ATLANTA SUMMER CONDUCTING INSTITUTE
Immerse yourself in a week of musical mentorship in the conducting art.
Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute
June 26 - 30
“I would absolutely recommend this institute for other musicians.”
Choral Track
The Choral Track will accept Conducting Fellows and Auditors. Each conductor will receive 4 sessions of podium time.
Wind Band Track
The Wind Band Track will accept Conducting Fellows and Auditors. Each conductor will receive 5 sessions of podium time.
June 26 - 30
Choral Track Schedule
The Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute offers approximately
500 MINUTES
of master class time
Sample Schedule
Monday
Welcome
Morning Sing with Dr. Bara
Lecture: Assembling and Preparing the Choral Ensemble
Building Choral Tone, and Teaching Ensemble Awareness Skills
Lunch
Conducting Master Class
End of Day
Tuesday
Questions from the Class
Optional for those who wish to ask in-depth questions
Morning Sing with Dr. Bara
Lecture: The Score: Seeing All That Is In There
Namely, its questions, mechanics, technical hurdles, dramatic opportunities, stylistic assumptions, and interpretive options.
Lunch
Conducting Master Class
End of Day
Wednesday
Questions from the Class
Optional for those who wish to ask in-depth questions
Morning Sing with Dr. Bara
Workshop: Rehearsal Techniques
A demonstration of techniques and overriding aesthetic goals of brisk, productive, efficient, rewarding rehearsals.
Lunch
Beethoven & Company
Visit Beethoven & Company’s booth to explore their selection of print music, vocal exercises, teacher’s resources and more.
Conducting Master Class
End of Day
Thursday
Beethoven & Company
Visit Beethoven & Company’s booth to explore their selection of print music, vocal exercises, teacher’s resources and more.
Questions from the Class
Optional for those who wish to ask in-depth questions
Morning Conducting Master Class
Lunch
Afternoon Conducting Master Classes
End of Day
Friday
Beethoven & Company
Visit Beethoven & Company’s booth to explore their selection of print music, vocal exercises, teacher’s resources and more.
Morning Conducting Master Class
Lunch
Beethoven & Company
Visit Beethoven & Company’s booth to explore their selection of print music, vocal exercises, teacher’s resources and more.
Conducting Master Class
End of Day
June 26 - 30
Wind Band Track Schedule
Accepted Conducting Fellows receive
DAILY
podium time.
Sample Schedule
Monday
Welcome
Introduction and Technique Session
Kopleff Recital Hall
Conducting Session 1
Small Group Conducting
Lunch
Lecture
Conducting Session 2
Small Group Conducting
Wrap Up and Questions
End of Day
Tuesday
Morning Introductions & Techniques Session
Conducting Session 3
Full Band Conducting Session
Lunch
Lecture
Conducting Session 4
Small Group Conducting
Wrap Up and Questions
End of Day
Wednesday
Morning Introduction and Techniques Session
Conducting Session 5
Full Band Conducting Session
Lunch
Lecture
Conducting Session 6
Small Group Conducting
Wrap Up and Questions
End of Day
Thursday
Morning Introduction and Techniques Session
Conducting Session 7
Chamber Ensemble Conducting Session
Lunch
Beethoven & Company
Visit Beethoven & Company’s booth to explore their selection of print music, warmup exercises, teacher’s resources and more.
Lecture
Conducting Session 8
Small Group Conducting
Wrap Up and Questions
End of Day
Friday
Morning Introduction and Techniques Session
Conducting Session 9
Full Band Conducting Session
Wrap Up and Questions
Workshop Ends
June 26 - 30
Faculty

Dr. Daniel Bara
Daniel Bara is the John D. Boyd UGA Foundation Professor of Choral Music and the Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at the Hugh Hodgson School of Music at the University of Georgia where oversees seven university choral ensembles as well as the graduate choral conducting program. His university choirs have performed by juried invitation for state, regional, and national conventions of ACDA, MENC, and IMC. In spring of 2014, The UGA Hodgson Singers won the Grand Prix at the International Choral Competition Ave Verum in Baden, Austria and performed at the ACDA Southern Division Convention in Jacksonville, FL. His former MM and DMA conducting students now hold collegiate conducting appointments at Susquehanna University, New England Conservatory, Miami University of Ohio, University of Idaho, William Jewell College, as well as heads of church and school choral music programs throughout the country.
Prior to his appointment at UGA, Dr. Bara was the Director of Choral Activities at East Carolina University, where he received the UNC Board of Governors Distinguished Professor for Teaching Award and the Robert L. Jones Award for Outstanding Teaching, and released two internationally distributed choral recordings, Greater Love (2007) and Eternal Light (2010) with Gothic Records. In 2001was a winner of the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize given at the Eastman School of Music, and the ACDA National Student Conducting Competition (Graduate Division) awarded at the National Convention in San Antonio, TX.
