Dr. Lawrence Burnett

Professor and Choral Director
Carleton College, Minnesota 

Lawrence Burnett received the Bachelor of Music degree in vocal music education from Texas A&I University, the Master of Music degree in choral conducting, vocal pedagogy, and vocal performance from Eastern New Mexico University, and the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from The University of Texas at Austin.

Dr. Burnett has performed extensively as a soloist in recitals, oratorios, musicals and operas with professional orchestras from Texas, New Mexico and New York, in addition to a rigorous schedule as an educator. His teaching experience spans more than thirty years in public schools and colleges, and he has served as guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator for numerous choral festivals, honor choirs, choral and solo competitions, and workshops in the United States and Canada.

Before joining the Carleton faculty in 1993, Dr. Burnett taught for five years at Potsdam College of the State University of New York in the Crane School of Music. In 1992, he was presented the first Governor’s Award for African-Americans of Distinction in New York State for his “service, civic participation and selfless dedication to the Northern New York community.” Since leaving New York, he has been invited to return to conduct regional and state honor choirs including the 1993 All-State Women’s Choir. And, from 1995 to 1999, he served as Artistic Director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts—School of Choral Studies, a program sponsored by the New York Education Department and the New York State School Music Association.

Dr. Burnett is a member of Phi Kappa Lambda, Phi Mu Alpha Music Fraternity of America (for which he served on the Centennial Songbook Committee), the National Association of Negro Musicians, Inc., the Gospel Music Workshop of America, the Center for Black Music Research, the College Music Society, the National Association for Music Education, the International Federation of Choral Music, and the American Choral Directors Association. As an active member of ACDA, between 1988 and 2007, he served as state, regional and national chair of the Repertoire & Standards Committee on Ethnic and Multicultural Perspectives.

Dr. Burnett is actively engaged in researching the histories of arrangers, composers, conductors and performers who have kept alive the styles and traditions of African-American spirituals through public performances and recordings. Recently, he was awarded a grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation to support the creation and development of a website to serve as a primary aid for the study and performance of spirituals, hymns, gospel music and other significant published and unpublished choral compositions by African Americans.

Elizabeth Núñez

Associate Conductor/Director of Satellite and Partner School Programs
The Young People’s Chorus of New York City 

Elizabeth Núñez, Associate Conductor for the award-winning Young People's Chorus of New York City, directs the Prelude and Cantare divisions and serves as vocal coach. Since joining the YPC Staff in 2004, Mrs. Núñez has conducted at the 92nd Street Y, prepared the choir to appear on television including "Regis and Kelly," "The Martha Stewart Show" with Simon Cowell's "Il Divo" and for the lighting of the 5th Avenue Snowflake.  The chorus has also been featured with the Ensemble for the Romantic Century. Under her direction, the YPC Cantare division has traveled to New Orleans and Niagara Falls, Canada.  Mrs. Núñez recently made her Carnegie Hall conducting debut with the YPC, the New York Pops, and American Idol’s Phil Stacey in a concert celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the YPC in October of 2007.

As the Director of YPC Satellite and Partner School Programs, Mrs. Núñez continues to work with New York City public schools to bring a choral experience to over 750 children a year throughout the city. 

Mrs. Núñez continues to sing professionally and recently made her Metropolitan Opera House debut, singing the soprano solo in Mendelssohn’s “A Mid-Summer Night’s Dream.”  She has also appeared in New York's Lincoln Center and Boston's Jordan Hall, and maintains an active voice studio. She made her debut with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale in 2002. Other solo appearances include performances of Handel's Messiah, Britten's Rejoice in the Lamb, and the role of Filia in Carissimi's Jephte. As a choral clinician, she has given workshops around the country and in New York for the NYC Department of Education, the Metropolitan Opera Guild, the NYC School for Strings, and NYSSMA. In February of 2008, she will present at the Eastern Division ACDA Winter Convention. 

Mrs. Núñez received a Bachelor of Music Education at Lee University where she was awarded Music Education Graduate of the Year, and her Master of Music Education from the University of Oklahoma, where she also completed her Kodály education certification. Mrs. Núñez studied conducting with Dennis Shrock and Janet Galván and voice with Dolores Leffingwell and currently with Shirlee Emmons. 

