The RESONATE Conference Guiding Principles

We all seek experiences that RESONATE with us: emotionally, spiritually, intellectually, musically. In choral music, we also seek the resonance of the voice through our bodies and in performance spaces. As conductors, it is our mission to create experiences that will RESONATE in numerous ways. 

Performances often RESONATE with a person because they vibrate sympathetically with some experience that the individual carries within, and the impact of those experiences cannot be underestimated; however, it might be true that only certain experiences have been represented, perhaps making it difficult to find resonance and relevance for many. 

The 2022 ACDA Eastern Region Board and Conference Committee seek to create sound waves that travel further in different directions, fostering diversity and inclusivity in ways that RESONATE with more people. The concerts, sessions, and presentations will reflect the many different life experiences and realities of our members and those we hope will become part of our shared resonance.


The main convention hotel is the Sheraton Boston Hotel. This is where interest sessions and the Exhibit Hall will be located.


Performing Choirs

Takoma Academy Camerata (MD)
Lulu Mwangi Mupfumbu, conductor
Voices 21C (MA)
Nashirah, the Jewish Chorale of Greater Philadelphia (PA)
Julia Zavadsky, conductor
Narragansett HS Advanced Treble Chorus (RI)
Sarah Prickel-Kane, conductor
John P. Stevens HS Chamber Ensemble (NJ)
Matthew Chi Lee, conductor
University of Southern Maine Chamber Singers (ME)
NicolĂĄs Alberto Dosman, conductor
Lexington High School Chamber Singers (MA)
Jason Iannuzzi, conductor
East Orange Campus HS Chamber Choir (NJ)
Libby Gopal, conductor
Northern Harmony (VT)
Patty Cuyler, conductor

Boston Conservatory at Berklee Choir (MA)
Nathan Reiff, conductor
Sister Cities Girlchoir (PA)
Alysia Lee, conductor
Roxbury Classic Sounds Honors (NJ)
Patrick Hachey, conductor
University of Maryland Chamber Singers (MD)
Edward Maclary, conductor
St. Thomas Gospel Choir (PA)
Waltier Blocker, conductor
Queens College Treble Choir (NY)
Eric Rubinstein, conductor
Susquehanna University Choir (PA)
Amy Voorhees, conductor
Fredonia Chamber Choir (NY)
Vernon Huff, conductor
Morse Chorale (CT)
Stephanie Tubiolo, conductor


Interest Sessions

A Brief Introduction of Choral Literature in Eastern Asian Cultures
Pingyi Song, presenter

African American Spirituals and the Social Justice Curriculum
Rollo Dilworth, presenter

Approaching New Arab Choral Repertoire
Shireen Abu-Khader & William Culverhouse, presenters

Come Sunday
Arreon A. Harley-Emerson, presenter

COUNT!! Helping our Singers Understand Rhythm
William Cutter, presenter

Dalcroze Eurhythmics for the Choral Conductor
David Frego, presenter

Everyone’s Song: Gender-Inclusivity in the Choir Room
Dustin S. Cates & Ben Herstig, presenters

Identity and Inclusion in Choral Spaces: Pathways to Lasting Change (Three Sessions)
I. Voices of Change: Impacting the Communities We Serve
Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, Rollo Dilworth, Joshua R. Jacobson, Thomas Lloyd,
Wendy Moy, Diana V. SĂĄez, presenters
J. Donald Dumpson & Julia Zavadsky, moderators
II. Identity, Inclusion, and Excellence in the ACDA
Penelope Cruz, David Fryling, Arreon A. Harley-Emerson, & Wendy Moy
III. Creating Choral Community: Coming Together in Song
J. Donald Dumpson, Michael Bussewitz-Quarm, Rollo Dilworth, Joshua Jacobson,
Thomas Lloyd, Wendy Moy, Diana Saez, & Julia Zavadsky

Is Your Voice Sacred, Spiritual, or Cultural?
Shireen Abu-Khader & Nahla Mattar, presenters

Margaret Hillis–Unlocking Her Approach from Score Study to Rehearsal Planning
Cheryl Frazes Hill, presenter

