This period now follows my years at Pacific Lutheran University (1983-2001), so a time when I was Artistic Director of both Choral Arts Northwest (Seattle) and Pro Coro Canada (Edmonton, Alberta), plus free-lancing when I could. A pretty significant change from the academic world! Pro Coro Canada did a Good Friday program each season, which often (not always, and sometimes depending on budget) did a work or works with orchestra. In addition, we got a series of grants from a F

Here's a continuation of my repertoire/concert list/programs from 1990-91 to 2000-2001. This period includes: My last decade at PLU My time as Director of the Seattle Symphony Chorale (1990-94) and the beginnings of both Choral Arts Northwest (1993), and Pro Coro Canada (1999). Therefore, it includes: lots of repertoire with the SSO Chorale, plus 9 recordings on Delos; the beginnings with both Choral Arts in Seattle and Pro Coro Canada in Edmonton; some other great repertoi

This blog post is from 2008, when (after my 2007 trip) I was invited back to Stockholm to work with Radiokören. This could happen because I'd gotten encouragement for the 2007 visit (with some work with them), and had made the difficult decision to leave Choral Arts NW, (which was founded after a debut concert with Eric Ericson), leaving me with one ensemble (Pro Coro Canada). With Pro Coro I did all rehearsals and concerts in relatively brief periods of time—which gave me th

This goes back to the beginning of my time at Pacific Lutheran University (1983-84), after 3 years teaching at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts), including concerts with the Choir of the West, the Choral Union (which I founded in 1984), some guest conducting, and my last two years with the Pacific Northwest Bach Festival (with period instruments). It includes the Britten War Requiem, a number of concerts with the Choir of the West and the Seattle-based professional Nort

This festival took place in Spokane, WA, run by David Dutton (baroque oboe) and Beverly Biggs (harpsichord)—a combination of local musicians and imports took part in this festival, which I conducted from the very first one through seven years (my touring schedule at PLU, in January, finally meant I had to leave the festival). David had attended a performance of Bach's St. Matthew Passion with Seattle Pro Musica the year before, and then invited me to conduct. Period instrume

As I've often stated, my work with the many musicians that made up Seattle Pro Musica in the first part of my career was my real graduate education (nothing against either my work at the UW for an MM or at CCM for my DMA!). I started the groups that became SPM because I had repertoire I really wanted to do and starting my own group was the way to get there. Eric Ericson has stated that repertoire is how a choir and conductor grow and I certainly agree. It was through the co

Choral conductors have a poor reputation for working with orchestras. This is sometimes unfair but there are certainly plenty of examples to support the stereotype. I could also say something about many orchestral conductors’ ignorance of what’s necessary or inability to deal successfully with a chorus, but that’s another topic! For me, two elements were motivation for learning how to better work with orchestras: a strong interest in baroque music early in my career (meaning

Intonation is an incredibly important subject for all choral conductors, but one that isn't simple. In this series, I'll write about diffe