Dr. Bara is a past-president of NC-ACDA, has held the Artistic Directorship of the New York State Summer School of the Arts – School of Choral Studies (2007-2009), and has served as conductor of the World Youth Honor Choir at Interlochen Arts Camp (2004-2006). He is in regular demand as a guest conductor and clinician, having conducted all-state and honor choirs in 17 states and Carnegie Hall, and has served as a clinician for conferences sponsored by ACDA, AGO, and other school and church musical organizations.
Dr. Bara holds the DMA degree in conducting from the Eastman School of Music, organ and conducting degrees from the University of Michigan, and is a graduate of Interlochen Arts Academy. He is the Repertoire and Standards Chair for Youth and Student Activities for the Southern Division Chapter of ACDA and has served on conference planning committees for the 2012 and 2016 Southern Division conferences. At UGA, Dr. Bara conducts the UGA Hodgson Singers, the University Chorus, and oversees the graduate conducting student recital choir, The Repertory Singers.

Dr. Deanna Joseph
Dr. Deanna Joseph is Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at the Georgia State University School of Music where she conducts the University Singers and leads the master’s program in choral conducting. In 2015, she was the recipient of the College of Arts and Sciences’ Outstanding Teacher Award at Georgia State, where she was selected out of a pool of over 800 faculty. A recent review of her work states, “[t]he choir sings with great musicality, excellent intonation, clear diction, and a healthy and beautiful pallet of tone colors…” (The Choral Scholar).
In May of 2017, the University Singers under Dr. Joseph’s leadership won first place in the renowned Marktoberdorf International Chamber Choir Competition while on a concert tour of Austria and Bavaria. In May of 2013, the University Singers competed in La Florilège Vocal de Tours where the choir placed second overall in the mixed choir category and Dr. Joseph was honored with the Prix du chef de choer (conducting prize). The Georgia State University Singers have been invited to perform at two Southern Division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association and at two conventions of the Georgia Music Educator’s Association during Dr. Joseph’s tenure at GSU, and the Georgia State University Choirs have been hired to sing two productions of David Bintley’s Carmina Burana with the Atlanta Ballet: in 2013 (North American premiere performances) and 2017. The choir’s professional recording, Evening Hymn (Gothic Records), is distributed internationally by Naxos and is available for purchase or streaming on all the major music distribution outlets including Amazon, Spotify, iTunes, etc. The American Record Guide review states “There are no runts in the repertory litter…[and] [t]he Georgia State choir of 40 is very good at all of it: radiant as dusk approaches, but hushed and sensitive to the coming darkness as shadows deepen and fall.” The disk has been featured several times on National Public Radio’s program, With Heart and Voice.
Dr. Joseph is an active guest conductor and headline clinician and has conducted all-state and honor choirs in more than twelve states. She is a frequent conductor of choral-orchestral repertoire, and has led performances of Mendelssohn’s Elijah, Beethoven Mass in C, Mozart’s Requiem, Haydn’s Creation and Lord Nelson Mass, Schubert’s Mass in A-flatand Bruckner’s Mass in D Minor. She has prepared choirs to sing with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra, the Atlanta Opera, and Andrea Bocelli. One of her small ensembles was featured on a 2016 episode of “The Walking Dead”.
Dr. Joseph’s research in the area of 19th century choral-orchestral performance-practice has led to invited presentations on the topic at several division conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association and at the national convention for the National Collegiate Choral Organization. In October of 2012 she was selected as one of 25 presenters from ten countries to speak at the Lund Choral Festival in Sweden.
Prior to her appointment at Georgia State University, Dr. Joseph served on the faculties at Smith College, the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and Hobart and William Smith Colleges.
Dr. Joseph holds conducting degrees from the Eastman School of Music, where she was awarded the Walter Hagen Conducting Prize. She is the founder and artistic director of the Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute (ASCI), a weeklong, summer conducting master class that draws conductors from across the country.

Dr. Robert Ambrose
Conductor Robert J. Ambrose enjoys a highly successful and diverse career as a dynamic and engaging musician. His musical interests cross many genres and can be seen in the wide range of professional activities he pursues. Dr. Ambrose studied formally at Boston College, Boston University and Northwestern University, where he received the Doctor of Music degree in conducting. Dr. Ambrose currently serves as Director of Bands and Professor of Music at Georgia State University a research institution of over 53,000 students located in Atlanta.
