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Kenyan Choral Music, A Recent Historical Perspective

July 30, 2018 by Amanda Bumgarner Leave a Comment

Image via

The following is written by Dale Rieth, 
_________

With all of the recent attention to the International Conductor’s Exchange Program and specifically this year’s pipeline to Kenya, I wanted to share an historical perspective from my own Kenyan research in the 1990’s.  In fact, this article might serve as a “prequel” to today’s musical developments in Kenya and offer an additional perspective by partially filling in the backstory.

Musical Research in Kenya

Musical research in Kenya is a comparatively new phenomenon.  My 1995 doctoral thesis, A Study of Choral Music in Kenya: The Contributions of Its Composers and the Influences of Traditional and Western European Musical Styles , was researched in Kenya under the auspices of a  Fulbright Fellowship. My goal was to research developments in contemporary Kenyan choral music and observe the synthesis of traditional musical styles with Western European compositional processes.  My source material was gathered from the composers themselves, and I compiled their stories via questionnaires as well as gathering examples of their choral compositions.  12 composers were interviewed, and their practical approach to their compositional craft and the writing of music for performance in schools, churches, and festivals, is what has kept their art flourishing.

Their willingness to share their musical and cultural philosophy as well as their music was inspiring, contributing directly to the international community of choral musicians.  These materials were submitted for my doctoral thesis at the University of Cincinnati.  As I now look back, it is unfortunate that there hasn’t been much additional research.  It appears that my paper was one of the first dissertations put on file at the Kenya Information Preservation Society (founded in 1990), which, as their title suggests, is devoted to preserving the cultural heritage of their nation.  The handful of dissertations also on file focus upon specific case studies of acculturation, copyright, text setting, and a history of music/dance competition.  However, there still exists a great need for systematic collection and archiving of the myriad of Kenyan traditional music which admittedly would be an immense undertaking and require coordination by the Kenyan Government.

As a choral musician, I was based in Nairobi where I found the musical scene to be highly energized.  A particularly fertile landscape was that of the Kenya National Music Festival, attended by musical groups from throughout the country.  A logical starting point for this article is to summarize conclusions I had drawn in 1995 about the status of contemporary choral music in Kenya as well as share questions I had posed at the time regarding the future of the choral arts in Kenya.

Research Conclusions

It was determined in 1995 that five distinct genres were being explored by Kenyan choral composers.  Still, the emphasis upon composer training in Kenya has produced a music education system skewed toward Western European influence (as established by British music educators in the 20th century period of colonialism).  However, Kenyan composers have adapted quite readily to syncretic genres (utilization of cross-cultural influences) realizing this may be the only hope for their compositional survival.  For that matter, Kenya has traditionally be open to new ideas, since “Kenya’s strategic location as a migratory pathway has encouraged the process of acceptance and assimilation of cultural traits from outside groups”.1

Traditional musical elements continue to figure prominently in contemporary compositions and although there continues to be traditional categories of music included in the presentations of the annual Kenya Music Festival, Kenyan choral art music (with its traditional elements) is still not included in the National Music Education curriculum.  A key ingredient would be the inclusion of Kenyan choral art music as a formal musical genre at the Kenya Music Festival.  Despite the composers’ embrace of syncretic musical styles, there is a very real danger that Kenya’s indigenous music will be lost by acculturation.

Of special interest is a doctoral dissertation by Duncan Wambugu.  In this document, Dr. Wambugu underscores the importance of inclusion of a music curriculum in the Kenyan National Educational System and specifically, the use of traditional music genres in academic study and performance.  In fact, the incorporation of traditional musical genres could be deemed essential to the health of the nation as music in Kenya is inseparable from life events.  Music is attached to all of life, from birth to rites of passage (adulthood) to death, from planting to harvesting, from times of war to times of peace.  Choral music continues to be ubiquitous in Kenyan society with the formation and continued participation of choral groups in branches of government, private enterprise, music clubs and organizations, churches and other religious organizations, and of course schools.