At Lee University, Mrs. Núñez served as Assistant Conductor of the Children's Chorale and student conductor of both the Chorale and Choral Union. At the University of Oklahoma, she served as the Associate Conductor of the Norman Children's Chorus and frequently conducted choral ensembles at the University of Oklahoma including the Kodály Workshop Chorus, University Choir, and University Chorale and was responsible for teaching undergraduate music appreciation classes.

Thomas Cabaniss

Composer

Thomas Cabaniss writes for opera, theater, dance, film, and the concert stage. His choral works include Behold the Star, available on New World Records and published by Boosey & Hawkes. Recent works include It’s All True for choreographer Hilary Easton (2007), Three Sabbaths, for the Columbia University Bach Society (2006), and Hilary Easton's The Short-Cut (2005). The Sandman, an opera based on a story by E.T.A. Hoffmann, was premiered at the Connelly Theater in New York in 2002 and was revived again in 2003.  

His theater scores include: Buffalo Gal (Studio Arena Theater, Williamstown Theater Festival); Mamba's Daughters (Target Margin Theater, Spoleto Festival USA); Galileo (Yale Repertory Theater); The Guest Lecturer (George Street Playhouse); A Streetcar Named Desire, A Christmas Carol (Dallas Theater Center); Pericles, The Marriage of Bette & Boo, Twelfth Night (Center Stage, Baltimore); Hard Times, The Hostage, Twelfth Night (Portland Stage, Maine); The American Plan, Egypt, Mother Courage, Measure for Measure, The Venetian Twins, The Barber of Seville, and When Ladies Battle (Off-Broadway).  

His concert music has been performed by the Young People’s Chorus of New York City, the Juilliard Choral Union, the Philadelphia Orchestra, the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, the Lark String Quartet, the Drumfire Percussion Ensemble, and many others.  

He has served as Composer-in-Residence and conductor for the American Dance Festival's Young Choreographers & Composers Program, and his dance works have been performed at Danspace, the American Dance Festival, the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, and Central Park Summerstage.  

In 1990 he created the score for The Lunch Date (winner of the Academy Award and Palme D'Or for Best Short Film). Other awards include a 1998 Obie Award and Drama Desk nomination for his score and musical direction for Mamba's Daughters.  

He has been on the faculty of The Juilliard School since 1998 and is active in arts education, having served as Director of Education for the New York Chamber Symphony under Gerard Schwarz and the New York Philharmonic under Kurt Masur and Lorin Maazel. He is currently the Music Animateur of the Philadelphia Orchestra: Christoph Eschenbach, Music Director. 1998 ASCAP Foundation Award for Arts Education; articles on arts education in the Teaching Artist Journal; consultant for the Metropolitan Opera Guild. Member ASCAP, American Music Center and Target Margin Theater, David Herskovits, Artistic Director.

More information at www thomascabaniss.com.

The Newark Boys Chorus

The Newark Boys Chorus was founded in 1966 as the New Jersey Symphony Boys Choir. Three years later, the Newark Boys Chorus School was established to create an integrated academic and music program unique to the city of Newark, New Jersey. The school is fully accredited by the Middle State Association of Colleges and Schools and is responsible for the academic and musical education of 80 young urban men from the greater Newark area. The school’s mission is to inspire in the students a love for learning, a quest for excellence, and a compassion for humanity.

Known as Newark’s “Musical Ambassadors,” the Chorus has been heard throughout the world with a diversified repertoire that includes traditional classical music, spirituals, folk music, and jazz. In recent years the boys have toured Australia, South Africa, the Caribbean, Finland, Latvia, and Russia. Recognized for their excellence in performance, they were invited to sing at the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) Eastern Division Convention in Boston, February 2004; and at the Association’s 2005 National Convention in Los Angeles. The Newark Boys Chorus has performed in prestigious venues such as Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Lincoln Center, and the New Jersey Performing Arts Center. During the academic year (2006-07), the chorus made two international trips: Grand Cayman (February); and England & Wales (April).  

The Chorus has appeared on Good Morning America (WABC), and recorded a Christmas Special with the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC), featuring soloists Renee Fleming and Leslie Garrett. The young men have performed the Penderecki ‘St. Luke Passion’ with the Mendelssohn Club of Philadelphia; and participated in the Bard Music Festival’s production of Gustav Mahler’s Eighth Symphony, -the Symphony of a Thousand, under the baton of Leon Botstein.