Dr. Ambrose is in constant demand as a guest conductor and has performed on four continents. Recent engagements include performances in Australia, Canada, Finland, Germany, Greece, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Taiwan as well as across the United States. In 2016, Dr. Ambrose was invited to spend ten days on tour as a guest conductor with the United States Army Field Band. Ambrose is the only civilian in history to be invited to guest conduct a premiere American military band on tour. This engagement led to the formation of the National Chamber Winds, a professional wind dectet based in Washington, D.C. for which he is Founder and Music Director. Ambrose is also the Founder and Music Director of the Atlanta Chamber Winds and Ensemble ATL, ensembles comprising musicians from the Atlanta Symphony, Atlanta Opera, and Atlanta Ballet Orchestras.
Dr. Ambrose is Founder and Principal Guest Conductor of the Metropolitan Atlanta Youth Wind Ensemble (MAYWE), a highly-select high school honor ensemble consisting of musicians from throughout the Atlanta area. During his nine-year tenure as Music Director, nearly 1000 high school students participated in the MAYWE program and the ensemble was invited to perform at Carnegie Hall on two occasions.
Dr. Ambrose has strong ties to the Finnish music community. He is frequently engaged in that country as a guest conductor, teacher, master clinician, and lecturer. Recent guest conducting appearances include the Finnish Navy Band, the Helsinki Police Band, the STM Summer Music Festival Wind Orchestra, the Rauma Wind Band, and the youth wind bands of Kokkola, Kotka, and Rauma. He has taught conducting workshops in Tampere, Rauma, Kuopio, and Kokkola, and has served as a guest lecturer at the Central Ostrobothnian Conservatory and the Sibelius Academy.
Ambrose is a prolific arranger with nearly two dozen publications to his credit. His transcriptions and editions are published by Presser Music, Murphy Music Press, C. Alan Publications, Fennica Gehrman (Finland), and Edition Tilli (Finland). His transcriptions appear on several state lists and have been performed around the world.

Dr. John Lynch
John Lynch is a leading international wind conductor and a dual citizen of the United States and Australia. He is currently the Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point. He was formerly Director of Bands at the Sydney Conservatorium of Music and Director of Bands and Professor of Music at the University of Georgia and the University of Kansas, and Associate Director of Bands at Northwestern University. He is the founder and artistic director of Sydney’s professional chamber orchestra: Verbrugghen Ensemble, and was the conductor of Chicago’s Northshore Concert Band, the Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony, and founder of the Greater New York Wind Symphony and the KU/Kansas City Youth Wind Symphony.
Dr. Lynch has performed throughout the United States, Canada, Europe, South America, Asia, and Australia including the national conferences of CBDNA, ABA and nafme, WASBE, the Australian National Band and Orchestra Conference, Midwest, and Interlochen. A passionate advocate for new music he has commissioned, recorded, and premiered works from around the globe with a focus on diversity. He is a recording artist with Naxos and Klavier Records. Dr. Lynch is the recipient of the American Prize, the Georgia Creative Research Medal, the Stanbury Award for outstanding teaching and conducting, and a Northwestern University Searle Fellow for Teaching Excellence. He holds degrees from Indiana University, the Eastman School of Music and the Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
June 26 - 30
Repertoire
20 FELLOWS
receive a total of 40 minutes of podium time throughout multiple sessions
Choral Track
Choral Repertoire for the upcoming Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute will be released in the spring and will be listed with the appropriate edition and publisher. Conductors will be assigned selections to ensure a wide range of music styles and all literature is covered. Auditors and Conducting Fellows will be responsible for purchasing or providing their own copies of the repertoire.
Complete Publishers Packets will be made available through Beethoven and Company by visiting the Beethoven & Company Website. Participants may choose to order music individually or through their publisher of choice, however; please note the indicated preferred publications for the repertoire.
Music listed through the Choral Public Domain Library (cpdl.org) is free and should be downloaded and printed prior to attending the workshop. CPDL selections will not be included in the completed Publishers Packet from Beethoven and Company.
