Kansas Music Review

Dear Choir Friends,

By now you and your students are deep into rehearsing the audition pieces for the 2015 All-State Choir. Brad Holmes, Director of Choir Programs at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois will be our clinician.

Brad Holmes has been Director of Choir Programs at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois since 1991. During this time Dr. Holmes has overseen the growth of the choral program to four traditional choirs and a variety of smaller vocal ensembles involving more than 300 students and five conductors. In addition to conducting the University Choir, Dr. Holmes teaches classes in conducting and choral methods. He is artistic director for Millikin's annual Christmas Vespers, an event that attracts more than 6,500 people annually. Under his direction the Millikin University Choir has performed before both regional and national conferences of the American Choral Directors Association. Dr. Holmes's extensive guest conducting schedule has included All-State choirs, ACDA Honor Choirs and District festivals as well as church music clinics throughout the United States. Internationally, he served as Visiting Fellow at Wolfson College in Cambridge, England. He has conducted choirs in 35 countries in Europe, South America, East Asia, the South Pacific and Australia.

It has been my privilege to communicate with Dr. Holmes about the music and the experiences we will share. He is very generous and personable, and I know we will have a memorable experience! I hope he will have time to share some of his experiences touring the Baltic countries last summer. You will also find some very helpful rehearsal notes for the three audition pieces, along with a suggested listening recording for the Rachmaninoff piece.

Note that the audition registration deadline is OCTOBER 10.

Please check the KMEA website for complete information on this year's selections: ksmea.org/hschoir/repertoire15.php

We are fortunate to have a commissioned piece by Michael Engelhardt, which is now available at Senseney Music; it will be performed in the non-audition set at KMEA.

It was my pleasure to be a part of the group that performed one of Dr. Holmes' pieces with the Kansas Ambassadors in 2013 on our European tour; I know it will be a treat to share his compositional insights in person. There is no substitute for rehearsing with the composer!

Dr. Holmes' interest session on Friday afternoon at the ISW will be titled "Imagination vs. Taking Roll: How to Keep Artistry at the Forefront of Rehearsal." With all the Common Core assignments that we are required to fulfill in addition to learning the literature we so carefully select, this sounds like just what we need!

Thank you for being a part of the Kansas choral community. I look forward to our experience together in February; and pray for good weather! In the meantime, please contact me with any questions or concerns.