October 28, 2022 by Melissa Sweeney 154

10/28/2022 – Big week!!!

Good evening folks,

With Jetlag abating, I am raring to go for our three very important events coming up in November. I loved every minute of our rehearsal on Tuesday and thank you all for your hard work while I was away. A special thanks to Greg and Roy for keeping it all together and making good use of rehearsal time.

We have three rehearsals left before showtime! Please make every effort to be at rehearsal on Tuesday when our Guest clinician Dr. Edward McClary will focus on true colors, the Blue Ridge and deep purple. In preparation for the rehearsal, please make sure you are very familiar with the text, the phrasing, the rhythmic challenges and the tricky chromatic movement. Use the learning files every day and challenge yourself by having another part prominent and you sing yours. At the end of this missive, I have included Dr. McClary’s bio.

You received a message from Melissa with important information. Make sure you sign up for your color shirt as soon as possible using the link she sent you. I actually think blue is already gone. And I’m asking you to wear your shirt or at least bring it to dress rehearsal so we can see how it looks in the mix.

Please consider helping us with ads for our concert program for the 2022–2023 season. Before Covid, this was an excellent source to learn about local businesses. I never go into Basta pasta without thanking them for advertising with us. The revenue from the ads pays for the designer and printing of the programs. Many choirs have gone to purely an electronic program to save money but we are not ready for that. Our audiences enjoy having a program to refer to. Melissa sent you the form or it can be done online. We appreciate any help!!!

A reminder of our big events:

November 12 6-8pm Ladies Six in concert and conversation at the amazing Manor Mill in Monkton. If you haven’t been there, you have a treat in store. Tickets on their website
Manor-mill.com/music

November 13 3-6pm Rescheduled Celebrating Song in the Country at Silo Hill. There may be a few tickets left so if interested, contact Melissa.

November 20 A Musical Canvas. I challenge every singer to sell 10 tickets!!! The high seller will receive a special prize!!!! You don’t want anyone to miss this exciting concert. A true celebration of the colors in our life.

Certainly the Fall colors are beautiful!! We are so blessed. Have a great weekend, stay well, keep practicing and see you Tuesday.

Colorfully yours,
Marty

Edward Maclary is Professor Emeritus of Music and former Director of Choral Activities. In 2017 he was named the Associate Director of Academic Affairs for the UMD School of Music. Recognized as one of the leading conductors and choral pedagogues of his generation, over the past two decades he has led the UMD Choral Activities program to global acclaim. The School’s flagship ensemble, the UMD Chamber Singers, has toured extensively and won top prizes in international competitions around the world. The UMD Concert Choir has become the symphonic choir of choice for both the National Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra. Among many others, Maclary has served as the chorus master for conductors such as Robert Shaw, Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eschenbach, Marin Alsop, Andris Nelsons, Iván Fischer, Matthew Halls, Helmuth Rilling, Robert Spano, Nathalie Stutzman, and Masaaki Suzuki. Choirs under his direction have also performed with The Cleveland Orchestra and the Boston Symphony Orchestra.

From 2014 – 2017 Edward Maclary was the Director of the Master Class in Conducting at the Oregon Bach Festival. He has also served as the Artist in Residence for the Eastman School of Music Summer Choral Institute and as the Choral Artist for the “Five Friends” Master Class Series at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. Other notable master class residencies have taken place at Westminster Choir College, Temple University, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Regarded as an outstanding clinician and educator, Maclary maintains an active schedule as a guest conductor for choral festivals and honors choirs around the country and in 2019 he will lead the Maryland High School All-State Choir. Under his guidance the graduate choral conducting program at the UMD School of Music has become one of the most respected and sought after and its alumni occupy professional and academic leadership positions throughout the nation.

In 2014 he led the UMD Chamber Singers to Seoul, Korea for performances at the 10th World Symposium on Choral Music at the invitation of the International Federation for Choral Music. In 2011 the ensemble was awarded the Premier Prix for Mixed Choirs and the Prix Ronsard for the performance of Renaissance music at the France’s Florilège Vocal de Tours and Maclary was honored as the competition’s “Chef de Choeur.” The UMD Chamber Singers have also made numerous highly acclaimed appearances at the professional conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO). UMD Choral Activities will host the next biennial conference of the NCCO in November 2019 and the UMD Chamber Singers will perform as one of its featured ensembles. In addition to his extensive experience in early music, Baroque performance practice, and the choral/orchestral canon, Maclary’s repertoire extends through the literature of the 21st century, highlighted by recent major collaborations with composers such as James MacMillan and John Adams.

Edward Maclary received his doctorate in conducting with honors from Indiana University after earning a graduate degree in historical musicology from Boston University. In the following years, he worked closely on many performance projects with Robert Shaw and studied and collaborated with Helmuth Rilling, Margaret Hillis, and Robert Page.