The Future

Most obvious is the need for a systematic and standardized approach to preservation and analysis of Kenyan choral music.  An ideal project for the future would be the initiation of a “Kenyan National Songbook” in the same manner as the “African Textbook Project” envisioned in 1969 by the International Library of African Music (Roodepoort, South Africa): “Under the ILAM’s supervision, research teams in the field were to initiate and record audio and video performances of music and dance, transfer the recordings to a processing team for transcription and analysis, and publish and archive the results.  Ultimately an anthology was to be distributed to all participants.”2  With or without such a document, the process of recording, transcribing, cataloging, and archiving of indigenous music (the result of field research as well as witnessing performances at the Kenya Music Festival) would prove very fruitful for the composers of Kenyan and to musical life in general.  Duncan Wambugu also argues for a universal format which would be practical and accessible on a global scale, concluding that, “(Kenyan choral) Art music would therefore be an ideal platform”.3

The Kenyan musical scene is energized and continues to display an attitude of optimism.  There is progress in the quantity and quality of musical organizations and performance level, and as Kenyan composers continue to rely on their musical instincts, their output will continue to reflect the depth of their cultural heritage, and their music will truly speak of Africa.

____________

In my intention to turn this subject into an open forum for choral musicians, I welcome submissions to these sample questions for those who have visited Kenya in their quest to learn more:

  • What were you seeking to discover in your travels to Kenya?
  • Did your original mission statement transform upon arrival in the country?
  • Were you able to accomplish your original objectives?
  • Did you encounter barriers to research-gathering?
  • Did you find your local contacts to be supportive of your work?
  • In what way did you apply the results of your research upon your return home?
  • Do you have any future plans to continue your research?

These and more specific inquiries would appear to be useful in charting a future course for research of Kenyan choral music.

* * *
1Dale Rieth, A Study of Choral Music in Kenya: The Contributions of Its Composers and the Influences of Traditional and Western European Musical Styles (Doctoral thesis, University of Cincinnati, 1997): 87.
2Ibid., 162.
3Duncan Wambugu, Kenyan Art Music in Kenya’s High School General Music Curriculum: A Rationale for Folk-Song Based Choral Music (Doctoral dissertation, University of Florida, 2012): 131.

 

Filed Under: From Our Readers, International Initiatives Tagged With: icep, international, International Initiatives, Kenya

Helping Small Amateur Choirs to Survive and Flourish

May 5, 2017 by ACDA Leave a Comment

A version of this post first appeared on the OUPblog on April 21, 2017, and is reprinted with permission of Oxford University Press.

Choral singing has been, for some 150 years, one of the mainstays of local music-making and entertainment in the rural regions of Britain. As Director of Music at the University of Plymouth and musical director of several singing and orchestral ensembles in Devon and Cornwall, I keep an eye on the activities of the region’s numerous choral societies – and some rank among the best in the UK.

Many towns with a population of just 2,500 boast their own singing group, with a membership of anywhere between 14 and 50 members. The larger towns and cities in the South West such as Plymouth, Truro, and Exeter accommodate regional choirs of up to 150 as well as specialist chamber groups performing a wonderfully diverse repertoire.

However, many of the smaller outlying choral societies struggle to survive. On several occasions over the past 30 years, I have been invited in as a troubleshooter to ‘save’ or at least revitalize such groups. Some of the issues they faced included ageing choruses with dwindling membership and audience, unsuitable repertoire, a recently retired musical director, poor finances, weak administrative infrastructure, and inadequate publicity. These factors have often combined to generate a lack of motivation in members and communities.

Encourage, cajole, and convince to form your committee

Establishing a strong committee is another must. Identify those members of the choir who can offer skills in basic financial management, record-keeping, communication, and organization. Encourage, cajole and convince them to commit their time to the choir for a year.

Promoting your concert

As for promoting concerts, do not overlook the standard tools of well-written press releases to the local and regional media, posters, banners, announcements on regional radio and television, listings on what’s on websites and social media. However, face-to-face selling is also an effective way to generate ticket sales. Having a choir website is essential, and Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram can all play a valuable role in raising the profile of your choir and its concerts.

