It’s time to mark your calendar for the Georgia summer ACDA convention!

Plans are underway for this summer’s convention, held once again at the fabulous facilities of Clayton State’s Spivey Hall, Thursday, June 28 through Saturday, June 30.

            Our headliner this year will be Dr. Ann Howard Jones, the Director of Choral Activities at Boston University. Many of you will know of Ann through her many years as the Assistant Conductor of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus. She was the assistant for the Robert Shaw Festival Singers and the Robert Shaw Institute. Before coming to Boston, Ann taught at the Universities of Iowa, Georgia, Illinois, and at Wittenburg and Emory Universities.

            I’m sure that all of us hold dear a small number of “mountain-top experiences” in the field of choral music; rare moments that go beyond entertainment or technical precision into something that is approaches to transcendence. For me one of those moments happened at the Southern ACDA Convention in Orlando in 2000. This was the convention that followed the death of Robert Shaw and all of us were still reeling from the weight of the loss of this musical giant to our profession and the musical world. Choristers who had sung under Mr Shaw over the years were asked to gather in Orlando to prepare a special performance of the Durufle Requiem. Norman Mackenzie was the organist and the conductor was Ann Howard Jones. I have often told my choirs and my students that ours is the pursuit of excellence, not the pursuit of perfection. “Perfection is not possible, I tell them, but excellence is. We need to take care lest a lack of perfection rob us of our appreciation of excellence.” But on that day, at that profound occasion, under Ann’s direction, I witnessed a concert that was as close to perfect as any I have ever heard, or will likely hear again. I have thanked Ann several times for that concert and when I see her this summer, I will thank her again.

            Come join Ann and so many of your colleagues from all over the state as we gather to learn, to compare notes and to grow as teachers, leaders, and musicians. Also planned: Presentations by Constantina Tsolainou, new to the faculty at Columbus State and now a member of the GA ACDA family, Karol Kimmel, Director of Children’s and Youth Choirs at All Saints Episcopal in Atlanta, performances by the Men’s and Women’s Honor Choirs, reading sessions, and much more…!

            See you at Spivey!

                        -Eric