcheck "corrections" of these titles and composers!!

Day Two

University of Northern Colorado, dir. by Galen Darrough

Choral music of Argentina: A Sampler

Cantate Domino, by Antonio Russi (ediciones GCC)

Gala del Dia, from Las Indianas, by Carlos Guastavino (Kjos)

Mi Lumia, by Javier Zentner (GCC)

La Muerte del Angel, by Astor Piazolla (GCC)

Chacarera de las Piedras, by Atahualps Yupanqui, arr. Gustavo Felice (no publisher info)

Say that title and composer ten times fast after you've had three Fat Tires (their brewery is here in ft Collins)

Milonguera, by Oscar Escalada (Kjos)



Azusa Pacific University Chamber Singers, dir. by Michelle Jensen

In Windsor Forest, by RV Williams


Western Michigan University Cantus Femina, dir. by Dee Gauthier

Anne Frank: A Living Voice, by Linda Tuta haugen (available from the composer)

Now I Become Myself, by Gwyneth Walker (ECS)


University of Louisville Cardinal Singers, dir. by Kent Hatteberg

Kyrie from Missa Papae Marcelli, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Der 2te Psalm: Warum toben die Heiden, by Mendelssohn (Carus)
(this translates as "Who went hiding my Toblerone?")

Veni, dilecte mi!, by Wolfram Buchenberg (ms from composer)

O lux beata Trinitas, by Ko Matsushita (Carus)



Iowa State Singers, dir. by James Rodde

Deus in adiutorium meum intende, by Juan Gutierrez de Padilla (Vanderbeek and Imrie)
(this translates as "Hey, who in the auditorium is playing my Nintendo?")

O Radix Jesse, by Vytauta Miskinis (Ferrimontana)

Sitvit anima mea, by Palestrina (cpdl.org)

Warum ist das Licht gegeben?, by Johnny Brahms (Peters)

Satamasho, by Otar Taktakishvili, adapted Rodde (earthsongs)

A Worshipper and a Man, Tinothy Takach (TimothyCTakach.com)


University of Southern California Thornton Chamber Singers, dir. by Jo-Michael Scheibe

A Retrospective of the Music of Morten Lauridsen

Lament for Pasiphae, from Mid-Winter Songs (Opus)

Contre qui, Rose (Peer, plus all follwoing pieces by Peer)

Amore lo Sento L'alma (Fored Songs)

Se Per Havervi, Oime (Fire songs0

Soneto de la Noche (from Nocturnes)

Sure on this Shining Night (from Nocturnes)

Check back in for Day Three-- mostly interest sessions, just two concerts

Final thoughts on the ACDA 2011 National Conference

Here are some final thoughts on what was, to me, an extremely well-organized, highly ambitious, and well-received national conference.

Attendance was high- I believe final attendance topped ACDA's hopes by 400 or more.

There seemed to be a great positive energy all around. People were having a great time and you didn't hear anyone complaining about things.

The exhibitors seemed to have large amounts of merchandise stocked for the conference, especially compared to the very conservative approach they seemed to have at last year's division conferences. I think the exhibitors are feeling that we are coming out of this painful recession.

By far my favorite trend was the high number of younger people attending and their amazing enthusiasm. This is what I have been hoping to see- a youth movement blossoming within ACDA and a very bright, innovative future ahead for us all. I also have noticed how many university ACDA chapters seem to be really growing by leaps and bounds and how many students from these chapters were attending.

There were amazing performances by many choirs. I suppose I would single out, in no particular order; Anima, Brethren, Kamer, North Central High School from Indianapolis, University of St. Thomas, Millikin University, University of Kentucky men, Lawrence Conservatory Cantala-- with many other choirs being wonderful as well.

Interest sessions were hugely valuable and the session rooms were packed. ACDA R and S reading sessions were really well-organized and offered a lot of great material-- I didn't see any of the ho-hum deadwood that somehow happens to wind up on some reading session lists.

Th final Saturday was festive in the most interesting (and to some extent bizarre) way. ACDA folks were surrounded by Chicagoans clad in crazy Irish getups for the St. Paddy's Day parade and the Hilton lobbies were full of these folks. There was this festive fun in the streets sort of attached to our great ACDA music during the day, and then the electric performance of Elijah that evening. The CSO chorus and Markus Eiche as Elijah were spectacular.

Things that clicked for me personally:

I was greeted by many folks who said- Hey,I read your blog!". Some of them were "famous" choral directors and I was a bit shocked that folks of their stature paid any attention to these scribbles of mine. It felt weird and good at the same time.

I was also so happy to finally meet face to face a lot of conductors who have performed my music but with whom I have only had an email or FaceBook relationship with up until this conference. Getting to meet these people the old-fashioned way was really rewarding and fun.

Congratulations to Tim Sharp, Jo-Michael Scheibe, and all the fine people who helped them make this happen. We are in your debt for all the wonderful work you did. Bravo!

Coming Up: Meet Jerome the orange, and a discussion of the power of humor

Friday collegiate concerts at the ACDA conference in Cincinnati

The Friday afternoon concerts featured two collegiate ensembles, the Millikin University Chamber Chorale led by Guy Forbes, and the Miami (of Ohio) University Collegiate Chorale, led by Ethan Sperry.

The Millikin Ensemble was impressively musical-- exquisite phrasing and no oversinging- avoiding the issues that a few other college ensembles seemed to be having problems with. Their opening number, Charles Wood's "Hail Gladdening Light" was full of color shifts and gorgeous rubato, and when the choir reached an obvious high point, Guy Forbes led them in expanding the sound, not just trying to rev up rpms on a Hummer. An "Ave Maria" by Pawel Lukaszewski was gorgeous as was Forbes' own "Come back to me, Me Love". I have just visited Forbes website (www.guyforbes.com) and apparently he has only been writing since 2005. I have already heard a couple other pieces by him, most notably a very fine Ave Maria. Guy obviously has some real talent as a composer and I wish him all the best as he keeps writing more and more.

Two nicely uptempo pieces were sung with energy, and once again, without trying to muscle the music-- Michael McGlynn's "Dulaman" and the Hogan "Didn't My Lord Deliver Daniel". The entire ensemble exhibited the usual Millikin confidence and comfortable stage presence. All in all, this was one of the finest concerts at the conference, especially if you took the care to listen to nuance, sophistication, and detail.

A very different program was presented by Miami University. While this choir does sing all repertoire, they are best known for their amazing performances of world music. I also found out in talking to Ethan later that this is an almost completely non-music major group- these are young people who love singing for Ethan and share his infectious enthusiasm for authentically prepared world music.

The program was divided into two parts- Haitian music and music from India. The Haitian music was great- uptempo music full of amazing rhythms (btw, these world music programs have drumming throughout most of the program) and some quieter music of great soulfulness. Present for this portion of the program and leading with flair was a guest, Sten Kallman, a Swedish fellow who has been to Haiti many times and has studied the music. Sten led the group mostly by his enthusiasm and moving about the stage- Ethan introduced him as a non-conductor in the usual sense. None of this mattered to the audience who ate up the joy onstage. The last section of music from India, including some sassy Bollywood stuff, was such great fun. The whole performance was a blast and done so effectively. I have always been leery of American choirs trying to do world music- I cringe a bit when I think how badly and lazily they may be doing it, or how caricaturized many of the arrangements are. Here was a shining example of how to do it right.

Later that evening I just happened into Mike Scheibe (current ACDA president) and Ethan. Mike and I listened as Ethan told us all about his program, the kids and their enthusiasm, his love of world music, and so on. It was fun to listen to Ethan talk as he is so excited about world music and the global paths it has taken him on, including many trips to India.