News

The Northwestern and Southern Division Conferences for the American Choral Directors Association open this week in Seattle (NW) and Memphis (S). Top choirs from around the United States and the world will be heard in stunning performance spaces, and a wide variety of choral educational topics will be addressed in multiple interest sessions. Full details for both conferences can be found on the ACDA national website under "Conferences." Registration is open at the event. Registration is available online, as well as onsite. See the ACDA website at www.acda.org for full Conference details.

from Tim Sharp, ACDA Executive Director

As the American Choral Directors Association works to advance four initiatives outlined for ACDA for the 21st century—establishing the opportunity for every child to sing in a choir; becoming fully engaged in world choral initiatives; setting the research and publication agenda for the best thinking, past and present, in choral music; utilizing the full extent of technological communication and other technologies for the benefit of our membership--we will do this work guided by two stragetic imperatives.

With back to back educational, development, performance, and networking opportunities, the first of seven ACDA divisional conferences opens this week in Philadelphia with the Eastern Division Conference. Division President Lynn Drafall and her leadership team have assembled a stellar program, full of innovation as well as the foundational choral experiences that ACDA members return for, year after year.

The full schedule of events along with "Breaking News" information regarding the February 10-13 Conference is available at  http://www.acdaeast.org/  The website includes all conference information along with "Breaking News" related to hotels, schedule changes, and weather information related to scheduling.

by Robyn Lana, National Chair for Children's and Youth Community Choirs

The Children’s Choir Repertoire and Standards Committee for the American Choral Directors Association, including the Division Chairs and myself, are grateful to the ACDA membership for passing the change of name in our interest area title.  We understand that it is now our call to demonstrate the value of this change of name through action, and to answer questions that may arise that inevitably come with change.  

Online voting has led to the highest percentage of ACDA voting on record in the recently concluded election. In the election for ACDA President Elect Designate, Karen Fulmer was chosen by the ACDA membership for this leadership position. Karen's choral music education and performance career has been focused in the area of middle school and high school choral music teaching.

The American Choral Directors Association is pleased to announce Dr. Terre Johnson's appointment to the position of ACDA's National Chair for Music in Worship leadership. ACDA's structure focuses on specific areas of choral concentration and administration, repertoire, and standards, and Music in Worship is one of these important areas. ACDA's Executive Committee reviewed a large and strong pool of candidates for this critical position. Dr. Johnson's vision for choral music in the area of Music in Worship led to the enthusiastic decision to tap his leadership for ACDA.

Bob Chilcott has composed a ringtone for ACDA as we enter our 51st choral year as an Association, and it is FREE to ACDA members and available now for downloading. To DOWNLOAD your free SSAATTBB ACDA Ringtone, simply LOGIN with your membership number, or Renew/Join ACDA. The Ringtone, along with the "ACDA Ringtone" composition by Bob Chilcott, are both available at http://acda.org/ACDA+Ringtone+from+Bob+Chilcott.

Adding to the four categories currently available on ACDA Radio (www.acda.org), Russian choral music and the music of Eastern Orthodox liturgies now joins the list of streaming choral music available to listeners.  Chant and choral music of Eastern Orthodox Christianity is a direct descendant of one of the oldest continuous artistic vocal/choral traditions in Western civilization.

ACDA's National Nominations Committee and National Board are pleased to offer candidates Karen Fulmer and Donald Trott for your consideration for National President-elect-Designate.  Each candidate brings strong credentials and significant ideas for the future of ACDA.