By Michael Quinn LONDON. UK — Karl Jenkins is to release The Peacemakers, the follow-up to his highly successful The Armed Man: A Mass for Peace, on EMI Classics. The 17-movement work for chorus and orchestra features texts by some of the most famous advocates of peace and compassion in the 20th century, including Mahatma Ghandi, Nelson Mandela, […]
Toronto gets together for a sing-song
by Isabel Teotonia TORONTO — When Nobu Adilman formed a ragtag choir with his buddies to sing at a friend’s birthday party, he didn’t realize what he was tapping into: people really loved singing together. He now runs Choir! Choir! Choir!, which meets every Tuesday night at a College St. bar, attracting 125 people eager to belt […]
Karen Grylis awarded NZ grant to expand choral education
Karen Grylls ONZM, Artistic Director of Choir Aotearoa New Zealand, has been selected as a 2011 NZ-UK Link Foundation Discretionary Award winner. She is Associate Professor of Music at Auckland University and one of New Zealand’s most experienced and distinguished choral educators. She is heading for England next month to study current best practice in […]
Gossen to direct Ankeny Community Chorus
Michael Gossen has been named the new director for the Ankeny Community Chorus. Gossen replaces Steve Carstenson, who had directed the Ankeny Community Chorus since its inception in June of 2001. Carstenson recently accepted a position as worship minister at Grinnell Christian Church in Grinnell, making it impossible for him to continue with the chorus, […]
Directing a Cuban Children’s Choir: Mailan Avila Interview
By Helson Hernandez HAVANA — Mailan Avila is the director of the “Solfa” children’s choir of the Schola Cantorum Coralina. As she commented, “This year we’re again on a CD that has been nominated for a Latin Granmy. The album is “Reir y Cantar,” together with the legendary songstress Omara Portuondo.” HT: Have you always […]
Choral Academy Opens Musical World for Teens
By Lisa Thornton HARRISBURG, NC — As he sits quietly in the choir room at Calvary Lutheran Church, his grass-stained jeans, gray American Eagle hoodie and grown-out mop of sandy-colored hair speak for him, describing a typical teenager. But when his cue from the conductor arrives, in the form of a graceful and rhythmic […]