[toggle expand=0 title=’NEW HONOR CHOIR SEASON’]
A sparkling new website has been created for the 2016-17 honor choir season providing all of the details in how to audition students for any of the six honor choirs sponsored by ACDA-MN. In addition, by action of the ACDA-MN Board of Directors at their August meeting, new names for several of the gender based honor choirs were approved that honor the Title IX legislation applying to gender equity.
Another addition to the honor choir program is need-based scholarship support from the FMC Endowment Fund Committee to assist with registration fees for honor choir students.
2016-17 HONOR CHOIR SCHEDULE
STATE 7-8 TTB and SSA HONOR CHOIRS
Auditions Due: Friday, September 30
Director Notification: Monday, October 10
Scholarship Applications Due: Friday, October 21
Scholarship Notification: Monday, October 23
Payment and Registration Forms Due: Wednesday, November 2
Rehearsal and Concert Day: Saturday, November 19
Guest Conductors:
TTB – Steven Albaugh
Rosemount High School
SSA – Gillian Teoh-Berbee
Lake Middle School, Woodbury
STATE 9-10 SSAA and SATB HONOR CHOIRS
Auditions Due: Friday, November 4
Director Notification: Monday, November 14
Scholarship Applications Due: Friday, November 25
Scholarship Notification: Monday, November 28
Payment and Registration Forms Due: Wednesday, December 7
Rehearsal and Concert Day: Thursday, February 16
Guest Conductors:
SSAA – Therees Hibbard
St. Olaf College
SATB – Lee Nelson
Wartburg College
STATE 4-5-6 BOYS’ and GIRLS’ HONOR CHOIRS
Auditions Due: Friday, February 24
Director Notification: Monday, March 6
Scholarship Applications Due: Friday, March 17
Scholarship Notification: Monday, March 20
Payment and Registration Forms Due: Wednesday, March 29
Rehearsal and Concert Day: Saturday, May 6
Guest Conductors:
Boys – Ruth Dwyer
Indianapolis Children’s Choir
Girls – Charlette Moe
North Dakota State University
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[toggle expand=0 title=’NEW STATE SSAA & TTBB CHORAL FESTIVAL’]
A new name for a choral festival with a 25 year legacy! Formerly known as the Annual Men’s and Women’s Combined Choir Festival, the new SSAA and TTBB Choral Festival will be held on:
Saturday, October 29 at
Saint John’s University in Collegeville
The festival features collegiate TTBB and SSAA choirs along with hundreds of high school singers for one of the largest festivals of its type in the country. High school registrations may include a minimum of balanced quartets to full TTBB or SSAA choral ensembles of any size.
Registration deadlines are Friday, September 30 for college choirs, and Friday, October 7 for high school singers. Registration information is located on the ACDA-MN homepage.
Making arrangements for this year’s festival is:
Michael Walsh
Buffalo High School.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’STUDENT MEMBER CAMPAIGN’]
ACDA-MN will sponsor a special student member campaign in association with the ACDA national office.
New or renewing students will pay a discounted membership fee of $5, while the state and national organization will kick in a total of $30 for each student member. The membership drive will run from September 13 through October 12. Please note that the deadline is firm.
NEW PROCESS THIS YEAR:
Interested students should go directly to the ACDA national website to complete the online application form and receive instructions to submit their $5 payment.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’NEW EVENT — ARGENTO FESTIVAL CHOIR’]
To celebrate the hosting of the ACDA National Conference in Minneapolis, ACDA-MN is collaborating with The Singers and VocalEssence, to produce an historic festival concert commemorating the 90th birthday of Minnesota composer Dominick Argento. The “Welcome to Minnesota” culminating performance on Tuesday, March 7 will feature Argento’s “Te Deum” that will include 72 singers associated with ACDA-MN as director members, college student members, and high school students (grades 11 and 12) of ACDA-MN members.
All singer positions will be selected from online auditions via Opus Event.
Auditions will close on Thursday, October 27, the actual birthday of Argento.
