VOICES UNITED
Our guest clinician and conductor for 2024 is Dr Anton Armstrong (biography below).
REGISTRATION
Registration for Voices United 2024 will open in January 2024.
Pre-registration is highly recommended, but you may also bring your registration and payment to one of the preliminary rehearsals.
TO REGISTER:
Online Registration – not yet available
Hardcopy Registration Form – not yet available
TO PAY BY CREDIT CARD:
Online Registration Payment – not yet available
REHEARSALS
Singers MUST attend at least three out of seven rehearsals (more are encouraged, but optional) to be eligible to participate in the workshop and concert. All rehearsals will be held in Weston Hall at Manassas Baptist Church.
Rehearsal schedule for 2024:
TBD
WORKSHOP
Friday March 15, 7:00 PM – 9:15 PM (check-in begins at 6:30 PM)
Saturday March 16, 9:00 AM – 1:00 PM
The workshop will take place at Manassas Baptist Church. Wear comfortable clothes and shoes. Bring a mask if preferred, your music, pencil for marking music, and a water bottle. Snacks will be provided. Please do not wear perfume/cologne or scented body lotions; some singers may have allergies.
CONCERT
The Voices United Concert will be held Saturday March 16, 2024 at 7:30 PM at the Hylton Performing Arts Center. Singers will have a dress rehearsal prior to the concert (call time 6:00 PM). The Manassas Chorale will perform the first half of the concert, followed by the Voices United Festival Choir. The two choirs will combine for a final number directed by the guest clinician. The concert is open to the public. Tickets are available via the Hylton Box Office. Registered singers do NOT need a ticket
ATTIRE
Manassas Chorale members will wear their concert attire. Singers in the Voices United Workshop Choir only will wear the following:
Men: dark trousers, necktie and jacket (preferably black) and white dress shirt OR black tuxedo with white shirt and black bow tie; black shoes and socks.
Women: long black skirt and black long-sleeve dressy blouse OR long black dress with long sleeves; black hose and black shoes. Simple earrings are acceptable, no dangling or large hoops; no necklaces, bracelets, or brooches.
Each singer will also need a black performance folder. Masks (if preferred) must be black.
ABOUT OUR GUEST CLINICIAN
The 2023-24 season is Anton Armstrong’s 34th year as Conductor of the St. Olaf Choir, marking him as the longest tenured conductor in the ensemble’s storied 112 year history. He is the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College, becoming the fourth conductor of the St. Olaf Choir in 1990 after ten years in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he served on the faculty of Calvin University and led the Calvin Alumni Choir, Calvin Campus Choir, the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus and the St. Cecilia Youth Chorale. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois (MM) and Michigan State University (DMA). He is editor of a multicultural choral series for Earthsongs Publications and co-editor (with John Ferguson) of the revised St. Olaf Choral Series for Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In June 1998, he began his tenure as founding conductor of the Oregon Bach Festival Stangeland Family Youth Choral Academy. Dr. Armstrong currently serves as Chair of the National Board of Chorus America and has returned to serve on the National Board of The Choristers Guild.
During the 2023-24 season Anton Armstrong will lead choral festivals at Carnegie Hall, New York, NY and Schermerhorn Symphony Center, Nashville, TN. He will also serve as a guest lecturer and clinician at the University of Illinois, Duke University and Baylor University. In October 2023, he will return as President of the Jury of the Busan International Choral Festival in Busan, South Korea. Additional guest conducting appearances will take place in Charlotte, NC, Nashville, TN, Santa Fe, NM, and Manassas, VA. In June 2024 he will lead the St. Olaf Choir on their first tour to South Africa.
Dr. Armstrong has frequently conducted ensembles and appeared before regional, national and international gatherings of the American Choral Directors Association, International Federation of Choral Music, National Association for Music Education, Choristers Guild, American Guild of Organists, Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Organization of American Kodaly Educators and the Orff-Schulwerk Association. In recent years he has guest conducted such noted ensembles as the Tabernacle Choir and Orchestra at Temple Square, the Utah Symphony and Symphony Chorus, the Utah Voices and Salt Lake City Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the Westminster Choir, the American Boychoir, The Houston Chamber Choir, The Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati and The Phoenix Chorale. He has also collaborated in concert with Bobby McFerrin and Garrison Keillor.
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