Student Conducting Masterclass

2024 ACDA Southern Region Student Conducting Masterclass

Wednesday, February 21, 2024; 2:30 – 5:30 p.m.; Galt House West (Daisy Sunflower)

ACDA Southern is excited to again facilitate a student conducting masterclass at the 2024 regional conference in Louisville, KY. The masterclass is offered to acknowledge and provide development opportunities to outstanding undergraduate and graduate conductors and to promote student engagement at the conference.

Congratulations to the conductors selected for the 2024 ACDA Southern Student Conducting Masterclass. We are thrilled to announce the following individuals:

Graduates:
– Kole Butler
– Annika Stucky
– Ontarius Woodland

Undergraduates:
– Matthew Chesnutt
– Susan Falconer
– Emma Swire-Clark

The masterclass, scheduled to take place on Wednesday, February 21, 2024, from 2:30 PM to 5:30 PM, is open to observation by all conference attendees.

Led by Dr. John Dickson, this masterclass will feature the University of Kentucky Chorale (Dr. Jefferson Johnson, conductor) as the lab ensemble.

John Dickson is Professor Emeritus and former Director of Choral Studies at Louisiana State University. Recently retired after forty-four years of collegiate teaching, he continues his conducting through workshops and festivals, and his teaching through guest lectureships at various universities. He is the Musical and Artistic Director of the Louisville Master Chorale, and the founding artistic director and now Emeritus Conductor of Coro Vocati, one of Atlanta’s most accomplished professional chamber choirs.

As a conducting pedagogue, he has presented masterclasses before the Association of British Choral Directors, the American Choral Directors Association, the Royal Northern Music Conservatory (Manchester), and the Russian State Music Conservatories of St. Petersburg and Moscow.  He has conducted festivals and workshops in England, Wales, Scotland, Finland, France, Italy, Hungary, Austria, the Czech Republic, Mexico, Canada, and throughout the U. S. For three decades his choirs have been featured at conventions of the ACDA, ABCD, Texas Music Educators Association, and the National Collegiate Choral Organization.

A Visiting Fellow of Wolfson College, Cambridge University, Dr. Dickson sang with Sir David Willcocks and The Bach Choir; a second post-doctoral fellowship allowed him to serve as David Hill’s assistant conductor.  He is the Founding Director of the Oxbridge C. S. Lewis Choral Institute.

Please read the 2024 ACDA Southern Conducting Masterclass Guidelines that were used to select the masterclass participants.

For questions, please contact Dr. Jabarie Glass, University of South Carolina, at [email protected].