Toronto Mendelssohn Choir has announced the names of five conductors selected to participate in the sixth annual Choral Conductors’ Symposium held in Toronto between January 26-30, 2016.
The participates include:
Hanna Cho (Shoreline, Washington)
Hanna is an active composer, conductor and church musician. She holds an M.Mus. in Composition from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.Mus. in Choral Conducting from Eastman School of Music. She earned her B.Mus. in Composition in Korea where she was also awarded prizes in a number of renowned composition competitions. She currently serves as Director of Worship Arts and Director of Music Ministry at the First Presbyterian Church of Snohomish. She also works as Chorus Master and Rehearsal Accompanist in the Lyric Opera Northwest.
Stephen Frketic (Toronto, Ontario)
Stephen holds an M.Mus. in Choral Conducting from the University of Toronto, and is also an accomplished organist, holding a B.Mus. in Organ Performance from Indiana University. He is currently the Organist and Choirmaster at Grace Church on-the-Hill, Toronto. Before moving to Toronto in 2011, he was a high school choir director in Houston, Texas. Stephen is currently a member of the Evensong choir at St. Thomas’s Anglican Church, and for three seasons was the Assistant Conductor of Toronto’s Common Thread Community Chorus. He is a native of Jacksonville, Florida.
Joshua Harper (Easthampton, Massachusetts)
Joshua is an active conductor, tenor, and composer. He is currently the Director of Choirs at the Williston Northampton School in Easthampton, Massachusetts. He is also on the faculty of The Putney School’s Summer Program in Vermont. In 2015, he was one of the 10 conducting fellows selected for Yale School of Music’s Norfolk Chamber Music Festival where he studied with Simon Carrington. He completed his M.Mus. in Choral Conducting at UMass Amherst, and holds a B.A. in Vocal Performance and Music Composition from Lipscomb University.
Dan Rutzen (Toronto, Ontario)
Dan is a conductor, musical director, educator and arranger. He conducts his own men’s chorus, The Greater Toronto MegaCity Chorus, and works as a guest conductor and clinician for choirs, bands and orchestras around Toronto. As a pianist/musical director, Dan has participated in productions with theatre companies including Acting Up Stage (One Song Glory), Talk Is Free (Napoleon), and Buddies In Bad Times (the Dora Award winning Of A Monstrous Child: A Gaga Musical), in addition to a number of festivals. He holds a M.Mus. and B.Mus.
Jordan Van Biert (Edmonton, Alberta)
Jordan is currently the director of the chamber choir Chronos Vocal Ensemble (Grand Prize winners in the 2015 National Choral Competition) and the community chorus Vocal Alchemy in Edmonton. He regularly performs as an ensemble singer in Edmonton and Calgary, directs a daytime outreach choir, conducts the German and English choirs at Trinity Lutheran Church, runs a summer choir camp for youth, and is active as a clinician and adjudicator. He is a graduate of The King’s University College and the University of Alberta.
The conductors will work directly with TMC and Elora Festival Singers Artistic Director Noel Edison on developing repertoire on choral music for chamber and large-scale ensembles. Specific works include Palestrina, Mendelssohn and Elgar to Britten, Pärt and Corlis.
The Symposium concludes with a free concert at Yorkminster Park Baptist Church on Saturday, January 30, at 3 pm (doors open at 2:15 pm). The concert will also be webcast live here.
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