Manitou Singers to host ComposeHER, ConductHER Symposium and Festival in April
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. The two-day event aims to uplift and celebrate women composers and conductors, as well as music written 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 Symposium on April 25 will serve students and professionals interested in composing and conducting. The day will feature panels and workshops with gathered women and female-identifying composers and conductors, including Mari Esabel Valverde ’10 and Abbie Betinis ’01. These panels will be moderated by Kyra Stahr and McKenna Stenson, sisters who host the conduct(her) Podcast. The symposium will also feature a reading session of new choral works, including pieces selected through the symposium’s open call for compositions, and will conclude with a masterclass in conducting with University of Minnesota professor emeritus, Kathy Saltzman Romey. Individuals interested in attending may RSVP here.
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 perform individually before joining Manitou Singers for collaborative selections, culminating in a massed choir led by Romey. 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 originally commissioned for the 2008 Minnesota All-State Women’s Choir.
“Too often, treble voices are relegated and under-represented in choral literature and amateur, educational, and professional ensembles,” says Hibbard. “We take this opportunity to amplify and empower these valued voices and their music to represent their important contributions to our choral profession and significance in our contemporary musical world.”
The concert will serve as a benefit event for Ruth’s House of Hope, Inc., a nonprofit organization in Faribault, Minnesota that provides housing in a safe, supportive, and healing environment for women and children in crisis.
The Manitou Singers are composed of alto and soprano voices from the first-year class, performing repertoire that ranges from the sacred and secular works to popular ballads – including recent collaborative social justice-centered performances of Jodie Goble’s True Witness: A Civil Rights Cantata with St. Olaf Cantorei in the spring of 2022 and Andrea Ramsey’s Suffrage Cantata in 2024. Hibbard serves as the conductor of the Manitou Singers and St. Olaf Chamber Singers.