Category: Podcasts

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Episode 3: What’s in a Gesture? Bradley Ellingboe

Bradley Ellingboe 

In this episode, I sit down with noted conductor and composer, Bradley Ellingboe to discuss what attributes make a great conductor.

A Practical Guide to Choral Conducting published by Kjos Music

Bradley Ellingboe

Bradley Ellingboe has led a wide-ranging career in the world of singing,  including accomplishments as a choral conductor, soloist, composer, scholar and teacher.  As a choral conductor he has led festival choruses in 35 states and 14 foreign countries. He made his operatic conducting debut in December, 2011, leading the world-premiere  of Stephen Paulus’s opera Shoes for the Santo Niño in a joint production by the Santa Fe Opera and the University of New Mexico.  As a bass-baritone soloist he has sung under such conductors as Robert Shaw, Helmuth Rilling, and Sir David Willcocks. Ellingboe has over 140 pieces of music in print, including the Requiem for chorus and orchestra, which has been performed more than 300 times in this country and Europe, and his newest work, Star Song, which had its New York debut (Lincoln Center) in May of 2014, and its European debut in July of that year.   For his scholarly work in making the songs of Edvard Grieg more accessible to the English-speaking public, he was knighted by the King of Norway in 1994. As a teacher, the University of New Mexico Alumni Association named him Faculty of the Year in 2008.

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Bradley Ellingboe retired in 2015 after serving on the faculty of the University of New Mexico for 30 years, where he was Director of Choral Activities, Professor of Music and Regents Lecturer.  During his three decades at UNM he also served at various times as Chairman of the Department of Music and Coordinator of Vocal Studies.  He is a graduate of Saint Olaf College and the Eastman School of Music and has done further study at the Aspen Music Festival, the Bach Aria Festival, the University of Oslo and the Vatican.

Ellingboe has won annual awards for his choral compositions from ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Arrangers and Publishers since 2000.  His choral music is widely sung and is published by Oxford, G Schirmer, Augsburg, Walton, GIA, Hal Leonard, Mark Foster, Choristers Guild, Alliance, Concordia, Selah, and particularly the Neil A. Kjos Music Company, for whom he edits two series of choral octavos. In 2017 he became Acquisitions Editor for National Music Publishing.

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Episode 2: Advocating for Our Art. Part 2-Dale Trumbore

In the second part of this episode, I chat with composer Dale Trumbore about how we, as performers and composers, can tell our story in an authentic and vulnerable way.

Dale’s Essay discussed in episode

Dale Trumbore

Dale Trumbore is a Los Angeles-based composer and writer whose music has been praised by the New York Times for its “soaring melodies and beguiling harmonies.” Trumbore’s compositions have been performed widely in the U.S. and internationally by ensembles including the American Contemporary Music Ensemble (ACME), Los Angeles Master Chorale, Los Angeles Children’s Chorus, Modesto Symphony, Neave Trio, Pacific Chorale, Pasadena Symphony, The Singers – Minnesota Choral Artists, and VocalEssence.

Trumbore is Composer in Residence for Choral Chameleon and was previously Composer in Residence for Nova Vocal Ensemble. She has been an Artist in Residence at Brush Creek Foundation for the Arts, Copland House, Dorland Mountain Arts Colony, the Helene Wurlitzer Foundation of New Mexico, and Willapa Bay AiR.

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How to Go On, Choral Arts Initiative’s album of Trumbore’s choral works, debuted at #6 on Billboard’s Traditional Classical Chart. Choral Arts Northwest, The Esoterics, Helix Collective, New York Virtuoso Singers, and soprano Gillian Hollis have also commercially recorded works by Trumbore. Her music is published through Boosey & Hawkes, G. Schirmer, and MusicSpoke.

As a composer who works frequently with words, Trumbore is passionate about setting to music poems, prose and found text by living writers. She has written extensively about overcoming creative blocks and establishing a career in music in essays for 21CM, Cantate Magazine, the Center for New Music, MusicSpoke, and NewMusicBox. She is currently at work on her first book, Staying Composed.

Trumbore holds a dual degree in Music Composition and English from the University of Maryland and a Master of Music degree in Composition from the University of Southern California. A New Jersey native, Trumbore lives in the Eagle Rock neighborhood of L.A. with her fiancé and their two cats.