Sending publicity to a regularly updated and targeted database is also important. I would suggest that handing out forms at concerts inviting people to add their names to the mailing list is a good start. Feedback is valuable: include a questionnaire asking for responses on the various aspects of their experience of the evening – what music did they most enjoy? how did they like the venue? did they make use of the town’s facilities (pubs, cafes and shops)? This kind of information can often be useful for funding applications.

Repertoire, soloists, and orchestral players

How can you reactivate a choir musically? Choose repertoire for the next performance that is well within its capabilities and invite everyone involved to a big party afterwards! The choir will sing well and with confidence; the audience, however small, will respond positively. Ensure the concert is reviewed in the local press. It is important that the singers receive praise for a good performance so celebrate your success.

I strongly believe that the very best players and soloists should be contracted. This raises the standard of music making and motivates the choir to work hard at its performance and at selling tickets. It is not always necessary to attempt Elgar and Verdi with a 40 to 50-piece orchestra when there is so much early and classical music which is equally uplifting and fulfilling. Why not employ just 20 top-quality orchestral players? The success of a higher calibre performance will stimulate an enthusiasm to sustain this quality and might motivate the members to address fundraising.

One final note to conductors

So much can ride on the personality and music interests of the conductor and his or her connections in the local, regional, and national music scene. Being well prepared for rehearsals and concerts should go without saying — and if you are new to the job these are essential. It helps to have a sense of fun. I also always make a point of being secure on translations of foreign texts before rehearsals begin.

 

Simon Ible is Director of Music of Peninsula Arts, Plymouth University and Artistic Director and Conductor of Peninsula Arts Sinfonietta and Peninsula Arts Singers as well as Co-director of Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival. He is also the Musical Director of the University of Plymouth Choral Society.

Simon studied conducting in Germany with Klaus Donath and in London with Sir Colin Davis. Before joining Plymouth University he spent 20 years conducting in Bath where he was Artistic Director and Resident Conductor of Bath City Orchestra. Simon has been Artistic Director and Conductor of the Ten Tors Orchestra since 1998 and works with a wide range of regional ensembles across the South West of England.

Filed Under: Others Tagged With: community singing, Great Britain, international

Using MUSICA to Develop a Themed Program by Jean Sturm and John Warren

April 1, 2017 by T.J. Harper Leave a Comment

The benefits of using a comprehensive database specialized in choral music such as Musica are great when one conceives of a themed concert program. One discovers unexpected jewels and many more options than can be found with other search engines. Musica is a database of only choral music with 172,000 records monitored by choral conductors and music librarians. Records include up to 100 types of information – composer, author, instrumentation, voicing, difficulty, genre, and on and on. And this immense and valuable resource is available and free for all ACDA members.

Members of ACDA go to the “Membership Resources” of the ACDA website (www.acda.org). Once you have logged in, click on the MUSICA logo and benefit from the entire website of Musica, with unrestricted privileges. If one is not an ACDA member, you can still access Musica at www.musicanet.org and create a personal account.

DESIGNING A CHORAL PROGRAM ENTITLED

ALONG THE MYTHICAL RIVERS

A first, let’s search simply for the keyword “river”, by using the field “Keywords, words of title…“ of the “Quick search form” on the homepage. 1485 answers appear, an overwhelming number. But by just looking at the first 10 titles you find interesting answers: “By the Rivers of Babylon” and “Deep River” would certainly be solid candidates for our program.

However, you may only want songs in English.

Therefore, let’s click on the button “More criteria for a more precise search”. Again input the search criterion “river” in the field “Words of title or Keywords or…” and the word “English” in the field “Language (main or adaptation). This search selects 552 answers. In the first few answers, you find “Dream Land starting with the words “Where sunless rivers weep” by Ivo Antognini, perhaps an unexpected or unknown title that could bring some originality to the program. By clicking on “Details”, you find an image of the score, the full text and a video of a good performance.

