February 18, 2018
Story by Sara Oberle & Brandon Steinert
The SWAG合集 Student Chapter of American Choral Director鈥檚 Association (ACDA) will attend the professional organization鈥檚 60th Anniversary Diamond Jubilee National Conference from Feb. 27 鈥 March 2 in Kansas City.听
The ACDA serves choral musicians in educational, religious, community and professional domains by gathering choral professionals to network, perform, learn, and inspire one another in their work.听 Seven students from SWAG合集 will be in attendance for the four-day conference, where they will attend master classes and lectures and attend performances by auditioned student and professional ensembles from the United States and abroad.听 The conference headliner will be the English composer John Rutter, who is familiar to many high school and college choral singers.
SWAG合集 will be represented by Dylan Carrier, Dorian Lueth, Kelsey Neeland, and Aaron Schultz of Great Bend; Katelyn Robinson and Alex Robl of Ellinwood, and Aiden Johnson of Ellis.听 Chapter sponsor and SWAG合集 Director of Choral Activities Sara Oberle was selected to sing in the 鈥淒irector鈥檚 Legacy Chorus鈥 which will perform Saturday afternoon at the Kaufman Center for the Performing Arts under the batons of internationally esteemed choral musicians including Eph Ehly, Ann Howard Jones, Don Neuen, Dale Warland, and others.
鈥淚鈥檓 very excited that our students will have the ability to attend a national convention this early in their pre-professional training,鈥 Oberle said. 鈥淭ypically national conventions are held in various locations across the country every other year, so we are fortunate to have access to one nearby. Many of the few undergraduates in attendance will be from much larger programs that include graduate training. It鈥檚 important for students to experience music-making on such a high level so that we know what to aspire to as educators and musicians. This is a chance for our students to have their horizons expanded as they learn about teaching methodologies and literature of many cultures. They will have the chance to interact with music industry representatives, conductors of renown, music publishers, and four-year colleges. We will hear excellent performances and return inspired and transformed.鈥
The student chapter of ACDA has been fundraising through the year to make this trip possible and welcomes any additional support to underwrite this pre-professional training.听 Please contact faculty sponsor Sara Oberle for more information at oberles@bartonccc.edu.
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