presents the

 2012 Pennsylvania Collegiate Choral Festival

February 9-11, 2012

Seton Hill University - Greensburg, PA

Andrew Clark, guest conductor

2011 Festival Choir at Indiana University of Pennsylvania - William Dehning, conductor

WHAT IS THE PENNSYLVANIA COLLEGIATE CHORAL FESTIVAL?

The Pennsylvania Collegiate Choral Festival has been offered annually for over 50 years by a consortium of member institutions. Each fall, we pool our limited individual funds to create a Festival Honor Chorus experience for our students under the guidance of a nationally recognized conductor and pedagogue (click here for a list of recent festivals and conductors). The result is an artistic and educational experience for our students that most of us could not mount on our own. The Festival also profits us individual directors as we observe rehearsals, learn new repertoire and techniques, and share our own ideas and repertoire in directors’ meetings.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE?

The Festival is open to all Pennsylvania colleges and universities - private and public, church and secular. Participating institutions contribute a modest Institutional Fee and select their own participating students. Students may be undergraduate or graduate level; music majors or non-majors. The diversity of the ensemble is one of its greatest strengths.

WHAT ARE THE COSTS?

The present institutional fee is $200, with a reduced rate of $100 for first-time participants. The institutional fees are used to the support the clinician’s fees and travel, as well as other concert expenses. The individual student participation fee is $45, which supports their meals, refreshments, and entertainment. Each school or student purchases and retains their choral scores. Please note that institutional and student participation fees are non-refundable.

HOUSING

Student participants are housed locally with host faculty, staff, students, and community members. Each director is responsible for his/her own lodging and meals. Lodging information for the directors is available via the "Director's Lodging" link near the top of this page.

CAN I SEND MY STUDENTS WITHOUT SUPERVISION?

For obvious reasons, NO. Participating students must be accompanied by their director or another faculty member. Each director is expected to remain on site throughout the Festival.

HOW MANY STUDENTS CAN I SEND?

As few as one, or as many as you like. We request that you make every effort to send as balanced a group as possible, but recognize that this is not always possible. If your numbers are extreme (more than 12), we suggest you contact the Festival host, but we want to keep the experience open to as many students as possible.

DO STUDENTS NEED TO PREPARE MUSIC BEFOREHAND?

For obvious reasons, YES. Before the start of the first rehearsal, each participant is heard singing portions of the repertoire one-to-a part and without accompaniment. For details, please see the Audition Procedure Guidelines sheet that is part of each registration form. All participating directors share in the work of the auditions in a friendly and supportive environment. Since instituting this process some years ago, the Festival has seen a marked increase in the quality of the rehearsals and performance experience. In short, it is well worth the low-level anxiety that students and directors share.

WHO IS ANDREW CLARK?

Andrew Clark is Director of Choral Activities at Harvard University. He oversees the choral program of six faculty-directed choruses with over 500 singers, and serves as conductor of the Harvard Glee Club, the Radcliffe Choral Society, and the Harvard-Radcliffe Collegium Musicum.

Clark is also Artistic Director of the Providence Singers, an award-winning choral arts organization earning critical praise for compelling and innovative concerts, dynamic community engagement programs, and distinctive organizational partnerships.

Prior to his appointment at Harvard, Clark was Director of Choral Activities at Tufts University, and previously served as Music Director of the Worcester Chorus, Chorus Master and Assistant Conductor of Opera Boston, Associate Conductor of the Boston Pops Esplanade Chorus, and Assistant Conductor of the Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh, the chorus of the Pittsburgh Symphony.

Clark has led ensembles in prominent venues including Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, Cathédrale Notre Dame de Paris, Stephansdom in Vienna, Boston’s Symphony Hall, Mechanics Hall, and throughout Europe and North America. He has collaborated with the Pittsburgh and New Haven Symphonies, the Rhode Island Philharmonic, the Kronos Quartet, and the Dave Brubeck Quartet, among others, and has performed on NBC’s “Today” show.

Clark holds degrees from Wake Forest and Carnegie Mellon Universities, having studied with Grammy-award winning conductor Robert Page, and has been recognized by Chorus America as one of our country’s most promising conductors

WHAT IS THE REPERTOIRE? HOW DO I OBTAIN THE SCORES?

 Dr. Clark has chosen a concert program featuring Pennsylvania composers and arrangers:

The Musical Source has agreed to supply the music at a 20% discount (www.musicalsource.com or 1-800-276-8723). Ask for Jack and tell him it is for PCCA.

WHAT DO THE STUDENTS WEAR FOR THE CONCERT?

Women: Long black skirt or dress slacks; white long-sleeve blouse, dress shoes.

Men: Black dress slacks, white long-sleeve dress shirt/tie, dress shoes.

CAN MY STUDENTS AUDITION FOR SOLOS WITHIN THE REPERTOIRE?

Yes. The directors and guest conductor will audition all solos during the first two days of the festival. Students interested in auditioning must prepare the music beforehand.

SMALL ENSEMBLE COMPETITION

All participating schools are invited to prepare a brief a cappella work to be sung by all or a portion of their students. The selection should be performed from memory and with no conductor, and will be heard by the directors during the first two days of the festival. If the directors determine one or two ensembles to be of exemplary quality, they will be invited to perform their selection on the festival program. This is strictly voluntary.

HOW DO I REGISTER MY INSTITUTION AND STUDENTS?

Simply fill out the institution and student registration forms and return with your payment. Secure the scores and help your students prepare for a wonderful experience. Then join us and watch it happen.

WHO CAN I CONTACT TO LEARN MORE ABOUT THE FESTIVAL?

Contact Marvin Huls, 2012 Festival Host at mhuls@setonhill.edu.

We look forward to a great festival and welcome all new and former participants!