[toggle expand=0 title=’ACDA-MN ELECTION RESULTS’]
Welcome!
The annual statewide elections yielded the following results to fill expired leadership positions within the organization over the next several years. They begin their duties on July 1, 2016.
Gillian Teoh-Berbee
Lake Middle School-Woodbury
State Secretary (two year term)
Jeff Dahl
Wayzata High School
Metro West District Chair (three year term)
Jerome Upton
Duluth East High School
Northeast District Chair (three year term)
Seana Graber
Luverne Public Schools
Southwest District Chair (three year term)
Thank You!
As we welcome these new leaders, we bid farewell to an outstanding group of ACDA-MN servants who have guided our organization as members of the State Board of Directors since 2013:
Andrew Beard
Osseo High School
Metro West District Chair
Matt Krage
Virginia Public Schools
Northeast District Chair
Connie Knott
Westside Elementary School Marshall
Southwest District Chair
We also want to extend a special thank you to Bret Amundson, outgoing Star of the North managing editor. Bret has led the Star of the North since 2011 and has seen it transition to the online format, as well as restructuring and expanding the editorial staff of the Star of the North. Thank you Bret for your years of service as Star of the North managing editor!
Bret Amundson
Outgoing Managing Editor
Star of the North
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[toggle expand=0 title=’2016 SUMMER DIALOGUE’]
Join us for an incredible week of learning at Summer Dialogue, August 2-5, located on the beautiful campus of St. John’s University in Collegeville. Our 31st annual event takes us back to the place where it all started back in the summer of 1985.
This year’s theme developed by conference chair Brian Stubbs is:
Embracing Diversity
Clinicians and presenters have all honed their outstanding presentations to reflect this growing reality in each of our classrooms. Whether you are an elementary, middle school, high school, or collegiate/community choral director, you will come away with fresh ideas how to grow your effectiveness as a choral educator in a changing world.
Be inspired with these headlining clinicians:
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Minnesota Clinicians:
- Bret Amundson and Chris Davila
- Steven Hoemberg
- Axel Theimer
- Nancy Lee
- Andrew Beard
- Adrian Davis
- Carole Whitney
- Matthew Ferrell
- Bradley Miller
- Jennifer Krinke
- Jeana Menzemer
- Michael Sellheim
- Jennifer Parker
June 15 is last day for early bird discount registration rates.
For More Information and Exclusive on-line registration with credit card payment visit summerdialoguemn.info
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[toggle expand=0 title=’FMC SCHOLARSHIP NEWS’]
GRADUATE STUDY SCHOLARSHIPS
The F. Melius Christiansen Endowment Fund Committee is pleased to announce the awarding of graduate study scholarships to the following ACDA-MN members:
Full-Time Students
Eliza Snortland — North Arizona University
William White — University of Kentucky
Part-Time Students:
Reid Larsen — University of St. Thomas
Marie Scholtz — University of St. Thomas
Laura Tempel — University of St. Thomas
Alexandra Thrasher — Michigan State University
Due to the generosity of donors to the FMC Endowment Fund, a total of 282 Minnesota choral directors and students have received more than $185,000 in scholarship support since 1997.
SUMMER DIALOGUE SCHOLARSHIPS
The next FMC scholarship offerings will focus on awards to attend the annual ACDA-MN Summer Dialogue, August 2-5, 2016 at Saint John’s University in Collegeville. On-line applications are due June 1 in the following award categories:
Full Scholarships ($360 value) will cover registration and housing fees. Teachers with 0-2 years of experience, including recent college graduates are eligible to apply.
Partial Scholarships ($240 value) will cover the registration fee. This scholarship is available to first-time attendees, regardless of years of teaching experience.
Go to: forms.acda-mn.org/summer-dialogue-scholarships/
WORLD CHORAL SYMPOSIUM SCHOLARSHIP
Every three years, the International Federation of Choral Music sponsors a World Choral Symposium. The next international event is scheduled for July 22-29, 2017 in Barcelona, Spain. The FMC Endowment Fund Committee will sponsor one ACDA-MN member to attend the symposium with a $3000 scholarship. Applications will be due on December 1, 2016. More details to follow.
MORE SCHOLARSHIP OPPORTUNITIES in 2016-17
HONOR CHOIR SCHOLARSHIPS — The FMC Committee has undergone a major study and process to launch a new scholarship program that will assist Minnesota honor choir students to participate in the ACDA-MN state honor choir program. Need-based scholarships will be offered to qualified students beginning in the 2016-17 school year.
