Ancient Art | Modern Voices

The Conservatory Choir joins the Simpson College Chamber Singers from Indianola, Iowa, under the direction of Dr. Timothy McMillin to present a special program featuring choral compositions and arrangements of living composers in a wide-ranging variety of musical styles: from Americana to the avant-garde to pop genres, and more.

PROGRAM

Jeff Brown: Selections from The Dawn’s Awake, Six Choral Songs
Chen Yi: Spring Dreams
Paul Simon (arr. Vince Peterson): Bridge Over Troubled Water
Eric William Barnum: She Walks in Beauty
Jake Runestad: Let My Love Be Heard
Traditional (arr. Jeffrey Douma): I Am Loved as I Love
Traditional (arr. Moses Hogan): The Battle of Jericho
Matthew Hazzard: Peace Flows into Me
Traditional (arr. James Erb): Shenandoah

About Conservatory Choir

The Conservatory Choir is Shenandoah University’s premier chamber choral ensemble, specializing in a cappella vocal music from the Golden Age of the European Renaissance to the most cutting-edge contemporary choral compositions. In fast-paced, cooperatively-led rehearsals, ensemble members have the opportunity to refine their aural and sight-reading skills, apply their knowledge of music theory and history, and develop their voices in flexibly healthy ways.

The Conservatory Choir performs frequently on Shenandoah’s main campus as well as throughout the region and abroad. The ensemble regularly collaborates with other areas in the conservatory including composition, church music, opera, theatre, dance and more. As ambassadors of the university, the ensemble is regularly asked to perform on campus at school-wide cultural and religious events as well as off-campus where the ensemble has forged relationships with local high schools, churches and communities.

By focusing attention on historically-informed performance practice, advanced musicianship, diction, stage deportment and ensemble cohesion, the Conservatory Choir prepares singers for careers in vocal performance, choral music education, church music, and the ever-growing professional choral job market

About Matt Oltman

Matthew Oltman is music director emeritus of the Grammy Award-winning male vocal ensemble, Chanticleer and artistic director emeritus of the New York-based Empire City Men’s Chorus. He currently serves as associate professor and conductor of the Conservatory Choir, teaches courses in choral conducting and literature, and assists in the leadership of Shenandoah Conservatory’s dynamic choral department. He is also the associate director of CORO and leads the CORO/Simpson College summer master’s program in choral conducting.

Dr. Oltman first joined Chanticleer in 1999, singing in the ensemble until his appointment as music director in 2009. As a singing member, he appeared on twelve albums and toured extensively throughout North America, Europe and Asia. He expanded the ensemble’s repertoire and attracted a younger, tech-savvy audience during three critically acclaimed seasons as the ensemble’s music director which included over 300 concerts in more than a dozen countries. In addition, he helped launch the Chanticleer Live in Concert or “CLIC” recording label and was the editor of the Chanticleer Choral Series, published by Hinshaw Music.

Dedicated to the creation of new choral music, he has facilitated commissions from composers such as Stephen Paulus, Mason Bates, Steven Sametz, Jan Sandström, Peter Michaelides, Roxanna Panufnik, and Ilyas Iliya, as well as Vince Peterson who arranged the choral/indie pop sensation, Cells Planets.

Dr. Oltman has served as lecturer in music at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, guest director of choral activities at UC Berkeley, and guest lecturer in music at Texas State University. He is a regular guest conductor at the Choral Chameleon Summer Institute in Brooklyn, New York, and the Taiwan Youth Festival Chorus in Taipei. He has conducted All-State choruses in Texas and Georgia and made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut in 2014 on the DCINY concert series.

Dr. Oltman is well-known for his connection to Franz Biebl’s ubiquitous choral setting of the Ave Maria. His experience performing, conducting and recording the piece over two decades led him write a history and analysis in 2017.

Originally from Des Moines, Iowa, Dr. Oltman earned a B.M. in Vocal Performance from Simpson College, an M.A. in Music from the University of York in England, and a D.M.A in Choral Conducting from the University of Nebraska–Lincoln.

About Simpson College Chamber Singers

The Simpson College Chamber Singers is one of four choral ensembles at Simpson College. The ensemble sings advanced repertoire from throughout history in all styles and genres, but specializes in the chamber choral literature. The Chamber Singers performs a domestic tour bi-annually and performs as part of a wide variety of performances on campus each year including the annual Service of Lessons and Carols, frequent choral-orchestral masterwork performances, and numerous on-campus concerts in the fall and spring semesters. The ensemble has recently collaborated in performances with the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra and Orchestra Iowa, Iowa’s professional orchestras. The Chamber Singers has also enjoyed the opportunity to collaborate with other high-level choirs in the Des Moines area such as the Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble and the Drake University Choirs.

About Timothy McMillin

Timothy A. McMillin is director of choral studies and professor of music at Simpson College, where he directs the College Choir and the Chamber Singers, is a member of the voice faculty, and teaches classes in conducting, music literature and choral studies. He also serves as co-director for Simpson College’s Master of Music (M.M.) in Choral Conducting degree, offered in an intensive, three-summers program. Before his appointment at Simpson College, Dr. McMillin directed choirs in Minnesota where he created and led award-winning high school programs.

In addition to his passion for academia, Dr. McMillin is artistic director and conductor of the Des Moines Vocal Arts Ensemble, a competitively-auditioned chamber choir in the greater Des Moines community committed to excellence in choral artistry.

Choirs under Dr. McMillin’s direction recently appeared at the Iowa Choral Directors Association’s (ICDA) Summer Symposium. Dr. McMillin is often called upon as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout Iowa and the Midwest. Recently, he prepared choruses for the Des Moines Symphony Orchestra, Orchestra Iowa, and the chorus for the Des Moines performances of the national touring company’s Star Wars: In Concert. He also performed with, served as auxiliary chorus master and was a member of the stage management staff with the Des Moines Metro Opera. Over the years, he directed various high school musical theater programs and performed with numerous community theater organizations. Dr. McMillin served as producer and company manager for the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, a professional festival choir. He was also recently involved as a performer with the Jonathan Griffith Singers during an international tour throughout Turkey and sang in Winchester, England, under the direction of Paul Spicer.

Dr. McMillin earned a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University in East Lansing, and degrees in music education from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, and Simpson College in Indianola, Iowa.

His professional affiliations include the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), where he has served as Repertoire & Standards Chair for Four-Year Colleges and Universities and Community Choirs for the Iowa Chapter (ICDA), the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO), the College Music Society (CMS), and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).

Photos by C. King Photography