We are pleased to announce the appointment of internationally renowned conductor Doreen Rao as Visiting Artistic Director for the 2017-2018 season.
"With deep admiration for its exceptional history, and in joyful anticipation of its new beginnings, I am delighted to join The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay this year as their 2017-2018 Visiting Artistic Director. It will be a great pleasure for me to work with these devoted and faithful singers in collaboration with Michael Francis and The Florida Orchestra for a brilliant season of musical masterpieces and innovative community engagement."
- Doreen Rao
Dr. Rao is celebrated internationally for her moving concerts, inspirational teaching and ground-breaking choral publications. Her pioneering career changed the landscape of music education in America. Linking the standards of performance and the goals of education with the values of diversity and social responsibility, Rao's seminal work teaching children to sing inspired a generation of conductors and teachers to lead young choirs in schools and communities around the world. In a national tribute presented to her by the American Choral Directors Association, the eminent conductor Robert Shaw wrote: "The world of choral music owes her special thanks. She is preparing our future."
"We are thrilled to welcome Doreen Rao while we complete our search for a permanent Artistic Director and prepare for our 40th Anniversary," said Robert Hicks, Board Chairman. "Doreen brings a tremendous wealth of experience in conducting, guiding, and inspiring symphonic choirs which will continue to propel The Master Chorale forward during this important artistic leadership transition."
"Doreen is thoughtfully passionate about conducting and preparing exquisite choral music," added Kara Dwyer, Managing Director. "Doreen's persistent attention to the highest standards of artistic excellence added to her innovative and diverse community engagement plans deeply resonates with The Master Chorale's vision and core values. We couldn't be more pleased with her appointment."
"With deep admiration for its exceptional history, and in joyful anticipation of its new beginnings, I am delighted to join The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay this year as their 2017-2018 Visiting Artistic Director. It will be a great pleasure for me to work with these devoted and faithful singers in collaboration with Michael Francis and The Florida Orchestra for a brilliant season of musical masterpieces and innovative community engagement."
- Doreen Rao
Dr. Rao is celebrated internationally for her moving concerts, inspirational teaching and ground-breaking choral publications. Her pioneering career changed the landscape of music education in America. Linking the standards of performance and the goals of education with the values of diversity and social responsibility, Rao's seminal work teaching children to sing inspired a generation of conductors and teachers to lead young choirs in schools and communities around the world. In a national tribute presented to her by the American Choral Directors Association, the eminent conductor Robert Shaw wrote: "The world of choral music owes her special thanks. She is preparing our future."
"We are thrilled to welcome Doreen Rao while we complete our search for a permanent Artistic Director and prepare for our 40th Anniversary," said Robert Hicks, Board Chairman. "Doreen brings a tremendous wealth of experience in conducting, guiding, and inspiring symphonic choirs which will continue to propel The Master Chorale forward during this important artistic leadership transition."
"Doreen is thoughtfully passionate about conducting and preparing exquisite choral music," added Kara Dwyer, Managing Director. "Doreen's persistent attention to the highest standards of artistic excellence added to her innovative and diverse community engagement plans deeply resonates with The Master Chorale's vision and core values. We couldn't be more pleased with her appointment."
2017-2018 Season
The Master Chorale's 39th season includes four powerful concert collaborations with The Florida Orchestra, an inspiring educational program that will engage more than 1,000 students in Hillsborough and Pinellas Counties, and engaging community sing events. Performances with The Florida Orchestra will include Carl Orff's "Carmina Burana," Handel's "Messiah," Verdi's "Requiem," and a Celebrate Broadway concert series.
Stay tuned for our full schedule announcement and information about our Summer Sing and Master Chorale Auditions, both taking place at the University of South Florida School of Music later this summer.
Stay tuned for our full schedule announcement and information about our Summer Sing and Master Chorale Auditions, both taking place at the University of South Florida School of Music later this summer.
About Doreen Rao
Rao is committed to global-style programming, intergenerational performance, and innovative collaborations. She founded The Rao Center for Choral and Contemplative Arts in 2014 to mentor emerging conductors, singers and music educators in the practice of mindfulness-based conducting and choral teaching. Doreen is a member of the Zen Peacemaker's Order and a long time student of the American Zen Buddhist teacher, Joan Halifax Roshi. She is the author of Circle of Sound-a Contemplative Approach to Voice Education that serves as the philosophical and practical foundation for her mindfulness-based approach to conducting and teaching.
Doreen Rao holds the University of Toronto Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting Emeritus. During her tenure as Director of Choral Programs, Rao founded Toronto's International Bach Festival with Bach conductor-scholar Helmuth Rilling. She led the Faculty of Music's graduate program in choral conducting with Canada's Elmer Iseler Singers as University Artists-in-Residence. Her award-winning MacMillan Singers and Bach Festival Singers performed and broadcast regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under the direction of Maestros Rilling, Peter Oundjian, Gianandrea Noseda, and Bernard Labadie. Toronto music critic Robert Everett-Green wrote: "For Rao, every note has an urgent meaning, not just within the composition, but within the wider world."
