Chanticleer wins 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award
Chorus America, the non-profit service organization for Choral Music, has just announced that Chanticleer has won the 2010 Chorus America Education Outreach Award. Chanticleer’s Director of Education, Ben Johns, will be on hand on June 18 for the organization’s annual conference in Atlanta, where many of this year’s Chorus America Awards will be presented. The ensemble, however, will not be able to attend; on the date of the conference, for the second consecutive season, Chanticleer will be on tour in China, where it is scheduled to join San Francisco’s delegation and perform at Shanghai’s Expo 2010 (June 16-23).
Chanticleer’s President and General Director, Christine Bullin, commented:
“The times we spend with students, learning and making music together, are some of our favorite moments. We have been dedicated to the growth of our education program, so that now we are able to work with over 6,000 students each year through all our programs. We are honored and humbled that these efforts are recognized by our peers in Chorus America.”
The award comes during a season in which the Grammy Award-winning ensemble mounted its single biggest educational effort to date, Chanticleer’s first National Youth Choral Festival™, which took place in San Francisco in March. The four-day festival featured Chanticleer hosting twelve high school choirs – 416 students in all – from across the country in a four-day choral immersion, including master classes, language coaching, and a host of interactive educational activities, culminating in a gala concert at Davies Symphony Hall with the massed choirs, an orchestra comprised of Bay Area student instrumentalists, and mezzo-soprano Frederica von Stade.
Chanticleer’s first National Youth Choral Festival™ also marked the tenth anniversary of the creation of Chanticleer’s Youth Choral Festivals™, a central component of the ensemble’s wide-ranging and multi-faceted education program.
Two years ago, Chanticleer was honored with the ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming and the inaugural Dale Warland Singers Commission Award, Musical America named Chanticleer its 2008 Ensemble of the Year.
A complete list of this year’s Chorus America Award winners can be found here: www.chorusamerica.org/conf2010wp/?p=159.
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© 21C Media Group, May 2010