West Virginia American Choral Director’s Association

President’s Welcome

West Virginia American Choral Director’s Association - News

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Congratulations to our President-Elect

Ed Harkless

Our Spring 08 Newsletter - is now online!

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Fall 2006
Fall 2007

Ginger Wyrick to direct 2008 WV ACDA Junior High - Middle School

Honor Choir.

Ginger Wyrick, conductor, author, clinician, lecturer, teacher, and performer, calls Charlotte home with her husband, Richard. She is an Assistant Professor of Music at Queens University of Charlotte where she directs the Chamber Singers and Royal Showstoppers and teaches theory. She is President-Elect for the North Carolina ACDA following ten years of service as state treasurer.

Ginger frequently leads workshops and lectures on music education and church music; serves as an adjudicator for piano, voice, and choral festivals; and appears as guest conductor for special events, music festivals and camps. She has served the local church for over 25 years in music ministry and remains active as a liturgical arts consultant, choir director, and organist.

Ginger is a writer and editor for Abingdon Press where she has published several resources including Singing Between the Lines, FaithSongs, Church Music for Children, the production book and teaching plans for Joseph: What a Life!, The Choir Member's Companion, Church Choir 101, and The Choir Director's Organizer. Her articles regularly appear in Church Music Workshop, and she developed the First Choice Choral Club Newsletter for Abingdon.

Conducting engagements include events in North Carolina, Virginia, South Carolina, Georgia, Alabama, Mississippi, Louisiana, Texas, Michigan, Wisconsin, West Virginia, and Tennessee. In 2007, Ginger conducted in the Bulgarian premier of Mendelssohn’s Elijah in Bulgaria. She has led numerous training events for the Southeastern Jurisdiction of United Methodist at Lake Junaluska and has appeared at national symposiums presenting her research on the changing role of music in the United States and the local church.
Ginger received the Bachelor of Music degree from the University of North Carolina at Greensboro where she studied piano and music education. She earned the Master of Music and Master of Sacred Music degrees in conducting from Southern Methodist University.

Dr. Joshua Habermann of San Francisco State University

to direct 2008 WV All State Chamber Choir

A native of California, Joshua Habermann is a graduate of Georgetown University and the University of Texas at Austin, where he completed doctoral studies in conducting with Craig Hella Johnson.

As professor of music San Francisco State University he directs the choral program, and teaches choral literature, conducting, and lyric diction.

As a singer (tenor) he performs with the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus (Eugene, Oregon), where he can be heard on the Grammy-Award-winning recording of Krzystof Penderecki’s Credo. Other projects include two recordings with Austin-based Conspirare: Through the Green Fuse, and Requiem, a Grammy nominee for best choral recording in 2006.

Mr. Habermann also maintains an interest in the Hawaiian choral tradition, and sings periodically with Kawaiolaon apukanileo, an ensemble dedicated to performing and preserving this unique repertoire. Other research interests include Latin American and Nordic music. His dissertation on the a cappella works of Finnish composer Einojuhani Rautavaara was a Julius Herford Prize finalist for music research in 1997.

Joshua Habermann’s long association with the San Francisco Symphony Chorus began in 1991, when he joined the chorus as a singer and diction coach. Over the course of 13 seasons he has sung and helped prepare both the standard canon and lesser-known works of choral-orchestral repertoire. From 1996-2006 Mr. Habermann was assistant to Vance George, and in 2006-2007 served as interim director upon George’s retirement. In that capacity he prepared the chorus for performances with conductors Michael Tilson Thomas and Charles Dutoit in concerts of Mozart, and Berlioz: La Damnation de Faust. Recordings as a singer with the SFSC include Christmas by the Bay (Decca Records), and Mahler Symphony #2 (London Records), also a Grammy nominee for best choral-orchestral recording.

Hilary Apfelstadt to direct WVACDA Collegiate Honor Choir

Professor Apfelstadt conducts the Chorale and Women's Glee Club, supervises Mastersingers, teaches conducting and choral repertory, and coordinates the graduate conducting program at OSU. Dr. Apfelstadt's collegiate choral ensembles have performed by invitation at regional and national ACDA (American Choral Directors Association) conventions as well as at other educational conferences. Active as guest conductor and clinician, Dr. Apfelstadt has conducted numerous honor choirs and all-state choruses in the US., Canada and Cuba. Professor Apfelstadt, who sang for several years with the Robert Shaw Institute Singers, has published more than 70 articles on choral music and education. She serves on the editorial boards of three professional journals, is a past-president of Central Division ACDA, and is a member of the Research and Publications Committee for national ACDA. She is also Director of Music at Linworth United Methodist Church in Columbus

Professor Apfelstadt received a Associate diploma with emphasis in piano from the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto, A Bacjelor's degree in music from the University of Toronto,an MS in Choral Music Education from University of Illinois and a PhD in Music Education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison.