Guest Conductors, Artists

2011 Guest Conductors

ROLLO DILWORTH (USA)

Dr. Rollo Dilworth was recently appointed as Associate Professor of Choral Music Education at Temple University’s Boyer School of Music in Philadelphia, PA.  In addition to teaching undergraduate and graduate courses in choral music education, he serves as conductor for the University Chorale.  Prior to his appointment at Temple, Dilworth served as Director of Choral Activities and Music Education at North Park University in Chicago, IL for 13 years.  Dr. Dilworth holds degrees from Case Western Reserve University, University of Missouri-St. Louis, and Northwestern University. Dilworth has written and/or arranged over 150 choral works that are currently in print.  His choral compositions are a part of the Henry Leck Creating Artistry Choral Series with Hal Leonard Corporation and Colla Voce Music Company.  He has recently published pieces with the Santa Barbara Music Publishing Company as part of the Mary Alice Stollak Choral Series. Dilworth is a contributing author for the Essential Elements for Choir and the Experiencing Choral Music textbook series, both published by the Hal Leonard Corporation/Glencoe/McGraw-Hill Publications, and for Music Express! Teachers Magazine.  He authored a book of choral warm-ups for elementary and secondary choral ensembles entitled Choir Builders: Fundamental Vocal Techniques for General and Classroom Use. He frequently serves as a guest conductor and/or clinician for honors, festival and all-state choirs throughout the United States and abroad. Dilworth is an active member of the Music Educators National Conference (MENC), the National Association of Negro Musicians (NANM), the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and Chorus America.  He is a member of the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP), and currently serves on the Pennsylvania ACDA State board as Director of Student and Youth Activities.

HENRY LECK (USA)

An internationally recognized choral director, Henry Leck is an associate professor and director of choral activities at Butler University in Indianapolis, Indiana.  In 1986 he became founder and artistic director of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir, one of the largest children’s choir programs in the world.  The touring choirs of the Indianapolis Children’s Choir have performed regularly for national ACDA, MENC, OAKE and AOSA Conferences.  Additionally, the ICC tours internationally every year and has sung in prestigious concert sites throughout Great Britain, Greece, Scandinavia, Central Europe, South America, North America, Australia, New Zealand and China.  In 2004, the touring choir performed in the Czech Republic and Russia, recording live with the Moscow Chamber Orchestra in the famed Pavel Slobodkin Center for Music.

Mr. Leck is widely known as a specialist in choral techniques, the child’s voice, Dalcroze Eurhythmics, and the boy’s changing voice.  He authored the choral section of Silver Burdett music textbooks for grades 4, 5 and 6.  He has produced three teaching videos titled Vocal Techniques for the Young Singer, The Boy’s Expanding Voice: Take the High Road and Creating Artistry through Movement, Dalcroze Eurhythmics.  He is a lead author for the choral textbook series published by McGraw Hill/Glencoe titled Experiencing Choral Music and is also the editor of two nationally known choral series published by Hal Leonard Corporation and Colla Voce, Inc./Plymouth.  Each year he teaches his conductor’s workshop entitled Creating Artistry at venues across the country. He has recently completed his first textbook, Creating Artistry through Choral Excellence.

In 2007, Mr. Leck received the prestigious Indiana Governor’s Art Award, the highest state honor that can be received in the arts.  He was also awarded the Indiana Creative Arts Fellowship Renewal Grant that same year. While on sabbatical in 2008, he studied music performance practice in South Africa and collected choral music. He received the Cultural Vision Award from Nuvo magazine.  He was named the “Outstanding University Music Educator of the Year” by the IMEA in 1992.

Mr. Leck founded the Indiana All-State Children’s Honor Choir and the Indiana Middle/Junior High School Honor Choir, and has conducted Mixed, Men’s, Women’s, Junior High and Children’s All-State choirs and festival choirs in nearly every state.  He is a frequent conductor of regional and national honor choirs, including the ACDA Southern, Southwest, North Central, Central and Northwest Divisional Honors Choirs.  In the spring of 2003, he conducted the ACDA National Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in New York City and on three occasions has conducted National Honor Choirs for OAKE. Mr. Leck has conducted many international festivals including the Musica Mundi Tuscany Children’s Choir Festival in Montecatini, Florence and Rome, Italy, the Central European International Children’s Choral Festival, the International Children’s Choir Festival in Beijing, China and the Vienna Children’s & Boys Choir Festival with the Vienna Sangerknaben. He has conducted many times in Brazil, including the Curso Internacional de Regencia Coral in Rio de Janeiro and Sao Paulo, Brazil where he founded the ARCI Sao Paulo Children’s Honor Choir that he conducts every other year.  He recently conducted the Tokyo International HS Honor Choir in Japan. Mr. Leck has served as a clinician for the Australian National Choral Association and the Royal School of Church Music.  He is the artistic director of the highly acclaimed Pacific Rim Festival in Hawaii and the International Children’s Choral Festival in Canterbury and London, England. For 14 years, he has conducted the National Youth Choral Festival in Carnegie Hall.

Mr. Leck is certified as a “Kodaly” instructor and is an active member of ACDA, OAKE, MENC, AOSA and Pi Kappa Lambda. Mr. Leck received his training from the University of Wisconsin, the University of Colorado and Indiana University, where he received a master’s degree in choral conducting. Mr. Leck’s studio grand piano is provided by Meridian Music.

Local Guest Clinicians

Each participating choir will have the opportunity to sign up for a one-hour clinic with a Local Guest Clinician.   Conductors and clinicians will work together to plan an enjoyable and effective format for the clinic.

2011 Guest Clinicians

To be announced.

Guest Artists

We are thrilled to announce that at the Opening Ceremonies on July 4, 2011, City Soul Choir directed by Canadian composer, Brian Tate, will be our guest artist group!

Who are they?

The City Soul Choir

In January of 2010, a small group of choral singers gathered in Brian and Patricia Tate’s living room and decided the time was right to start a new choir—a soul choir. The word went out and within a month over one hundred singers had auditioned, and the new City Soul Choir was born. With Brian as music director, and Patricia as general manager, the choir ended their first season with a concert that attracted an audience of nearly 700. The time was right! The choir’s soulful repertoire is drawn from various musical traditions—spirituals, gospel, pop, R&B, world, and more—this is joyful music that uplifts, inspires, and transforms.

Music Director, Brian Tate

An award-winning composer/arranger and a popular choral clinician, Brian currently directs the City Soul Choir in Vancouver and the Island Soul Choir in Parksville. He is also a vocalist in the a cappella vocal trio, TriVo, along with Karla Mundy and Dawn Pemberton. His choral works are widely published, and he gives clinics and workshops worldwide on gospel and world choral music.