From 2008, Rao served as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and then the Buffalo Master Chorale working in close collaboration with artists and educators throughout Western New York including the Buffalo Philharmonic and Chautauqua Institute Symphony Orchestras. For her inspirational leadership in Western New York, Rao was named Buffalo Woman of Influence. In 2012 the WNY Gospel Music Association named her Music Director of the Year.
During Rao's long association with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, she prepared the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus - Anima for concerts and four Grammy Award-winning recordings. She also served as Assistant Conductor to Margaret Hillis, preparing the Chicago Symphony Chorus for Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, James Levine. Her young choirs performed regularly with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony, the Grant Park Orchestra, and with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival.
Rao is the Founder-Director Emeritus of CME Institute for Choral Teacher Education, a professional development and choral certification program for emerging conductors and choral music teachers now led by the talented Dr. Sandra Snow. Her distinguished history of commissioning and premiering new choral music championed a new generation of American and Canadian composers including Daniel Brewbaker, David Brunner and Stephen Hatfield.
As editor and choral advisor to music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, Rao's award-winning Choral Music Experience series of music and educational textbooks helped set the standards for quality concert repertoire for American music education. Her popular edition of Leonard Bernstein's MASS met with unprecedented accolades: "Rao's performing edition should be widely heard by audiences everywhere, though it might be foolish to expect a better performance than the one Rao gave tonight."
Rao regularly conducts choral festivals, music conferences, and special events worldwide. She received the prestigious Harold A. Decker Award, presented by the Illinois-ACDA to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of choral music. The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia awarded Rao their National Citation for her "significant and lasting contribution to the cause of American music." The American Choral Directors Association has honored Rao for her "commitment to choral excellence" and a CBS television documentary called her musical achievements "extraordinary."
Taught by her beloved teachers, Harold Decker and Colleen Kirk, at the University of Illinois, Doreen earned her PhD from Northwestern University and was generously mentored by Margaret Hillis and Robert Shaw during the formative years of her career. Doreen lives in Chicago where she enjoys a vibrant urban lifestyle with family and friends while continuing to conduct and teach worldwide.
www.doreenrao.com | www.choralmusicexperience.com
From 2008, Rao served as Music Director of the Buffalo Philharmonic Chorus, and then the Buffalo Master Chorale working in close collaboration with artists and educators throughout Western New York including the Buffalo Philharmonic and Chautauqua Institute Symphony Orchestras. For her inspirational leadership in Western New York, Rao was named Buffalo Woman of Influence. In 2012 the WNY Gospel Music Association named her Music Director of the Year.
During Rao's long association with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, she prepared the Glen Ellyn Children's Chorus - Anima for concerts and four Grammy Award-winning recordings. She also served as Assistant Conductor to Margaret Hillis, preparing the Chicago Symphony Chorus for Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, James Levine. Her young choirs performed regularly with Leonard Slatkin and the St. Louis Symphony, the Grant Park Orchestra, and with Helmuth Rilling at the Oregon Bach Festival.
Rao is the Founder-Director Emeritus of CME Institute for Choral Teacher Education, a professional development and choral certification program for emerging conductors and choral music teachers now led by the talented Dr. Sandra Snow. Her distinguished history of commissioning and premiering new choral music championed a new generation of American and Canadian composers including Daniel Brewbaker, David Brunner and Stephen Hatfield.
As editor and choral advisor to music publisher Boosey & Hawkes, Rao's award-winning Choral Music Experience series of music and educational textbooks helped set the standards for quality concert repertoire for American music education. Her popular edition of Leonard Bernstein's MASS met with unprecedented accolades: "Rao's performing edition should be widely heard by audiences everywhere, though it might be foolish to expect a better performance than the one Rao gave tonight."
Rao regularly conducts choral festivals, music conferences, and special events worldwide. She received the prestigious Harold A. Decker Award, presented by the Illinois-ACDA to an individual who has made extraordinary contributions to the field of choral music. The Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia awarded Rao their National Citation for her "significant and lasting contribution to the cause of American music." The American Choral Directors Association has honored Rao for her "commitment to choral excellence" and a CBS television documentary called her musical achievements "extraordinary."
Taught by her beloved teachers, Harold Decker and Colleen Kirk, at the University of Illinois, Doreen earned her PhD from Northwestern University and was generously mentored by Margaret Hillis and Robert Shaw during the formative years of her career. Doreen lives in Chicago where she enjoys a vibrant urban lifestyle with family and friends while continuing to conduct and teach worldwide.
www.doreenrao.com | www.choralmusicexperience.com