Philosophy and Praxis: A More Inclusive Pedagogy Through Repertoire Selection
Jabarie Glass & Shohei Kobayashi, presenters

The Power of Story in Song: Feeding the Choir’s Soul
Dean Luethi, presenter

“Resonate” in Rehearsal: Revisiting the Harmony that Distinguishes Choral Music
Bryan E. Nichols, presenter

Songs from the African Diaspora: Choral Arrangements from Latin America
Diana V. SĂĄez, presenter

Trauma-Informed Choral Music Education
Rebecca DeWan & Tammy Carusone, presenters

Conducting Masterclasses

The conference masterclass committee is delighted to announce that four public masterclasses in conducting will be held during the 2022 Eastern Division Conference in Boston. The masterclasses are offered to acknowledge and develop the conducting and rehearsal skills of outstanding undergraduate and graduate students and to promote student activity at the conference. We welcome and encourage applications from students in both small and large music programs. The masterclasses will offer a wonderful learning opportunity for everyone involved.

The sessions will be held on Friday, February 11, and they will be led by renowned conductor-teachers Brandon Boyd, Craig Hella Johnson, Sandra Snow, and Jan Taylor. These masterclasses will engage four undergraduate and four graduate students who are enrolled full-time in a music degree program. Applicants are not required to be enrolled in a conducting class at the time of application, only in a college/university music program. Conference registration fees will be waived for those selected to take part in the masterclasses.

The masterclasses will allow for approximately 20 minutes of podium time during the session. Finalists will prepare one piece, selected by the masterclass clinicians from among the repertoire to be performed by their Directors’ Chorus conference festival ensemble. 

Besides the public masterclass, students will have a private session with their master teacher at least one day before the Friday session. The purpose of these sessions is to provide a resource for the student conductors, to ask and answer questions, and to focus each conductor on the tasks at hand for the public masterclasses. More info here…


Honor Choir Info

JUNIOR HIGH/MIDDLE SCHOOL HONOR CHOIR
Jessica NĂĄpoles, conductor

Jessica NĂĄpoles is Interim Chair of Music Education and Associate Professor of Choral Music Education at the University of North Texas. She teaches undergraduate coursework in choral methods, conducts the Concert Choir, and mentors graduate students in research. A native of Florida with a Cuban-American background, Dr. Napoles taught middle school chorus in the public schools of Miami and Orlando, FL. She received her Bachelor of Music Education, Master of Music Education, and PhD in Music Education from the Florida State University. Prior to her appointment at UNT, she taught at the University of Utah for 11 years. 

Dr. NĂĄpoles is an active conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, frequently engaging in guest conducting opportunities locally, regionally, and nationally. She has conducted All State and honor choirs in Arkansas, California, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Louisiana, Maine, Massachusetts, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, Virginia, Wisconsin, and Utah. She has conducted the Southern, North Central/Central, and Western division honor choirs for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). In 2019, Dr. NĂĄpoles made her Carnegie Hall debut as choral conductor for the WorldStrides OnStage Honors Performance Series. She was asked to return in 2020 and again in 2021.

GOSPEL HONOR CHOIR
Raymond Wise, conductor

An SSAATTBB choir of singers who will be in grades 10, 11, or 12 in February 2022.

Raymond Wise, Ph.D., a native of Baltimore, Md., began his musical career at the age of three, singing gospel music with his family singing group “The Wise Singers.”  Dr. Wise currently serves on the faculty of Indiana University in Bloomington, Indiana where he serves as Professor of Practice in the African American African Diaspora Studies department and instructs courses in African American music.  He serves as the Associate Director of the African American Arts Institute, an IU division devoted to the perpetuation and performance of African American music and art.  

Dr. Wise served as the Co-Director and Director of the Hampton University Ministers’ Conference Choir Directors’ and Organists’ Guild and Academy that provides intensive training in African American sacred music for church musicians.  He has also served as a member of the academic faculty for the Gospel Music Workshop of America for 33 years.  Wise is the founder and President of Raise Productions’ Center for the Gospel Arts, a gospel music production and publishing company in Columbus, Ohio established to provide educational training and resources for gospel artists and the community.  Wise has served as the artistic director of the various Raise performing ensembles since 1986 .Wise is known for helping choirs perform gospel music authentically.  Dr. Wise served as the Ethnic and American music Repertoire and Standards Chair for the American Choral Director’s Association Central Division (ACDA).

