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Fifty young singers will get the chance to work with Minnesota choral director Dale Warland at a weeklong residency next summer. Warland served for more than 30 seasons as music director of the acclaimed Twin Cities’ Dale Warland Singers before the group closed in 2005. Warland remains active as guest conductor, composer, teacher and producer of choral programs for public radio.
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He has received numerous awards, including the 2001 McKnight Distinguished Artist Award in recognition of his lifetime achievements as a choral conductor and his continued contribution to the arts in Minnesota; the 1995 Michael Korn Founder’s Award, the highest honor for a choral conductor in the United States; Champion of New Music Award from the American Composers Forum in 2005; a Grammy nomination for best choral performance in 2003 for “Walden Pond”; the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers’ Victor Herbert Award in 2003; the Sally Irvine Ordway Award for Vision; and a special award from Chorus America and ASCAP for Warland’s “pioneering vision, leadership and commitment to commissioning and performing new choral works at the highest level of artistry.”
Auditions will be held for singers ages 17 to 29. The festival is advertising this opportunity nationally and internationally and expects to draw a lot of talent.
Those selected will work with Warland on the Saint Mary’s University campus in preparation for two major concerts in the 2009 summer season, which is being held June 27 through July 19 of next year.
“If you’re accepted, it’s a free ride,” artistic and managing director Ned Kirk said.
There also will be master classes with singer Thomas Hampson, who has performed with the Zurich Opera, New York’s Metropolitan Opera, the San Francisco Opera, the Opéra National de Paris, the Royal Opera House Covent Garden and the Vienna State Opera.
“For the singers, he’s like Joshua Bell,” Kirk said, referring to the world renowned violinist. Bell performed a sold-out concert July 11 as part of the Minnesota Beethoven Festival.
The festival, now in its second season, sold out all of its summer concerts. Upcoming concerts as part of the 2008-09 season include saxophonist Branford Marsalis and Marsalis Brasilianos Oct. 26, pianist Craig Sheppard on Jan. 31, 2009, and Emerson String Quartet on May 16, 2009.
Kirk says the festival will continue to focus on education.
“We have numerous educational projects in the works,” Kirk said. “This is just one of them.”
Contact Käri Knutson at kknutson@winonadailynews.com or (507) 453-3523.
