ACDA News

John McDonald will serve as the Chair for the National Education and Communications Standing Committee beginning July 1, 2024 John McDonald is the Director of Choir and Vocal Studies at Washington University in St. Louis, conductor of Cantus, the St. Louis Children’s Choirs tenor-bass ensemble, and artistic director and founder of the St. Louis based professional […]

ACDA has partnered with Forward Motion to bring you two sessions from the 2023 ACDA National Conference. Forward Motion is an online learning initiative empowering musicians worldwide, brought to us by Manhattan Concert Productions. These two sessions are our first investment in bringing content from National conference to everyone in ACDA. We hope that these […]

Grant Farmer, Joshua Palkki, and Elizabeth Swanson have received National appointments to serve ACDA. We welcome these professionals into service and thank them for the work they will do to serve the membership and forward the mission of ACDA. Grant Farmer has been appointed as a committee member for the ACDA Education and Communication National […]

After an open call for applications, the following ACDA members have been appointed to the following positions: ACDA also wishes to thank the following leaders for their service in these positions as they rotate off the National Repertoire & Resources Committee. Thank you for your dedicated service to ACDA: Please find the bios for our […]

Are you an educator currently working in or have previous experience with K-12 or community choirs? ChorTeach is a publication of the American Choral Directors Association, published four times per year, online. We are looking for practical articles, written by practitioners, who can share about their current experiences related to teaching, singing, conducting, performing, and […]

Are you a faculty advisor, a student president, or do you otherwise know about an ACDA student chapter doing excellent work? Please consider nominating it for ACDA’s Outstanding Student Chapter Award. Previous award winners include the student chapters at Ithaca College, the Northern Arizona University, and the University of Southern California. This award was created […]

Wednesday, November 23, 2022 Dear Members, Our hearts are saddened and troubled that, once again, we write to you to address violence in our communities. The American Choral Directors Association is heartbroken to learn of the shooting that took place at Club Q in Colorado Springs, Colorado. While no motive for this attack has yet […]

The candidates running for national president-elect for the term beginning July 1, 2023, have been announced: Pearl Shangkuan and Brian Galante. Statements Pearl Shangkuan: “Six months after being sent home suddenly as everything shut down, singing a simple warm up at our first rehearsal back, albeit masked and distanced, caused our emotions to overflow. I […]

ACDA congratulates members Jesse Cannon III (TX), Sara Cowan (NE), and Trey Jacobs (TN) for being named 2022 Music Teachers of Excellence by the Country Music Association’s CMA Foundation. Awards are “based on their dedication to bringing a high-quality music education to their students and the impact they’ve had on their school community through music.” […]

The American Prize winners in the Composers category were announced last week, and we’re delighted to share that ACDA members feature. Ellen Gilson Voth is the 2022 prize winner in Composition – shorter choral works for her work Across the empty square. She was also the 2022 winner of ACDA’s Pearl Prize, for her work […]