Dr. Wise earned a B.F.A. in Music (Piano and Voice) from Denison University (Granville, Ohio).  He did additional studies in Opera, Art, and German at the Institute for European Studies in Vienna, Austria, and in African-American History, Music, and Dance at San Francisco State University in San Francisco, California.

HIGH SCHOOL HONOR CHOIR
Eugene Rogers, conductor

A two-time Michigan Emmy Award winner, a 2017 Sphinx Medal of Excellence recipient, and a 2015 GRAMMYÂź Award nominee, Eugene Rogers is recognized as a leading conductor and pedagogue throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to being the founding director of EXIGENCE, Dr. Rogers is the director of choirs and an associate professor of conducting at the University of Michigan. Recently, he was named as the fifth Artistic Director of the two-time GRAMMYÂź Award-Winning Ensemble, The Washington Chorus (Washington, D.C.).

At the University, Rogers leads the graduate choral conducting program, conducts the chamber choir, and administers the program of over eight choral ensembles. His choirs have toured throughout China, South Africa, the United States, and have appeared at national and regional conferences. His past appointments include being the director of the University of Michigan Men’s Glee Club, Macalester College (St. Paul, Minnesota), the Boys Choir of Harlem, Waubonsie Valley High School (Aurora, Illinois), and Anima Young Singers of Greater Chicago (formerly the Glen Ellyn Children’s Choir). In 2016, Rogers’ passion for issues of social justice and music was featured in the award-winning documentary Love, Life and Loss which highlights Joel Thompson’s powerful Seven Last Words of the Unarmed.

Rogers holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in choral music education from the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign and the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in choral conducting from U-M. He currently serves on the board of Chorus America and is the former national chair of the Diversity Initiatives Committee for the American Choral Directors Association.


Directors’ Choruses

Sandra Snow, Conductor 

This orange track SSAA choir will begin rehearsals Thursday morning and perform Saturday late afternoon. ACDA EASTERN commissioned work by B.E. Boykin.

O, I Got a Light, arr. Brandon Waddles
Allor che ignuda, Vicente Lusitano
She Lingers On, Zanaida Robles
All shall be wellSarah Quartel
Wild EmbersMelissa Dunphy

A. Jan Taylor, Conductor 

This blue track SATB choir will begin rehearsals Thursday morning and perform perform Friday evening. ACDA EASTERN commissioned work, A Musing on the ‘Hood, by John L. Cornelius

Striving After God, Undine Smith Moore
Wake Me Up, Lord, Uzee Brown
He Stooped to Bless, Edward Margetson
Ave Maria, R. Nathaniel Dett
I Opened My Mouth to the Lord, arr. Lela Anderson
Faithful Over a Few Things, Glenn Burleigh
We Shall Walk Through the Valley in Peace, Marques L. A. Garrett

Craig Hella Johnson, Conductor

This blue track SATB choir will begin rehearsals Wednesday evening and perform Friday evening. ACDA EASTERN commissioned work by Moira Smiley.

Salutation, Eriks Esenvald
Song from the Road, Craig Hella Johnson
Black is the Color of My True Love’s Hair, arr. Stuart Churchill
Drop, Drop Slow Tears, Orlando Gibbons
The Negro Speaks of Rivers, Margaret Bonds
Deep River, arr. Roy Ringwald
Sweet Rivers, Shawn Kirchner

Brandon Boyd, Conductor

This SATB orange track choir will begin rehearsals Thursday morning and perform Saturday late afternoon. ACDA EASTERN commissioned work by Stephen Murphy.

Cum Sancto Spiritu, José Garcia
Laus Trinitati, Faith Morgan
When Thunder Comes, Mari Esabel Valverde
Joy, Hans Heruth
Sign Me Up, arr. Brandon A. Boyd
Better, Jason Clayborn/ adapt. Frances Fonza