By going back to the folder of the list of results, one sees other interesting titles like “Way down upon the Swanee River.”

But let’s refine the search by limiting the results to “mixed” choirs. For this, with the “Back” arrow of the browser, one comes back to the search form, in which one can select the “Type of choir” “mixed”. The list ends now with 359 answers, and going until page 3, one finds titles like “Shenandoah” or “Le Pont Mirabeau”, by French Canadian composer Lionel Daunais, with an English adaptation of the poem of Guillaume Apollinaire.

Without being very specific at all, we already have 6 possible titles, with videos, texts, translations, and even pronunciation of the text, if needed.

One could of course have arrived to this state in one single step by putting all the criteria at once in the search form. For instance we could replace the search criterion “river” by the names of given rivers, and find some interesting results:

– Mississipi          many arrangements of Ol’ Man River

– Missouri             Cross the Wide Missouri, Shenandoah

– Volga                     Yo, heave ho, Volga Boatmen, plus many more answers if one removes the language as English

– Rhine                    Loreley (many answers if one removes the language criterion)

– Euphrates          Babylon (and a lot more by searching for “Babylon” and even “Super Flumina Babylonis” without the language criterion

– Jordan                  109 answers including Deep River, On Jordan’s Bank, Swing Low, Sweet Chariot

– Danube               On Danube’s Border (Johannes Brahms), plus varying arrangements of the Blue Danube if the language criterion is removed

– Rio Grande        The Rio Grande

– Loire                      C’est la Petit’ Fille Du Prince, by Francis Poulenc (Sus bord de Loire…), with an English adaptation.

You can imagine related searches such as “water” which might yield Eric Whitacre’s Water Night or arrangements of Wade in the Water.

Searching in Musica brings unlimited possibilities, and is so much more specific to what we do and what we need to find.

Here is a sample program created by Musica founder Jean Sturm, which included projected photos of the appropriate rivers.

EN MUSIQUE L’AN NEUF 2007 (Music for the New Year 2007)

le long des fleuves mythiques (Along the Mythical Rivers)

« du Mississipi à la Volga » (from the Mississippi to the Volga)

Mississipi

L’alligator                                          Jean Gauffriau (b. 1931 – France)

Text by Robert Desnos (1900-1945 – France)

Missouri

O Shenandoah                                 James Erb (b. 1926 – USA)

Loire

C’est la petite fille du prince                    Francis Poulenc (1899-1963 – France)

(Sus l’bord de Loire)

Seine

Le pont Mirabeau                            Lionel Daunais (1902-1982 – Canada)

Guillaume Apollinaire (1880-1918 – France)

Rhine

Loreley                                               Friedrich Silcher (1789-1860 – Germany)

Heinrich Heine (1797-1856 – Germany)

Volga

Chant des haleurs de la Volga     Gunter Erdmann (1939-1996 – Germany)

(Russie)

Danube

Le beau Danube bleu                                 Johann Strauss (1825-1899 – Austria)

Tigris and Euphrates

Etant assis aux rives aquatiques            Claude Goudimel (1514-1572 – France)

(Ps. 137)                                             Clément Marot (1496-1544 – France)

An Wasserflüssen Babylon                      Johann Hermann Schein (1586-1630 – Germany)

Jordan

Swing Low                                         Matthias Becker (b. 1956 – Germany)

Va pensiero  (Nabucco)                   Giuseppe Verdi (1813-1901 – Italy)

Filed Under: International Initiatives Tagged With: ACDA, icep, international, Musica, programming, Repertoire

Thinking Beyond Borders – Dr. Joshua Habermann

February 19, 2017 by T.J. Harper 1 Comment

Thinking beyond borders

Every family has its lore- the stories that are told and retold at family gatherings. One of my parents’ favorites is how, when asked what I wanted for my 5th birthday, I told my mother in total earnestness that I wanted a passport and an atlas. To her credit she got me exactly what I asked for, and though the passport lived in a drawer, the atlas was put to immediate use. I loved to open it at random and read the exotic names, imagining future journeys.