Wind Band Track
Wind Band Repertoire for the upcoming Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute will be released in the spring and will be listed with the appropriate edition and publisher. Conductors will be assigned selections based upon their submitted preferences to ensure a wide range of music styles and all literature is covered. Participants in the program are encouraged to purchase their own copies of the conductor’s score to the repertoire, but it is not required. Each conductor will be expected to provide their own original copies of the scores to the works they are conducting (or have written permission to use copies). Georgia State remains in strict compliance with copyright laws
2023 CHORAL REPERTOIRE
Extended Works
- FELIX MENDELSSOHN: Elijah
- PV = G Schirmer FS = Carus or Dover
- GF HANDEL: Dixit Dominus
- PV = Barenreiter FS = Barenreiter
Octavos
- ERIC WHITACRE: Sing Gently
- SHAWN KIRCHNER: Tu Voz
- SHAWN KIRCHNER: Tu sangre en la mia
- JONATHAN DOVE: In beauty may I walk
- CHARLES VILLIERS STANFORD: To Chloris
- ROBERT PEARSALL: Great God of Love
- DAN FORREST: The Sun Never Says
- KEN BURTON: A Prayer
- SARAH QUARTEL: Grow (SSA)
- KRISTIN KUSTER: Volta
- STEN KÄLLMAN: Peze Kafe
- STEPHEN PAULUS: The Day is Done
- DOMINICK DIORIO: O Day of Fire and Sun
- JACOB CLEMENS NON PAPA: Ego Flos Campi
- ERIC WHITACRE: The Sacred Veil
- IVO ANTOGNINI: Julilate Deo
- PHILIP STOPFORD: Jubilate
All octavos are SATB unless otherwise indicated.
2023 WIND BAND REPERTOIRE
Small Group
- Short SATB excerpts from well-known band and chamber wind works, provided by Georgia State University
Full Ensemble
- Grade 3: Julie Giroux – The Grace in Being
- Grade 3: Cait Nishimura – Chasing Sunlight
- Grade 3: Hugh M. Stuart – Three Ayers from Gloucester, mvt. 1
- Grade 3: Hugh M. Stuart – Three Ayers from Gloucester, mvt. 2
- Grade 3: Hugh M. Stuart – Three Ayers from Gloucester, mvt. 3
- Grade 3.5: Jennifer Jolley – Ash
- Grade 4: Katahj Copley – Cold
- Grade 4: John Mackey – Sheltering Sky
- Grade 4: Frank Ticheli – Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, mvt. 1
- Grade 4: Frank Ticheli – Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, mvt. 2
- Grade 4: Frank Ticheli – Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, mvt. 3
- Grade 4: Frank Ticheli – Simple Gifts: Four Shaker Songs, mvt. 4
- Grade 5: Norman Dello Joio – Scenes from the Louvre, mvt. 1
- Grade 5: Norman Dello Joio – Scenes from the Louvre, mvt. 2
- Grade 5: Norman Dello Joio – Scenes from the Louvre, mvt. 3
- Grade 5: Norman Dello Joio – Scenes from the Louvre, mvt. 4
- Grade 5: Norman Dello Joio – Scenes from the Louvre, mvt. 5
- Grade 5: Gustav Holst (ed. Matthews) – Second Suite in F, mvt. 1
- Grade 5: Gustav Holst (ed. Matthews) – Second Suite in F, mvt. 2
- Grade 5: Gustav Holst (ed. Matthews) – Second Suite in F, mvt. 3
- Grade 5: Gustav Holst (ed. Matthews) – Second Suite in F, mvt. 4
- Grade 6: Percy Grainger (ed. Fennell) – Lincolnshire Posy, mvt. 2
- Grade 6: Percy Grainger (ed. Fennell) – Lincolnshire Posy, mvt. 4
- Grade 6: Percy Grainger (ed. Fennell) – Lincolnshire Posy, mvt. 6
June 26 - 30
Fees
Up to
70 AUDITORS
to attend the Institute
Choral Track Fees
Application Fee - $25.00
Conducting Fellow - $595.00
Institute Auditor - $395.00
Wind Band Track Fees
Application Fee - $25.00
Conducting Fellow - $595.00
Institute Auditor - $295.00
June 26 - 30
Application
$25 Application Fee due with application
Choral Track
Deadline extended: May 1st - Conducting Fellow Application Due
Week of May 15th - Applicants Notified of Acceptance
Wind Band Track
Deadline extended: May 1st - Conducting Fellow Application Due
Applicants will be notified within 2 weeks of their submission
Auditor applications will be accepted until June 2nd, 2023, or until auditor capacity has been reached.
Hotels
Residence Inn Atlanta Downtown
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Book your group rate for GSU-Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute You will find the information for your online reservation link below. If you have questions or need help with the link, please do not hesitate to ask. We appreciate your business and look forward to a successful event. |
Event Summary: |
GSU-Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute |
Start Date: Sunday, June 25, 2023 |
End Date: Friday, June 30, 2023 |
Last Day to Book: Friday, May 26, 2023 |
Hotel(s) offering your special group rate: Residence Inn Atlanta Downtown for $142 per night Book your group rate for GSU-Atlanta Summer Conducting Institute |
Contact Us
Mailing Address
Georgia State University College of the Arts
Attn: Amy Reid
P.O. Box 3984
Atlanta, GA 30302Office Address
35 Broad Street, Suite 410
Atlanta, GA 30303Office Hours
Mon. - Fri.
8:30 a.m. - 5:15 p.m.