Choral & Sacred Music students find professional success

Several graduate students of the USC Thornton Choral & Sacred Music program have recently brought their work to larger audiences.

DMA candidate Irene Apanovitch-Leites presented at the Canadian Choral Directors’ Summer Conference in late June. She will bring her presentation, “How Do Singers Relate: Exploring the Connection Between Empathy and Choral Singing,” to the ACDA International Symposium in Choral Singing in September at Northwestern University.

Micah Bland, who will begin his DMA at Thornton this Fall, recently published an article entitled “Voices in Your Head: A Method for Teaching Audiation in the Secondary Choral Classroom,” in ChorTeach, the ACDA publication targeted to elementary to high school Teachers.

And DMA candidate Scott Rieker has been appointed as Interim Director of Choral Activities at Frostburg State University in Maryland, where he will begin teaching this Fall.