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Episode 2: Advocating for Our Art. Part 1-Elise Hepworth


How do we “sell” our profession? How do we tell the story of what we do so that non-musicians can understand? We all know our “why,” now let’s learn how to share that with the world! In this episode I will discuss Music Education Advocacy with Dr. Elise Hepworth.

Dr. Elise Hepworth

Dr. Elise Hepworth is associate professor and Director of Choral Activities and Music Education at Missouri Western State University. This is her fourth year as an alto in Kantorei of Kansas City, and is the founding director of the Robidoux Chorale, a semi-professional chamber ensemble in Saint Joseph.

and Music Education at Missouri Western State University. This is her fourth year as an alto in Kantorei of Kansas City, and is the founding director of the Robidoux Chorale, a semi-professional chamber ensemble in Saint Joseph.

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Dr. Hepworth was recently awarded the Foundation for Teaching Excellence by Missouri Western State University, the Mayor’s Award for Arts Educator of the Year and the Shine On Award for the community of Saint Joseph, and the MCDA Northwest District Outstanding Director for the year 2016.  She is an avid performer and presenter at state, national, and international conventions.

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Links mentioned in the podcast
https://mmea.net/ (click on Advocacy Network Form) to join the Advocacy Networkhttps://nafme.org/advocacy/what-you-can-do/

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Episode 1: Health, Happiness and Balance, with Beth Munce

At times, we, as working professionals, struggle to maintain our health and balance. As a result, our happiness suffers. In this episode, I will share my thoughts on this as well as get a reality check from my wife, Beth, on whether or not I am “balanced.”

The Inaugural episode of the Choralosophy Podcast was designed to let you know where I am coming from. A little bit about what makes me me. I discuss one of the original reasons for starting this show: the belief that the ability to ground our work in philosophy and a solid “why” is critical for avoiding burnout and despair in our work lives, and lives in general. Since then, the show has taken me on MANY wild rides. Please enjoy this flashback.

Beth Munce

Beth Kakacek-Munce, a coloratura soprano, is renowned for her “beautifully effortless” and “stunning” singing.  Beth is passionate about the choral arts and actively sings in several professional choral ensembles and as a featured soloist for chamber works. Beth has sung with Kantorei of Kansas City since its inception in 2009 and has been a featured soloist on Kantorei’s albums “To Bethlehem,” and “Music and Sweet Poetry,” recorded by the UK-based label, Resonus Classics. 

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Beth has also been a member of the Grammy-award winning Kansas City Chorale and was fortunate to add her voice to the recording of “The Sacred Works of Joseph Reinberger” which was nominated for two Grammy Awards.  Beth was also a founding member of the nationally renowned Early Music Ensemble, Armonia, under the direction of Dr. Ryan Board. Beth was consistently a featured soloist with Armonia and was featured at the Piccolo-Spoleto Festival in 2006 and 2007 and The National ACDA convention in 2007. Recent projects Beth has enjoyed lending her voice to include performing the production of the Medieval musical play of “Daniel” under the direction of Anne Azema, a collaboration with Boston Camerata and KC’s Te Deum Antiqua.  Beth has also recently performed the soprano solos for Handel’s Dixit Dominus under the baton of Dr. Jacob Narverud, the soprano solos for The Biber Requiem under the direction of Matthew Shepard as well as the soprano solos for Handel’s Messiah under the direction of Dr. William Baker.  Beth also frequently lends her voice to professional demo recording projects.   

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Beth completed her Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance at the Conservatory of Music at UMKC in 2006 under the tutelage of Dr. Rebecca Sherburn and Dr. Scott Anderson.  Prior to that Beth earned her undergraduate degree from Idaho State University.  Beth has enjoyed performing operatic roles such as The Doll” from Les Contes d’Hoffman, Papagena from Mozart’s Die Zauberflöte, Zerlina from Mozart’s Don Giovanni and Guinone from Monteverdi’s “Il Ritorno d’Ulisse in Patria” and “first witch” from Purcell’s Dido and Aneas.  Beth is a passionate voice teacher and has an active voice studio of 34 students. Beth and her husband Chris are the proud parents of Clara and Colin, their biggest pride and joy in life.

Link to post on FB and Twitter about Happiness and Teen suicide so you can see them in their contexts or share them if you there are people that you think need to see them.


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