Join Dr. Joseph Svendsen as he leads the Masterwork Festival Chorus in a performance of Morten Lauridsen’s Lux Aeterna. The festival chorus will perform with the New York City Chamber Orchestra and soloists as part of MCP’s Masterwork Series. Singers will represent a variety of ensembles from across the country.
Joseph Svendsen is the Director of Choral Studies and Associate Professor of Music at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas, where he conducts the UNLV Singers and Collegium and teaches graduate coursework in conducting and choral literature, working with students seeking the MM in Choral Conducting. During his tenure at UNLV the choirs have toured internationally and regionally and performed at professional conferences and festivals in the southwestern United States. The choirs host the Desert Rose Choral Festival, a one-day festival chorus of high school students drawn from across the southwest.
Svendsen is the artistic director of the Las Vegas Master Singers, a 90-voice volunteer ensemble that serves as the symphony chorus for the Las Vegas Philharmonic and provides the choruses for Opera Las Vegas’s main stage productions. The chorus regularly collaborates with Las Vegas and regional orchestras, choirs, and solo artists and commissions works about life in Nevada through its New Voices outreach program. He is music minister at Faith Lutheran Church in Summerlin, Nevada, where the church’s choral scholars recently completed a residency at St Albans Cathedral in Hertfordshire, England. An active clinician, he has served as an invited conductor in eight countries and seven states, with choirs ranging from middle school through adulthood.
Svendsen is an advocate of critical pedagogy and agency building in the choral rehearsal, developing student musicianship, independence, and engagement through the teaching of diverse repertoire. He has presented on this subject for conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and the National Association for Music Education, as well as several university and school district guest lectures and residencies. Svendsen is a proud alumnus of Luther College, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and Texas Tech University, from which he earned his DMA in Choral Conducting. From 2007-2013 he taught high school vocal music in Fort Dodge, Iowa. His choral mentors and teachers include Richard Bjella, Chester Alwes, Craig Arnold, and Timothy Peter.
Itinerary
Friday, June 7
Arrive in New York City
Check in to hotel
Overnight New York City
Saturday, June 8
Morning Rehearsal
Afternoon free for sightseeing
Evening Broadway Show
Sunday, June 9
Morning free for sightseeing
Afternoon Rehearsal
Evening free for sightseeing
Monday, June 10
Morning free for sightseeing
Afternoon brush-up Rehearsal
Sound check at Carnegie Hall with the New York City Chamber Orchestra
Evening concert
Post-concert buffet reception
Tuesday, June 11
Depart New York City
SCORE
Masterwork Series PAckages
For directors who want it all
Festival Chorus performance with a nationally-recognized guest conductor, professional soloists, the New York City Chamber Orchestra
Sound check and performance at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium
Post-concert buffet reception
mp3 part learning tracks to assist with preparation
Audio and video archival recording of the performance
Commemorative framed mini marquee poster for the ensemble
Certificates of participation for each performer
Four-night stay at a Midtown Manhattan hotel (Westin Times Square, Hilton New York, Sheraton New York, or similar)
MTA Transit pass for use on subways and buses (two one-way rides included with upgrades available)
Group Tickets to a Broadway show
Top of the Rock observation deck
MCP operations associate for personal attention regarding your package
Flight assistance available through in-house airline coordinator
One year of membership for the ensemble director to the online learning platform, Forward Motion
For directors who plan through a tour operator
or want to book their own lodging and activities
Festival Chorus performance with a nationally-recognized guest conductor, professional soloists, the New York City Chamber Orchestra
Sound check and performance at New York City’s legendary Carnegie Hall, Isaac Stern Auditorium
Post-concert buffet reception
mp3 part learning tracks to assist with preparation
Audio and video archival recording of the performance
Commemorative framed mini marquee poster for the ensemble
Certificates of participation for each performer
One year of membership for the ensemble director to the online learning platform, Forward Motion