Caron Daley, guest clinician at the 2022 Choral Festival, directs three School of Music choirs and the Fredonia High School Chamber Choir in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall.
The University of Rochester’s director of choirs, a SUNY Fredonia alumnus, will lead the School of Music’s Choral Festival.
As the festival’s guest clinician, Colin Mann will work with the Chamber Choir, College Choir and Camerata, along with the Fredonia High School Chamber Choir, during the two-day festival on Friday and Saturday, Feb. 21 and 22, in Mason Hall.
Mr. Mann conducts the concert choir and chamber singers in the University of Rochester’s Arthur Satz Department of Music and is also a lecturer in music and director of the Treble Choir at Nazareth University.
“I am thrilled to have one of our own back in Mason Hall for two days to work with our current undergraduate students,” said Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities Vernon Huff.
I want him [Mann] to share his experiences with our students so that they can see themselves achieving so much with their Fredonia music education.” – Dr. Vernon Huff
“I want him to share his experiences with our students so that they can see themselves achieving so much with their Fredonia music education,” added Dr. Huff, who knew Mann as a student and has closely followed Mann’s career during his graduate study at Eastman School of Music.
Students who comprise the School of Music’s Chamber Choir and College Choir, both directed by Huff, and Camerata, directed by Lecturer Brent Weber, along with the high school choir, will experience different pedagogical techniques, voice building and interpersonal communication skills during workshops, master classes and rehearsal sessions Mann will lead on Friday. Mann will also lead a conducting master class for a graduate and two undergraduate students.
The highlight of the festival will be a joint concert in the Juliet J. Rosch Recital Hall on Saturday, 4 p.m., featuring the ensembles and the high school choir directed by alumnus Ryan Shanahan, who received a Mus.B. in Music Education from SUNY Fredonia in 2015.
Mann has chosen pieces to perform with each ensemble that include Hanson's "How Excellent is Thy Name," with the Camerata; "Clear and Gentle Streams," by Finzi, with the Chamber Choir, and "Der Abend," by Brahms, with the College Choir.
The high school choir will join the three choirs at the end of the concert when Mann conducts Hailstork's "Wake Up, My Spirit." It marks the third consecutive year the high school choir has been invited to the festival.
Concert tickets, which are $8 for general admission and $5 for students, may be purchased in advance online or at the Fredonia Ticket Office, located in the Williams Center, or at the door one hour before the concert at Rosch.
Master classes that begin at noon on Friday, followed by afternoon rehearsals to prepare for the festival concert, are free and open to the public.
At SUNY Fredonia, Mann received a Mus.B. in Music Education and Music Performance, graduating summa cum laude, in 2014. He was assistant director of the University Chorus and music director for the Student Opera Theatre Association’s annual Opera Scenes.
A candidate for a D.M.A. in conducting at Eastman, Mann has a M.M. in Conducting with an Advanced Certificate in Community Music Teaching, also from Eastman.
As assistant conductor of the Eastman-Rochester Chorus, Mann conducted a performance of Poulenc’s “Gloria” in May 2024 and completed a text and rhythm analysis of measured music in Poulenc’s sacred vocal music. Before returning to Rochester for his master’s degree, Mann directed secondary school and community choirs throughout western Massachusetts and New England.
Current research interests of Mann include music of the Baltic and Latin American regions. In June, Mann will travel to Lithuania to work with professional choirs and research national trends in new choral music.
Funding support for the festival is being provided by the Carnahan Jackson Fund for the Humanities of the Fredonia College Foundation, and the student chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
