Jerry McCoy | Richard Sparks | Alan McClung | Graduate TA/TF's
Dr. Jerry McCoy is in his eleventh year as Director of Choral Studies and Professor of Music at the University of North Texas where he conducts the A Cappella Choir, the North Texas Chamber Choir and the Grand Chorus, teaches graduate choral conducting and advanced choral techniques, and guides the choral studies program consisting of nine performance choirs. He is also Music Director of Schola Cantorum of Texas, one of the foremost volunteer choruses in Texas. He is national president of the 18,000-member American Choral Directors Association, a member of the INTERKULTUR international music advisory board (the administrating entity for the World Choir Games), and a member of the editorial board of the Choral Scholar. For six years he was founder/music director of the Texas Choral Artist, a professional chamber choir based in Dallas, Texas.
In 2009 he served as chorus master for the Dallas Wind Symphony performances of Orff’s Carmina Burana (with Schola Cantorum of Texas and two UNT choirs). The Dallas Morning News ranked the performances in the top 10 concerts of the year. In 2006, he served as conductor of Bach’s Mass in b Minor with Texas Camerata and Texas Choral Artists, a performance that was hailed as one of the top three classical performances of the year by the Fort Worth Star Telegram. In 2008 he served as chorus master for performances of the Mozart Requiem performed by the Texas Ballet Theatre, the Fort Worth Symphony Orchestra, and the Schola Cantorum of Texas. The concerts were hailed as artistic triumphs.
Dr. McCoy has been a guest conductor for the Tucson Symphony Orchestra, the New England Symphonic Ensemble, the Texas Camerata, the renowned Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Incheon City Chorale (South Korea’s foremost professional choir), the Daegu (Korea) City Choir, the Wichita (Kansas) Chamber Chorale, and the Wichita Falls (Texas) Symphony Orchestra. He sang and recorded with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in New York City and throughout southern France, and with the Banff (Canada) Festival Chamber Choir led by distinguished Swedish conductor Eric Ericson. His Choirs have given concerts with the Dallas Wind Symphony, Abilene Symphony Orchestra, the Richardson Symphony Orchestra, the Schola Cantorum Festival Orchestra, and numerous university and contract orchestras.
Dr. McCoy is one of America’s most well-respected choral conductors, having conducted all-state, regional, festival, and performance clinics in thirty-six states across the nation. He has served as guest clinician/conductor in Austria, China, England, Korea, Sweden, Taiwan, and Venezuela. Guest engagements for 2009-2011 include appearances in China, South Korea (Bucheong and Incheon), Taiwan (Taipei, Jung-Li and Tou-Fen), Colorado, Kansas, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, New Mexico, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Texas.
Distinguished appearances by his choirs include refereed performances for the national conventions of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (2008); the American Choral Directors Association (2005, 1999, 1997); the Association of British Choral Directors (2000); and MENC (1992). In 2004 he led a session for TCDA with the Texas Choral Artists concerning music of South America. Since coming to UNT, his A Cappella choir has twice been honored with invitations to sing for TMEA (2004 and 2010). He was a featured guest conductor/lecturer, with the UNT A Cappella Choir, on the program of the 9th Taipei International Choral Festival in 2009.
Dr. McCoy’s choirs have toured Europe three times, giving concerts at the Salzburger Dom, St. Patrick’s Cathedral (Dublin), St. Bartholomew’s Cathedral (London), Chester Cathedral (Chester) and St. Nicolas Church (Prague). He has served as Artist in Residence for universities across the nation including Portland State University, the University of Missouri-Kansas City, the University of Delaware, Western Washington University, Southern Utah University, and the University of Missouri-St. Louis.
Dr. McCoy sang and recorded throughout the 1990’s with the Robert Shaw Festival Singers in New York City and across southern France, and with the Banff (Canada) Festival Chamber Choir led by distinguished Swedish conductor Eric Ericson.
His commercial recordings include releases by Klavier Records (Carmina Burana with the UNT Grand Chorus and Wind Symphony, Eugene Corporon, conductor) and GIA Music Publications (Musick’s Empire featuring the UNT A Cappella Choir and the North Texas Chamber Choir, and two companion recordings for Teaching Music Through Performance in Choir), as well as five compact discs produced and released through the UNT College of Music (O Gladsome Light –The UNT Choirs Live in Concert!, peace I leave with you and Imaginings) and the OSU Department of Music (An OSU Christmas and Cantus Gloriosus).
