One of my skills, developed over the years (especially the last five) at All Saints, has been guiding, mentoring and encouraging music staff members through the doctoral programs at the USC School of Music. There are many reasons that I chose to stop with a masterâs degree, all of which were confirmed through these processes! >
No exaggeration. This was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience.
The LA Philharmonic had scheduled all of the Mahler Symphonies to be performed during the 2011-2012 season. Symphony No. 8 requires a chorus of 800 and an orchestra of 200. It was the job of LA Master Chorale Director Grant Gershon to assemble and prepare those 800 >
Elizabeth Lenti accepted the position of Associate Organist at the Cathedral in Cleveland and a teaching position at the Cleveland Institute of Music, beginning in the fall of 2011. I had learned a few things about running a search, through the processing of hiring Elizabeth in 2004-2005.
We advertised the Associate Organist-Choirmaster position that summer >
After 26 years as director of the childrenâs/youth choir program at All Saints, Stephanie Mowery accepted the position of director of the Syracuse Childrenâs Chorus. So in spring 2011, we began the process of hiring the next musician for this important position at All Saints.
I had never led a search for such a position, >
After Barack Obama was elected President in November 2008, Norman Lear had the idea of making a video that could be part of the celebrations around the Inauguration â something that would celebrate the joy of our diversity as a nation. The idea was to have one song that would be sung by diverse soloists and ensembles in iconic US locations. Lear has had a long association / friendship with All Saints Church, so he called Ed Bacon, asking that the All Saints Choir perform the song in the Rose Bowl. I didn't immediately warm to the idea, and truth be told, it was an enormous hassle, because the studio folks said no printed music existed. They sent a CD of the song, which we learned as best we could, by rote, in the choir room, then headed to the Rose Bowl for recording. Crazy! The composer was there and said, "There is printed music, with parts even." BLAH. Anyhow, it is a wonderful remembrance and a pretty cool song of celebration.
