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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music history

Johannes Herbst: Colonial Winston-Salem’s Bridge to the Berlin Song School

The life of Johannes Herbst represents the first generation of the renewed Moravian Church in Europe and America. Unique among the well-traveled Moravian leadership, he lived in every significant center of Moravian life from his birth in 1735, until his death in 1812. He is buried in Winston-Salem’s Moravian cemetery. Atypical among Moravian leaders, Herbst […]

Winston-Salem, NC
Tim Sharp



From the Cloister: An Introduction to the Choral Music of Isabella Leonarda

Isabella Leonarda (1620–1704) entered an Ursaline Convent at the age of 16. During her many years at the convent, Leonarda composed and published 200 compositions making her the most published female composer of the Baroque era. This session will introduce choral musicians to her music using examples from several of the forms listed above. In […]

Winston-Salem, NC
Bradley L. Almquist



A New Model for Professional Choirs – featuring Seraphic Fire

Patrick Dupré Quigley and James Bass of the Grammy-nominated ensemble Seraphic Fire discuss the changing trends in American choral singing over the past 50 years that led to the growth of professional ensembles around the country.

Winston-Salem, NC
Patrick Dupré Quigley



Why Monteverdi? Recent Discoveries that Raise the Composer’s Profile Above His Contemporaries.

Monteverdi has had a reputation far above those of his contemporaries. After 30 years and much research into these contemporaries and discovery of more of them, Monteverdi’s image seems to be reinforced. This session is an attempt to come to grips with exactly what it is in his vocal music that makes it clearly so […]

Providence, RI
Robert Hollingworth



Teaching Historical and Cultural Context through Choral Music

Much of the world’s music finds its power through relationships with events, cultures, and the great stories of civilization. This session will focus on ways to identify with and remember those things we should never forget.

Madison, WI
Paul Caldwell