Dr. McCoy holds advanced degrees in choral conducting from The University of Texas at Austin and an undergraduate degree in Choral Music Education from the University of Texas at Arlington. He has studied in conductor exchange programs in Venezuela, Sweden, and Germany and has attended master classes with Frieder Bernius and Eric Ericson. He is past national chairman of the College and University Repertoire and Standards Committee for the ACDA.
WHAT THE CRITICS SAY
Scott Cantrell, Music Critic, Dallas Morning News, Verdi Requiem, UNT Symphony Orchestra and Grand Chorus, Jerry McCoy, chorus master
“There was an amazing performance of the Verdi requiem Sunday afternoon…The thrilling sound of the chorus was no surprise. Professor Jerry McCoy has made the school (UNT) a choral mecca” (April 2010)
Scott Cantrell, Music Critic, The Dallas Morning News
Dallas Wind Symphony performance of Orff’s Carmina Burana, Jerry McCoy, chorus master
“…But what was really amazing was the taut, powerful singing of the Schola Cantorum of Texas, the A Cappella Choir and Chamber Choir from the University of North Texas, Southern Methodist University’s Meadows Chorale, and the Texas Boys Choir.” (September 2009)
Chris Shull, Music Critic, Fort Worth Star-Telegram
Schola Cantorum of Texas performance of Hadyn and Mozart Masses, jerry McCoy, conductor
“…The Schola Cantorum Choir of 60 voices, joined by four soloists and chamber orchestra, gave a spirited and assured performance under the direction of Jerry McCoy. The choir sounded full, articulate and well-blended…” (April 2009)
Scott Cantrell, Music Critic, The Dallas Morning News
The UNT Grand Chorus and Symphony Orchestra performance of Alexander Nevsky “… the UNT Grand Chorus, prepared by Jerry McCoy, was fabulous: firm, focused, fine-tuned and genuinely exciting.” (April 2008)
Texas Choral Artists and Texas Camerata
Matthew Erickson, Music Critic, Fort Worth Star-Telegram Bach Mass on B Minor; Texas Choral Artists and Texas Camerata; Jerry McCoy, conductor
Collaboration on Bach's Mass is sublime… "...the most affecting moment was in the Crucifixus, which included leading the ensemble in a gorgeously shaped concluding decrescendo. It brought tears to the eyes." "The choristers sang with a beautifully rounded tone and an alert attention to detail that would become the performance's hallmarks." (September 2006)
University of North Texas A Cappella Choir
Stan Schmidt, Collegium Records USA
"…this listener is completely overwhelmed. It is hard to come up with words to describe the sound of (McCoy’s) choir because one wants to use the best words to speak about the best." (January 2005)
Texas Choral Artists
Scott Cantrell, Music Critic, The Dallas Morning News
"…Jerry McCoy had his 23 voices singing with fine focus and expressive finesse…" (May 2005)
"…The (Texas Choral Artists) produced a solid, well-balanced, satin-finished sound. … There was a good, wide dynamic range and considerable expressive sophistication. It was an evening of quite accomplished choral singing." (May 2003)
Olin Chisolm, Music Critic, The Dallas Morning News
"…With heartening vocal purity and precision of tone –qualities in evidence throughout the evening --the Texas Choral Artists gave a haunting performance of Rachmaninnoff’s Blazhen muzh." (February 2002)
"…(This) Chorus sings from the soul." (May 2004)
Schola Cantorum of Texas
Wayne Lee Gay, Music Critic, Ft. Worth Star Telegram
Richard Sparks joined the faculty at UNT in 2009, having built both a distinguished academic and professional career.
He was a faculty member at Mount Holyoke College (1980-83) and Pacific Lutheran University, where he was Director of Choral Activities from 1983-2001. At PLU he led the Choir of the West, one of the top undergraduate choirs in the country, on regular tours and also made eight recordings with that ensemble. He also founded the Choral Union, which performed the major choral/orchestral repertoire with professional orchestra, ranging from Handel's Israel in Egypt, Mozart's Requiem and Mass in C Minor, and Verdi's Requiem to Benjamin Britten's War Requiem.
