Lipscomb's Gary Wilson Presents at ACDA Seminar

Dr. Gary Wilson has been selected to present research at ACDA’s first National Symposium on American Choral Music: The Search for An American Style.  The conference will take place in Washington D.C. in June 2012, with most of the sessions held at the Library of Congress.  Wilson’s presentation will cover American composer Edward MacDowell (1860-1902).  MacDowell is well-known as a composer of piano and orchestral works, but also wrote approximately two dozen choral octavos. 

The symposium is the culmination of a joint venture begun in 2007 between ACDA and the Library of Congress.  The purpose of the initiative is to create an American choral music web site that would make selected works from the Library of Congress collection available for downloading free of charge to conductors worldwide.  Works selected for the web site are by American composers, in the public domain, and appear in editions not readily available today.  The collection contains mixed, women’s and men’s pieces, either unaccompanied or with keyboard accompaniment.  Some of the composers included in the project with MacDowell are Amy Beach, Nathaniel Dett, Horatio Parker, Henry Burleigh, Victor Herbert, Peter Lutkin, and Edgar Thorn (MacDowell’s pseudonym).  To view the collection, visit

http://memory.loc.gov/diglib/ihas/html/choralmusic/.

Gary Wilson

Director of Choral Activities, Lipscomb Univ.

Jerry Warren Honored

Jerry Warren, 2010 recipient of the Tennessee ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award, is honored with a special tribute.  Click here for to read the tribute written by longtime TN-ACDA treasurer and the recipient of the inaugural Lifetime Achievement Award, David Spencer.

Jerry Warren

Vincent Oakes

National Middle School/Junior High Conference on Choral Music - February 29, 2012 - Dallas, TX

ACDA is hosting a landmark event exploring choral music for the junior high/middle school choir.  Repertoire, tone development, musicianship, and musical literacy for this age group will be among the topics discussed for this inaugural event that will feature clinicians Judy Bowers, Jessica Napoles, Rollo Dilworth, Patrick Freer, and many more!  Click here for more information.

Summer Conference 2011 a Success!

This summer's annual TN-ACDA conference was a great success with wonderful workshops, interest sessions, performances, and fellowship.  Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt - Director of Choral Activities at the University of Toronto and former National President of ACDA - was an engaging presence in her sessions on conducting, leadership, teaching, and musicianship.

The conference was highlighted by presentations by Milburn Price, West Breedlove, Gene Peterson, and Tim Ward.  Members of the Knoxville Christian Arts Ministries, under the direction of Jill Lageberg, gave a stirring performance for attendees of the conference, which was held for the fourth consecutive year at the Baylor School in Chattanooga.

George Mabry accepts the TN-ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award

The Baylor School

Mabry Receives Lifetime Achievement Award

Renowned choral director and educator George Mabry was awarded the Tennessee ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2011 Summer Conference in Chattanooga, TN. Mabry - a Tennessee native - was the longtime Director of Choral Activities at Austin-Peay State University in Clarksville and has directed the Nashville Symphony Chorus since 1998.  A recipient of the Governor’s Award in the Arts for Arts Leadership in Tennessee and the Spirit of Tennessee Award from the Tennessee Arts Academy, he was also the Music Director for Opyland U.S.A. in Nashville.

Previous recipients of the Tennessee ACDA Lifetime Achievement Award include:

2008   David Spencer

2009   David Stutzenbeger

2010   Jerry Warren

MTSU Graduate Awarded ACDA Julius Herford Dissertation Prize

The Research and Publications Committee of the American Choral Directors Association announces that Brian T. Russell is the winner of the most recent Julius Herford Prize. Russell's dissertation The Psalm Settings of Telemann: A Study in Performance Practice with Critical Editions of Seven Psalms for SATB Voices and Orchestra was accepted at the Eastman School of Music in 2009 in fulfillment of Doctoral Degree in Conducting under the direction of Professor William Weinert.

Dr. Russell is Assistant Professor of Music at Illinois Wesleyan University, where his responsibilities include directing the University Choir and teaching courses in Music Education.  Prior to his appointment at Illinois Wesleyan, he was on the choral faculty at Hobart and William Smith Colleges and was the choral director at White House High School in Sumner County, TN.  Russell received his BM degree from Middle Tennessee State University and holds graduate degrees in conducting from the Eastman School of Music.

Read more at the announcement on the ACDA web site