|
Meet the Artists
|
Meet the Director
|
|
| T-Shirt image is of Wedding at City Hall San Francisco, Valentine's Day 1990 |
|
|
|
Adrian G. Horn, Director of the Finger Lakes Choral Festival, has had a lifetime
of involvement in virtually every aspect of choral music. He sang with Robert Shaw for two years while still in high school,
interrupted his musical training by serving as a paratrooper with the 82nd Airborne Division to secure the GI bill for college,
received a BS in vocal performance at SUNY Fredonia (where he was Captain of the baseball team and also played semi-pro football
with the Fredonia Orioles) and a Masters Degree specializing in Choral Music from Columbia University, where he concurrently
was employed an Instructor in Music Education. After teaching public school music for two years, Mr. Horn entered the Navy
and was appointed Director of the Naval Aviation Cadet Choir while undergoing training as a Naval Aviation Officer. After completing his tour of duty, Mr. Horn became a professional chorister with the San
Francisco Symphony and San Francisco Opera. Subsequently, he entered the doctoral program at Columbia University, but was
sidetracked from completing a thesis on developing community choruses by the priority of putting his ideas into action. What
followed was a remarkable adventure of choral activities, including: Founding
Director, San Francisco Choral Society, a 250 voice symphonic chorus, regularly performing before sold-out houses at Davies
Symphony Hall
As a conductor, Mr. Horn has an extraordinary ability
to inspire singers to bring passion and meaning to their music. Singers stay on their toes because they don't want to miss
any of his colorful comments or unique musical insights. At one rehearsal, before a chorus and orchestra of nearly 500 performing
the Berlioz Requiem at the cavernous San Francisco Civic Auditorium he quipped, "All I wanted to do was get some people together
to sing, and the whole thing got totally out of hand." At the height of his
success with the San Francisco Choral Society, after conducting three sold-out performances of Carmina Burana at Davies Symphony
Hall in October 1992, Mr. Horn left San Francisco to pursue perhaps his most challenging career, stay-at-home-Dad for his
three young boys. But music always seemed to follow, as did the Directorship of the Sequim Community Chorus in Washington,
and after relocating to New York, the Jamestown Choral Society. The Finger
Lakes Choral Festival, now entering its eighth season, is the current focus of Mr. Horn's life-long obsession with bringing
people together to sing great choral music.
|
|
|
Meet the Accompanists
Accompanist Dr. Ines Draskovic has performed throughout Europe and United
States. she is a graduate of University of Belgrade (Belgrade, Yugoslavia), Ithaca College (MM) and Eastman School of Music
(DMA). Her teachers include Alexei Nasedkin, Phiroze Mehta and Rebecca Penneys. Dr. Draskovic has won several piano competitions,
including the Ithaca College Concerto Competition, Republic of Serbia Piano Competition and Piano Competition in Stresa, Italy,
where she was a finalist. She has participated in festivals and masterclasses in Europe and United States (Colorado). Formerly
a faculty member at Ithaca College, Dr. Draskovic is currently teaching at the Finger Lakes Community College in Canandaigua,
NY. In addition to her solo career, she performs regularly with the Finger Lakes Chorale and College Singers.
Accompanist, Dr. Susan J. Avery, Associate Professor of
Music Education at Ithaca College, was the former director of vocal ensembles and department chair of Waterloo High School
for 24 years. She received her BM from the Eastman School of Music, MM from Ithaca College and a PhD from Eastman, where
she was awarded the Eastman Graduate Teaching Assistant Prize for excellence in college teaching. Dr. Avery conducts elementary,
junior high and senior high honors, All-County and Area All-State Choruses throughout New York State; judges solo vocal and
All-State Vocal Jazz as well as choral major organizations for the New York State School Music Association (NYSSMA); and gives
clinics and workshops on the local, state and national levels in the field of music education. While teaching at Waterloo,
her men's ensemble Just Us was chosen to be the opening performing ensemble at the New York State School Boards Association's
state convention. Dr. Avery's choral ensembles consistently received high awards at festivals and her students participated
in all levels of local, state and national ensembles.
She currently conducts the Seneca Singers (an adult choir
in her hometown of Seneca Falls) and directs the faculty-staff choir voICes on the Ithaca College Campus in addition to her
teaching duties. Dr. Avery accompanies the summer conference Director’s Chorus and reading sessions and has served NYSSMA
as Piano Chair, High School Classroom Chair, Assistant Choral Chair; and the Choral Chair for New York State. Susan is currently
the Eastern Division Chair for the Music Educator’s National Conference (MENC) Adult and Community Music Education special
research interest group (SRIG). Her research on adult rehearsal preferences was presented at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
Lifelong Learning Symposium in April 2005 and two posters sessions (for original research/best practice) were given at Society
of Music Teacher Education in September 2005. Susan provided choral experiences to adults in the New Horizons Band camp at
Interlochen in summer of 2006. She has published in American Music Teacher, The School Music News, Music Educators’
Journal and contributed to MENC’s Benchmarks in Action: A Guide to Standards-Based Assessment in Music. Susan will be
presenting a session on Working with Adult Musicians at MENC’s All-Eastern Conference in 2007.
|
| |
|
Meet the Soloists
Whether he’s performing as a vocalist, working with students in the
classroom, performing in an intimate concert setting or conducting an orchestra, Tenor soloist Harold McAulliffe’s commitment
to
the artistry of the moment is always very evident. Since the late 1960s,
Mr. McAulliffe has organized and conducted a variety of choral and
instrumental ensembles, area festivals, musical theater productions as well as community chorales. He has trained numerous
choirs for Chuck Mangione
and has worked with Jeff Tyzik organizing and preparing the Festival
High School Chorale for the Rochester Philharmonic Orchestra Holiday Pops concerts.
Mr. McAulliffe has been equally successful as a vocalist, appearing
as soloist with leading symphonies and choral societies around the country, performing twenty seasons with the Chautauqua
Opera Company and touring as a soloist in many European countries. Over the years he has shared his time and experiences,
as both educator and clinician, serving on various community, corporate and county boards relative to the growth of music
and the arts. Prior to his recent retirement, Mr. McAulliffe was the District Leader for Music in the Pittsford School
District.
fingerlakeschoral@earthlink.net
|