Upon reaching sixth grade we had the option to study either Spanish or French, and living in California Spanish seemed the logical choice. I took to the task happily, and discovered an affinity for it. By high school, I had added night classes at the local German cultural center, and attempted broken conversations with the old Italian ladies who were the most colorful residents of my San Francisco neighborhood.

Where this fascination with languages came from was a mystery to everyone. No one in my family had spoken anything but English for generations, but my relatives nonetheless gamely encouraged my obsession. When in 9th grade my school offered an opportunity for Spanish students to participate in a summer exchange program, they weighed the costs with the mounting grocery bills required to keep me fed, and realized that shipping me overseas could be good not only for my education but also for the family budget.

We were to have no control over the country- we were guaranteed only that it would be Spanish-speaking, There was something in the randomness that appealed to me. It reminded me of cracking open my atlas and dreaming, so I rolled the dice and off I went to Santiago, Chile in the summer of 1983.

I was placed with a local family living in a modest area of the city, and had three host brothers around my age for company. Chile was ruled at the time by Augusto Pinochet, who had seized power in a US-backed military coup in 1973. As the tenth anniversary of the coup approached, frustrated protestors took to the streets, erecting barricades of flaming tires and banging pots and pans until the army was sent in to quell the uprising. Classes at the schools were cancelled and a curfew went into effect, enforced by machine gun-wielding teenagers scarcely older than me.

For a kid from California this was all quite new, but my host family took all of it in stride. It was clear that this was part of daily life there, and they courageously managed their jobs and the ordinary tasks of living in an environment that seemed to me to be anything but ordinary. Experiences like this in our tender teenage years can be intense, and in a very short time I felt a part of their lives, and they a part of mine.

A brief month later I was back home, but the experience had broken my world open. So much that had previously been taken for granted in my 14 years was now in question. Where and how I lived, what I could expect from the world- these were no longer a given. There were people, not imagined or studied about but real live people that I knew and loved, living in entirely different circumstances from my own. I had been intellectually aware of this basic truth, but living it, however briefly, was something else altogether.

Though I could not have expressed it then, with the benefit of hindsight it seems that the lesson I was learning was empathy- a sense of solidarity not with my cohorts, but with people whose circumstances differed significantly from my own. By the end of my stay the connection we felt was real, and I cried tears of sorrow to leave them.

With the enthusiasm of youth I embraced the study of international relations, and especially languages. In the following summers I participated in exchanges in Spain, and Sweden, and then I cracked the atlas again and spent my freshman year of college in Switzerland before landing at Georgetown University. I entered GU with the expectation that I’d end up like so many graduates in interpreting or the foreign service. As fate would have it this was not to be.

I had always loved music and singing, and participated enthusiastically until my voice changed and I went from being a soprano to an awkward baritone who had only three notes, but never the same ones from day to day. With my growing interest in languages and the change of schools, I drifted away from music until as a junior in high school my best friend suggested that I join the choir.

By this time I had developed a taste for singer-songwriters, and I was listening to Billy Joel and Simon and Garfunkel on a new technology called compact discs. But also the Beethoven symphonies, which I would play at a volume sufficient to announce my musical tastes to the neighborhood. So when my friend suggested that I try the choir it didn’t seem like such a stretch- after all I loved music and I loved words, and choir had both.

Regular trips to Tower Records led to a broadening music collection, most often whatever was in the bargain cassette bin, but sometimes a splurge like the Strauss Four Last Songs on CD. By college I had listened to that recording a hundred times, and loved the poetry, especially Hermann Hesse’s lines, which helped revive my rusty German skills.