A new scholarship program developed with funds from the ALICE T. LARSEN MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP account will award a female Minnesota choral director with funds to pursue graduate studies in choral music. The first ATL scholarship award will be presented in the spring of 2017. Funds for this named scholarship program began to be raised in 2012 and now have reached over $28,000 in value. The ATL scholarship program is overseen and managed by the FMC Endowment Fund Committee and honors the memory of Alice T. Larsen, long-time director of the Manitou Singers and Professor of Music at St. Olaf College (1955-1989).
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[toggle expand=0 title=’CHORAL ARTS FINALE’]
The 11th annual Choral Arts Finale was held on Sunday, April 17 at Concordia University-St Paul and Orchestra Hall, sponsored by ACDA-MN and Concordia University with Dr. David Mennicke serving as festival coordinator.
These six high school choirs were selected by blind audition to appear in the annual event:
- Andover High School Bel Canto — Shaun Halland, conductor
- Eastview High School Concert Choir — Gregory Douma, conductor
- Mounds Park Academy Madrigal Singers — John Habermann, conductor
- Northfield High School Concert Choir — Kyle Eastman, conductor
- Orono High School Chamber Choir — Nichole Brenna, conductor
- St. Michael-Albertville High School Concert Choir — Joseph Osowski, conductor
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Serving as clinician and guest conductor for the day long event was Dr. Joshua Habermann, Music Director of the Santa Fe Desert Chorale and director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Over 1,000 people attended the festival concert. The festival is annually supported by Concordia benefactors David and Sandra Frauenshuh and has drawn over 60 high schools and 4,000 student singers since the launch of the event in 2006.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’HONOR CHOIR SEASON IN REVIEW’]
The 2015-16 honor choir season continued to attract more students from more schools than anytime in our history. Overall there were total of 2328 Auditions with 821 Selected. Here are the audition and selection statistics that made this year so successful:
Kevin Meidl, guest conductor
Shannon Dorschner and Ben Henschel, co-chairs
207 auditions; 115 selected
Ann Schrooten, guest conductor
Kayla Krizek and Zan Thrasher, co-chairs
486 auditions; 150 selected
Clint Pianalto, guest conductor
Chris Larson and Michael Skaar, co-chairs
229 auditions; 145 selected
Kari Gilbertson, guest conductor
Jamye Casperson and Terri Thomas, co-chairs
460 auditions; 150 selected
Stephanie Trump, guest conductor
Jami Lercher and Laura Odden, co-chairs
946 mixed auditions; Women-131 selected
Gene Peterson, guest conductor
Kyle Eastman and Sarah Gilbertson, co-chairs
946 mixed auditions; Mixed 132 selected
Guest conductors and dates for 2016-17 are:
State 4-5-6 Boys’ Honor Choir
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Ruth Dwyer, Indianapolis Children’s Choir
State 4-5-6 Girls’ Honor Choir
Saturday, May 6, 2017
Charlette Moe, North Dakota State University
State 7-8 Boys’ Honor Choir
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Steve Albaugh, Rosemount High School
State 7-8 Girls’ Honor Choir
Saturday, November 19, 2016
Gillian Teoh-Berbee, Lake Middle School-Woodbury
State 9-10 Women’s Honor Choir
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Therees Hibbard, St. Olaf College
State 9-10 Mixed Honor Choir
Thursday, February 16, 2017
Lee Nelson, Wartburg College
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[toggle expand=0 title=’WEBSITE UPGRADES’]
In our continuing effort to plan for and respond to a more vibrant web presence, ACDA-MN will be undergoing a complete web platform migration and re-design of the website throughout the rest of 2016 and into 2017. Throughout the process, designed and managed by our Web Editor Dariush Akhavan, you can expect some minor interruptions in service as we move forward. The new platform will help our ACDA-MN website be more secure from numerous cyber attacks such as brute force and malware daily. For example our Forms website that was created few months ago to temporarily house our new interactive forms, has been unsuccessfully attacked over 90,000 times.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’UPDATE: 20/20 @ 2020′]
In August of 2016, just prior to the start of Summer Dialogue, the ACDA-MN Board of Directors along with a group of invited leaders and stakeholders from a wide variety of performance levels, will gather together under the leadership of facilitator Steven Albaugh to form the 20/20 @ 2020 Task Force.
One of the goals of the Task Force will be to review how our leadership, governance, and annual activities are structured and designed. Upon this informed study, the Task Force will offer recommendations that will help ACDA-MN move forward with clear vision and purposeful intent in these and other areas into the next decade.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’2016 MN TWINS CHOIR NIGHT’]
2016 Choir Night is back on September 22nd!
Information & Details on Ordering Tickets
Choir directors from schools throughout the region are invited to assemble any number of singers from your school and join similar schools to perform the National Anthem. An experienced director will lead this special choir, and all details will be provided in advance to participating schools/individuals.
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