Manitou Singers: ComposeHER, ConductHER Festival Concert

This Spring, the Manitou Singers, conducted by Associate Professor of Music Therees Tkach Hibbard, will present the “ComposeHER, ConductHER Symposium and Festival,” a collaborative musical weekend taking place April 25-26, 2026. The two-day event aims to uplift and celebrate women composers and conductors, and music composed for soprano and alto voices. 

The weekend will consist of two primary events, a symposium for conductors and composers on Saturday, April 25, and a collaborative performance in Boe Memorial Chapel on Sunday, April 26 at 3:30 p.m.. The performance is free and open to the public, with no tickets required, and will also be streamed online.

“Throughout history, women’s voices lifted in song have brought forth change through demonstration, protest, and recognition of the need for equity and justice for every voice and gender in our world,” says Hibbard. “Our ComposeHER, ConductHER Symposium and Festival provides a forum to lift up and amplify the voices of these traditionally under-represented communities.”

The ComposeHER, ConductHER Festival Concert on April 26 will take place in Boe Memorial Chapel at 3:30 p.m. The Manitou Singers will be joined by See Change Treble Choir, Maple Grove High School’s Voce, Northfield High School’s Uno Vox, Minnehaha Academy’s Cantabile, and Northfield Youth Choir’s Anima. Each choir will sing individually, and then in collaboration with Manitou Singers on one selection each, then join as a massed choir led by Kathy Saltzman Romey to end the program. The concert will feature performances of several pieces from new and past composition commissions and ACDA consortiums for Soprano-Alto choirs, along with a large joint performance of Jocelyn Hagen’s “JOY,” a work based on poetry by Sara Teasdale, and originally commissioned for the 2008 Minnesota All-State Women’s Choir.