American Choral Directors Association

The mission of ACDA is to inspire excellence and nurture lifelong involvement in choral music for everyone through education, performance, composition and advocacy.

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Interest Session

New American Voices: Building the Future of the Choral Art

Led by famed choral conductor Dale Warland and award-winning composer Jake Runestad, this session will explore ways to encourage and develop the choral art to further its evolution. From supporting young composers to traits of quality compositions for all ability levels, this session will discuss these elements and give examples of exciting composers, compositions, and […]

Salt Lake City UT.
Dale Warland, Jake Runestad



Masterclass for Student Composers

Composers Steven Sametz, David Conte, and Robert Kyr discuss the works of the finalists of the Brock Student Composer Competition in an open composer forum, featuring the Ensemble in Residence for the Composers Track, the Indiana University Contemporary Ensemble directed by Dominick DiOrio.

Salt Lake City UT.
Steven Sametz, David Conte, Robert Kyr, NOTUS: IU Contemporary Vocal Ensemble





The Cutting Edge

Four of the nation’s foremost conductors—Mark Shapiro (Cantori New York), Donald Nally (Philadelphia–The Crossing), Robert Geary (San Francisco–Volti), and Craig Hella Johnson (Austin–Conspirare)—talk about their top picks for up-and-coming composers.

Salt Lake City UT.
Mark Shapiro, Donald Nally, Robert Geary, Craig Hella Johnson





Conductors Who Compose, Composers Who Conduct

So you have a group, and you think you might like to write for them? Composer-conductors talk about their paths to writing for their groups. What are the ways of getting started? How can you improve? What’s holding you back? With Steven Sametz (The Princeton Singers), Eric Banks (The Esoterics), Karen Thomas (Seattle Pro Musica), […]

Salt Lake City UT.
Steven Sametz, Eric Banks, Karen P. Thomas, Fahad Siadat