Audition information is posted on the ACDA-MN website at http://forms.acda-mn.org/argento-festival-choir/. There are no fees to audition.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’2017 CHORAL ARTS FINALE’]
The 12th annual Choral Arts Finale, a premiere high school choral festival will feature prominent American choral educator and conductor Francisco Nunez of the Young People’s Chorus of New York City scheduled for Sunday, March 26. Festival clinic performances and rehearsals will be held at Concordia University-St. Paul, with the grand finale festival concert located at Orchestra Hall.
Auditions are due by Friday, January 6
Selected choirs will receive a stipend to cover all transportation costs, a $500 check and festival plaque, all made possible by Concordia benefactors David and Sandra Frauenshuh.
For more information contact David Mennicke, festival coordinator at dmennicke@csp.edu
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[toggle expand=0 title=’NEW EVENT – MIDDLE SCHOOL CHOIR FORUM’]
ACDA-MN is proud to announce the formation of a new professional development event for middle school and junior high school choral directors. The Middle School Choir Forum will be held in conjunction with the State 7-8 Honor Choir day on Saturday, November 19 and will offer special sessions that will immerse educators in their ongoing work with middle and junior high school students.
Located at St. Andrew’s Lutheran Church in Mahtomedi, educators can attend four afternoon interest sessions and attend the combined honor choir concert later that day as scheduled:
12:15-1:00 PM Registration/Check-in – Foyer
1:00-1:55 PM Session One – Room 201
Voicing Your Men in Middle School Choir
Reid Larsen
Cottage Grove Middle School
ACDA-MN R&R Chair for Middle School Choirs
2:05-3:00 PM Session Two – Room 202
Adapting Scores to Accommodate Change
Dan LeJeune
Blake Middle School, Hopkins
3:10-4:05 PM Session Three – Room 203
Skill Building With the Middle School Choir Rehearsal
Sara Rowan
Central Middle School, Eden Prairie
Mary Wiersum
Minnetonka High School
4:15-4:45 PM Session Four
Follow-Up: Digging Deeper
Choose any one of the previous sessions and delve deeper into any one of these topics led by our clinicians.
5:00 PM ACDA-MN Member Reserved Seating for Honor Choir Concert
5:30-6:30 PM State 7-8 TTB and SSA Honor Choir Concert
Guest Conductors:
Steven Albaugh
Rosemount High School
Gillian Teoh-Berbee
Lake Middle School, Woodbury
Registration for this event will be available on the ACDA-MN website homepage.
Cost is $45 for active members, and $15 for student members.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’NO STATE CONFERENCE’]
As per bylaws language and ACDA-MN board policy, there will be no annual State Conference in November of 2016, due to Minnesota hosting the ACDA National Conference in March of 2017.
The next scheduled state conference will be on the weekend of November 17-18, 2017.
[/toggle]
[toggle expand=0 title=’2016 SUMMER DIALOGUE — A RESOUNDING SUCCESS!’]
For the 31st time in our history, ACDA-MN’s annual Summer Dialogue program was met with enthusiastic response from the nearly 200 members that were in attendance. The event held from August 2-5 focused on the theme “Celebrating Diversity”. Clinicians and sessions were all geared to presenting various viewpoints and perspectives in the broad meaning of this topic planned by conference chair and ACDA-MN Vice President Brian Stubbs.
A highlight of the week was the opportunity to sing in the Directors’ Chorus led by none other than our own TESFA! Another highlight of the conference was the inclusion of the Student Conductor Workshop where 9 student conductors from the state’s colleges and universities were on hand to prepare and lead a reading session under the guidance of moderators Bradley Miller from the University of Minnesota-Morris and Matt Ferrell from St. Cloud State University. The 6th annual Exhibits Fair and picnic lunch was held featuring 49 exhibitors from across the Midwest.
Our thanks to campus host Axel Theimer and conference staff of Saint John’s University for their dedicated service as they supported our five day event.
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[toggle expand=0 title=’STATE OFFICE MOVING’]
Effective September 26, the ACDA-MN state office will have a new street address:
ACDA-MN
13288 Downey Trail
Apple Valley, MN 55124