Academic potential is a principal criterion for admission to the Chorus School. Each student’s potential is nurtured through an intensive educational program. These students are sought after by selective secondary schools nationwide, and most Chorus School graduates continue on to prestigious colleges and universities.

Few Chorus School graduates become professional musicians, but the training and experience they receive demand discipline and poise while providing the self-esteem that these young men will carry with them through life. They leave the Newark Boys Chorus School as young men prepared for and looking forward to a productive and happy future.

Hearsay

Cornell's all-female Hearsay A Cappella was founded in 2000. Hearsay
has grown to a distinguished group of 14 girls who love singing and
performing together. Our repertoire includes a diverse spectrum of
music, from pop to classic rock, and consists almost entirely of our
own arrangements. We work hard to sound good, but always have lots of
fun (and laughs) along the way. For more info about Hearsay A
Cappella, check out www.hearsayacappella.com!

Mass Transit

Since 1997, NYU's Mass Transit has defined the sound of collegiate a
cappella here in New York. MT's repertoire ranges from Janet Jackson
to Joe Cocker, classic rock to musical theater, even soulful standards
to glitzy pop hits. Though the boys represent different academic
concentrations, businessmen and neuroscientists and musicians and
others, they share a common love of performing. Mass Transit is a
beatboxing, voice blaring, dancing, melody making machine.

The InterSchool Orchestras of New York

The InterSchool Orchestras of New York

The InterSchool Orchestras of New York (ISO) is an after school program
comprised of five orchestras, a symphonic band, a chamber music program and
a percussion workshop for players of all levels. The ISO Symphony and
Symphonic Band are full scholarship ensembles for advanced students. The
Carnegie Hill and Concert Orchestras are for intermediate level musicians.
Beginning instrumentalists perform with the Turtle Bay and Morningside
orchestras. More than 300 young musicians, ages 7-19, come from over 120
public and independent schools to participate each year. ISO's outreach
program includes school assembly programs, repair of school-owned
instruments, and instrument introduction days. Study scholarships,
internships and many other opportunities are available to qualified
candidates. For more information on ISO programs, or for updates on
performance dates and locations, please contact us at (212) 410-0370 or
visit our website at www.isorch.org.

Brian Worsdale is entering his 12th season as the founder and conductor of
the ISO Symphonic Band.  Started as a training ensemble, this group has
turned into one of the finest wind ensembles in New York City. It has
performed in major halls and in venues throughout the metropolitan area and
has been given high marks by the cities elite.

Mr. Worsdale is currently director of performing arts for Visitation Academy

in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn.  At Visitation, he teaches vocal and instrumental
music including the first all-girl British brass band in the US. A member of

The Music Educators National Conference and The New York State School Music
Association, Mr. Worsdale was installed as an honorary life member of the
Tri-M Music Honor Society.

During the summer months Brian Worsdale calls Delaware County New York home.

He is the Artistic Director and Conductor of The French Woods Festival of
the Performing Arts, a comprehensive performing arts program. There he
conducts the symphony orchestra and numerous pit orchestras while overseeing
one of the largest and most diverse performing arts program in the United
States.

As a conductor, Mr. Worsdale is the Artistic Director of the Big Apple Corps
Symphonic Band, a Manhattan based community ensemble with a thirty year
history. In addition he has appeared as guest conductor for district music
festivals in New York and New Jersey and as guest conductor for ensembles
such as The Brooklyn Philharmonic, The Bergen Youth Orchestra, the Royal Spa
Brass Band (UK), The Kilkenny Youth Orchestra (Ireland). He has worked with
a wide variety of artists including Jason Robert Brown, The Kleztraphobix,
Julie Wilson, Kitty Carlisle Hart, Scott Mendoker, Marcus Rojas, Graham
Ashton, members of The London Symphony Orchestra, The New York Philharmonic,
Jamie Bernstein and many others.

Mr. Worsdale is a product of the New York City public school system and also
attended the Pre-College of The Manhattan School of Music, Mannes College
Extension Division, and St. Johns University (Staten Island).  His was a
student of Jonathan Strasser (conducting) and David Finlayson of the New
York Philharmonic (trombone.) Additional studies have been with Nicholas
Armstrong and Eugene Minor (conducting) and Fred Braverman (trombone).