One wintry day during my senior year of college I raced my bicycle to class in half the time it normally took as I pedaled furiously to keep from freezing. All the while I had the Strauss songs playing on my Walkman cassette player, and arriving early for class I settled outside the classroom with an unexpected moment to warm up and wait for class to begin. As I looked out over the landscape and listened something miraculous happened. The music that I knew so well was somehow suddenly entirely new, and the beauty of music grabbed me at a visceral level, announcing itself in feelings too big to be ignored. Something new was afoot, and a seed was planted that would eventually grow into a career in music.

Of course one’s path is much easier to see in hindsight, and though I can track the decision to pursue music to that winter day, things moved in a less than linear way. There was another trip abroad, this time to teach English in Thailand, and one year teaching high school Spanish back in California. All the while, though, I was quietly preparing for a return to school to pursue music. This meant getting into the best choir I could, and upon returning home I auditioned for the San Francisco Symphony Chorus.

As one of the nation’s most active symphony choruses, we used to say that the SFSC sings enough masses and requiems to marry and bury the entire state of California. For me it was the perfect opportunity to learn a craft, and also to make up for lost time as I expected to compete for admittance to grad school programs with students with proper music degrees, which I did not have. From my very first season I was as happy as a pig in a sty, devouring music just as fast as I could with each rehearsal.

In December of my first season, despite my height I was placed, whether by accident or fate, in the front row of the choir. We were singing the Christmas Cantata of Honegger. At a certain moment there is a great gathering of energy, and then the full forces- adult choir, children’s choir, orchestra and organ- all let go in a joyous pealing of carols, and from my position in the front I could hear it all. The sound was enormous, and I remember with absolute clarity an oceanic feeling sweeping through me as the boundaries that seemed to separate us fell away, banished by euphoria. Here again was empathy, in new clothing, but working its magic just as it had some ten years before. I was hooked.

Now, all these years later I am still all in. As with any relationship, over time the giddiness of the new has been replaced with a deep-seated and enduring appreciation. The daily work of coming together to make music with others can be ennobling or frustrating, but on any given day, whether in rehearsal or performance, I know that experience that first hooked me is just around the corner, waiting for the right moment to reveal itself. We cannot control it, only invite that it come, and when it does we find ourselves, in C.S. Lewis’ words, surprised by joy.

A wonderful teacher and friend said once that the most basic choice in life is between love and fear. As I’ve reflected on that over the years I’ve come to the idea that it’s true, and that the choice isn’t always obvious. Choosing love might not be easy. It can involve speaking a difficult truth, or having the courage to be who you are without apology. It can involve public and private failure, imperfection, and vulnerability that is not always comfortable. This is no Hallmark card sentiment, but a courageous embracing of life’s challenges and a fierce rejection of all that would shrink and limit us.

For those people who want to be liked (I am one) this can be hard. Playing it safe on the other hand can be very attractive, and is often well-compensated both socially and professionally. Fear, clothing itself in reasonableness, offers an enticing siren song, and we drape it around ourselves more often than we realize. But here’s the problem: fear is incompatible with great music.

It is a basic human need to belong to something bigger than ourselves. That need can be filled in a variety of ways: family, friends, or membership in spiritual communities or civic organizations. Even allegiance to a sports team can open a door to an experience of purpose and meaning. For me and many like me it is music’s power that offers the most direct route.

I am reminded of this fact every Monday night as 200 singers from all over North Texas come together for Dallas Symphony Chorus rehearsals. These are people of differing backgrounds, faiths, ages, and life experiences, yet when we sing together we are one body, united in a common purpose. Every choral musician can describe those moments of grace when everything is open and flowing, paraphrasing Beethoven’s words, from one heart to another. Here again is empathy- the breaking of boundaries and the experience of “we.”

That these ecstatic moments are rare and fleeting does nothing to diminish their power. When we look into another’s eyes and find not “the other,” but ourselves reflected back, the curtain of separateness is drawn back and we catch a glimpse of our true nature, of the joy that is our rightful inheritance. The Persian mystic Hafiz captures this well:

Where does real poetry come from?

From the amorous sighs in this moist dark

When making love with form or spirit.

Where does poetry live?

