Voices Chorale NJ, a premier auditioned community group in the greater Princeton area, welcomes its new Artistic Director, Dr. David A. McConnell, an accomplished musician with an impressive resume and long experience in choral conducting.
Singers from New Jersey and Pennsylvania with good music reading skills and who enjoy singing the world’s greatest music are invited to a “Meet and Greet” Rehearsal with Dr. David A. McConnell on Monday, September 17, 2018, 7:00-9:30pm, at Music Together Worldwide, 225 Pennington-Hopewell Rd, Hopewell, NJ 08525. Music will be provided and light refreshments will be served.
“I walked into a room of people I did not know, and was greeted warmly,” said McConnell when meeting the Voices Chorale singers for the first time, “But what stood out for me, was how once we began working on music, their love for singing, and for one another, was obvious. We rehearsed music that was new to them as well as music they knew, and they accepted my ideas and thoughts with openness and enthusiasm. I find that willingness, that passion and enthusiasm thrilling, and I am honored to be part of a group where those qualities are so palpable.”
Voices Chorale NJ is an auditioned chorus of about 40 members from New Jersey and Pennsylvania. Its diverse repertoire includes masterworks and premieres by American composers. It was formed to carry on the legacy of the original Voices, which Dr. Lyn Ransom founded over thirty years ago to bring outstanding music to the public, inspire audiences, and provide performance opportunities for skilled singers. This legacy includes the annual Young Composers Project, encouraging young musicians ages 5-12 to compose music and lyrics, outreach concerts at senior residences in the greater Princeton area, and collaborations with such diverse groups as the Trenton Children’s Choir, The Absalom Jones Inspirational Choir of Trinity Cathedral in Trenton, NJ, and the Princeton High School Choir. Voices Chorale NJ, a NJ Non-Profit corporation that has filed for Federal 501c3 status, looks forward to a bright future providing its members and the community with the same high-quality musical experiences provided by the original Voices.
An enchanting 2018-2019 season is taking shape. The December Holiday Concert will include works by Bob Chilcott, John Rutter, and Ralph Vaughan Williams.
Auditions will be held at Music Together Worldwide on Monday, Sept. 10 (6-8 pm) and on Monday, Sept. 17 (6-7 pm). At this time,tenors, baritones and basses are especially needed, but singers in all voice parts are welcome! Please contact Jennifer Brader at [email protected] to arrange an audition. Auditions are informal and conducted in a friendly atmosphere.
Dr. David A. McConnell founded Vox Philia in 2012 as an intergenerational chamber choir comprised of professional and gifted amateur singers. The choir’s performances have garnered considerable acclaim for thematic programming and musical excellence. In the summer of 2014, McConnell co-founded Berks Sinfonietta, a chamber orchestra that also utilizes an intergenerational approach, bringing professional Reading, PA players together with gifted students in both high school and college.
McConnell teaches music courses at Pennsylvania State University, Berks Campus, and Alvernia University in Reading. As Minister of Music at Immanuel UCC, he plays for weekly liturgies, conducts the Senior Choir and Bell Choir, oversees the training and rehearsing of four other choirs and manages an active concert series at the church.
A native of Philadelphia, Dr. McConnell also holds degrees from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and Temple University in Philadelphia. He received his Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music in December 2002, and has attended the prestigious Pierre Monteux School for Conductors and Orchestral Musicians in Hancock, Maine, the South Carolina Conductor’s Institute in Columbia, South Carolina, and The Conductors Institute at Bard College.
Further, McConnell has presented papers at the national American Choral Directors Association in San Antonio, Texas, and the College Music Society Northeast Chapter Conference in Lewiston, Maine. Articles by Dr. McConnell have appeared in journals of the International Federation of Choral Music, the American Choral Director’s Association, the Conductors’ Guild and the American Beethoven Society. He has written a chapter on Beethoven’s early Piano Concerto in E-flat for inclusion in a book being published about Beethoven’s time in Bonn.
In recent years, Dr. McConnell has conducted choirs in Portugal, The Netherlands, and Latvia, as well as throughout the northeastern United States.
For more information about Voices Chorale, please visit their new website at www.voiceschoralenj.org.
