2008 Conference - Honor Choir Conductors

Junior High School Honor Choir Conductor
Anthony Sears
Proud New Orleans native Anthony Sears received his Bachelor's degree in music education atSoutheastern Louisiana University and earned his MM in choral conducting at Westminster Choir College where he studied with Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt. While at Westminster, he performed under such noted conductors as Helmuth Rilling, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Wolfgang Sawallisch, and Kurt Masur. Sears went on to teach at Clearview Middle School (New Jersey) for six years and, during his tenure, was named conductor of the New Jersey Junior High State Honor Choir. In 2003, he returned to New Orleans to teach at Eleanor McMain Secondary School. Choirs under his direction while at McMain were invited to perform at the Louisiana Music Educators Association Conference and appeared with the Louisiana Philharmonic and the Louisiana Vocal Arts Chorale, and sang at Carnegie Hall. After Hurricane Katrina demolished New Orleans, Sears taught briefly in Chapel Hill, North Carolina before returning home in 2007 to help rebuild his beloved city, one chorister at a time.

High School Honor Choir Conductor
Timothy Seelig
Timothy Seelig holds four degrees including Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas and the Diploma in Lieder and Oratorio from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He has served on the adjunct music faculty at the Meadows School for the Arts at Southern Methodist University since 1996 where he teaches voice and Vocal Pedagogy. A published arranger and lyricist, Seelig is also the author of The Perfect Blend and The Perfect Rehearsal, both published by Shawnee Press. As a clinician, he has appeared at state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference throughout the country, and has conducted all-state choirs in South Dakota, Connecticut, Michigan and Oregon. During his 20-year tenure as conductor of the Turtle Creek Chorale, Seelig recorded 36 compact discs, participated in an Emmy-award winning documentary, and conducted performances at eight national, division, and state ACDA conferences. He was named Conductor Emeritus by the Turtle Creek Chorale Board of Directors in 2007.
He presently serves on the staff of Hope for Peace & Justice as Program Director for Art. This program utilizes the arts to educate, enlighten and inspire people and thereby create a cultural shift toward peace and justice. Seelig is the proud father of two incredible, and thankfully, grown children.

Collegiate Honor Choir Conductor
William Weinert
Since 1994, William Weinert has served as Professor of Conducting and Director of Choral Activities at the Eastman School of Music, where he conducts the Eastman Chorale and the Eastman-Rochester Chorus and supervises the masters and doctoral programs in choral conducting. He has conducted and given conducting master classes throughout Europe and the United States, as well as in the Far East, and has served throughout the country as a clinician and an adjudicator. Ensembles under Weinert's direction have performed at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators National Conference. Weinert has taught at the University of Wisconsin and the University of Southern Mississippi, and has served for three summers as guest professor at the Staatliche Hochschule für Musik in Freiburg, Germany.

Gospel Honor Choir Conductor
M. Roger Holland, II
M. Roger Holland, II is a graduate of the Manhattan School of Music where he received a Master's Degree in piano performance and his Bachelor's Degree from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey where he majored in music education with a concentration in piano and voice. He has toured nationally and internationally with the world renowned Boys Choir of Harlem and has worked with them as a conductor, pianist, instructor and arranger. Holland currently serves as Minister of Worship and Christian Arts at Calvary Baptist Church in Jamaica, New York. As a clinician, he has presented workshops at numerous jazz festivals, McDonald's Gospelfest, local churches, and at the Hampton University Ministers' Conference. He is the Founder and former Artistic Director for the Queens Symphony Orchestra Youth Gospel Choir. H-Factor Music, the publishing company he started in year 2000, distributes his many choral arrangements. His work is also published by OCP and GIA.
His first original commissioned work, a multi movement composition written for woodwind quintet, mixed voices in five parts, rhythm section and percussion, entitled "The Dream and The Dreamer" was premiered on Martin Luther King's birthday in 2004 by the Rejoicensemble! In 2005, Holland was commissioned by The Negro Spiritual Scholarship Foundation to be composer-in-residence and arrange the spiritual "Down By The River" for their ninth annual competition and gala. He is one of the musicians for the Broadway production, "The Color Purple."

Last revised June 26, 2010

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