In the eye that says “Wow wee”

In the overpowering felt splendor

Every sane mind knows

When it realizes – our life dance

Is only for a few magic seconds,

 

From the heart saying, shouting

“I am so damn alive.”

It is our human nature to live this love and fear battle anew every day. Both will enter our lives whether we invite them or not, and external and societal forces will play out this same drama. We should expect not a linear progression, but a cycle of steps forward and reversals that will frustrate even the most steadfast among us.

In these moments we have a choice to make. Fear will beckon seductively, inviting us to wall ourselves in communities of the like-minded, demonizing “the other.” Clothed in righteousness we can rain down intolerance on the intolerant, and the cycle of fear will continue. Or we can walk the narrow path of love, and do the hard work of finding common cause, even with those in the thrall of fear.

If choral music has taught me anything, it is that empathy beyond all borders is the only way forward. Let’s get to work.

Joshua Habermann

Conductor, Dallas Symphony Chorus

Music Director, Santa Fe Desert Chorale

Filed Under: International Initiatives, Others Tagged With: ACDA, Beyond Borders, icep, international, Joshua Habermann

America Cantat 8 ~ Sights & Sounds of Celebration

August 28, 2016 by T.J. Harper Leave a Comment

“Sing a Song of Joy and Gladness ~ Sing a Song of Peace and Harmony
Sing Across the Islands ~ Sing Across the Sea
Sing a Song of Peace and Harmony ~ Oh Sing! Sing! Sing a Song!”

14034776_10154494757029264_6822670526351302198_n
The Hamilton Children’s Choir at America Cantat 8

 

America Cantat 8 continues to represent the very finest musical and cultural exchange in one of the most beautiful settings in the world. It is marked by the open exchange of ideas and new friendships that defy national borders and geographical distance. In truth, these friendships are enhanced because of the power inherent in the universality of choral music. There is power but there is also joy and happiness when people come together in the creation of beauty and fellowship. This is at the very heart of the American Choral Directors Association and this is why America Cantat exists.

IMG_3538
Workshop on the choral music of Cuba
14088397_507310852801325_4530585139025769805_n
Dr. Cristian Grases (Venezuela) at America Cantat 8

 

Filed Under: International Initiatives, Others Tagged With: ACDA, America Cantat 8, Bahamas, Cristian Grases, international, tim sharp, Zimfira Poloz

America Cantat 8 – A Confluence of Inspiration

August 27, 2016 by T.J. Harper Leave a Comment

AC8: It takes a village…

Highlights from America Cantat 8

Over ten days, singers of all ages and abilities participate in overlapping five-day-long workshops, led by some of the most prestigious choral clinicians in the world. During these workshops participants rehearse choral pieces indigenous to participating choirs including some previous America Cantat host countries. At the end of the Festival, the workshops present joint concerts to showcase this music. In the evenings, participants attend Gala Concerts, performed by acclaimed choirs from each host country and our sister festival, Europa Cantat. Additionally, there are Opening and Closing Ceremonies, hosted by The Bahamas, a mid-week Dinner & Beach Party, and plenty of time to explore the island, relax on the beach, and take part in excursions to fully experience all that The Bahamas has to offer.

IMG_3525

IMG_3537

America Cantat 8 would not be possible without the tireless efforts of a small, dedicated team of superstars. This team have been responsible for imagining what AC8 could be and working out the details required for all logistics involved in the day-to-day execution of this festival. ACDA is forever grateful to these individuals and their commitment to cultural exchange through ensemble singing.

Please join me in expressing our heartfelt gratitude to Eden Badgett, ACDA Festival Development Director; Audrey Dean-Wright, Associate Professor of Music at the College of the Bahamas; Cleveland Williams, Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; Christy Lee, Lecturer in Collaborative Piano & Orchestra Conductor at Maryville College; and Adrian Archer, Music Director Christ Church-Bahamas, Conductor Highgrove Singers.

 

 

Filed Under: International Initiatives Tagged With: ACDA, America Cantat 8, Bahamas, international, tim sharp

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