Sparks’ D.M.A. is from the University of Cincinnati and his dissertation (Swedish A Cappella Music Since 1945) won the ACDA’s Julius Herford Award in 1997. It was then published as The Swedish Choral Miracle--Swedish A Cappella Music Since 1945. He worked with the renowned Swedish Radio Choir in 2002, and again in 2007 and 2008--the first North American in more than 40 years to conduct that ensemble. During that time Sparks also prepared the Swedish Radio Choir for a performance of Brahms Ein Deutsches Requiem with the Rotterdam Philharmonic under Valery Gergiev which was released as a DVD recording on the Bis label.
Sparks has been active in the professional world: guest conducting theAnchorage Music Festival for several years (his first year substituting for an ailing Robert Shaw conducting Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem), Portland Symphonic Choir, Portland Baroque Orchestra, Northwest Chamber Orchestra, Exultate Chamber Singers in Toronto, as well as the Swedish Radio Choir. In 2006 he was the first non-Canadian conductor to be invited to conduct the Canadian National Youth Choir. In 2008 he was Music Director/Conductor for a production of Monteverdi’s Orfeo in Edmonton with period instruments.
After guest conducting Pro Coro Canada (Edmonton, AB) in 1996 and 1998 he was invited to become their Artistic Director, which he has led since 1999. This year marks his twelfth and final season with that ensemble--his last concert on Good Friday being a performance of Bach's St. John Passion. A professional chamber choir, Pro Coro has toured regularly across Canada and broadcast on CBC Radio. Pro Coro has regularly commissioned new works, performed the great works of the a cappella repertoire, and performed choral/orchestral repertoire with the principals of the Edmonton Symphony Orchestra. In addition he led a period instrument performance of Monteverdi's 1610 Vespers.
He founded Seattle Pro Musica and led three ensembles from 1973-80, conducting more than 70 programs in seven years. The Pro Musica Singers performed both a cappella works and major works with orchestra, the Bach Ensemble did Bach cantatas and other baroque chamber, orchestral, or choral works once a month, and the Chamber Orchestra performed repertoire from Haydn and Mozart through works by Stravinsky and Britten, plus newly commissioned works.
Sparks also led the Seattle Symphony Chorale from 1990-94 (preparing the choir for nine recordings on the Delos label). He was founder and Artistic Director for Choral Arts from 1993-2006, with whom he made three recordings on the Gothic label. Choral Arts also appeared with the Mark Morris Dance Company (Dido and Aeneas), Seattle International Music Festival under Dimitri Sitkovetsky (Handel Acis & Galatea), and as guests on several series, including those of the Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Arts West, and the Vancouver Chamber Choir.
Alan C. McClung joined the University of North Texas College of Music faculty in 2002. He conducts UNT’s Concert Choir, teaches undergraduate choral conducting, courses in secondary choral methods, and supervises student teachers. He holds a BMED from West Virginia University, a MM in Choral Conducting from the University of Illinois, Urbana/Champaign; and a PHD in Choral Music Education from Florida State University. Dr. McClung's professional experience includes teaching and conducting at all levels. In addition to six European concert tours, noted performances of his middle, upper, and college choirs include invited performances for the Missouri Music Educators' State Conference, Louisiana Music In-Service Conference, Georgia Music Educators' State Conference, ACDA-Southern Division Convention; and a special Symphony Hall collaboration between his Woodward Academy choirs and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra. He has conducted a variety of honor choirs and has served as guest conductor for the award winning Landesjungenchor from Koblenz, Germany. As chorister and soloist, Dr. McClung spent three seasons singing with the Atlanta Symphony Chorus and Chamber Chorus under the direction of Robert Shaw.
An active member of ACDA and MENC, he has served as a national delegate to ACDA's International Conductor Exchange with Germany and Sweden, Georgia's ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chair for High Schools, Georgia Music Educator’s State Choral Chair, Missouri's ACDA Repertoire and Standards Chair for Colleges and Universities, and the R & S Chair for Southwest ACDA’s Student and Youth Activities. As a distinguished choral music educator, he has presented at state, divisional, and/or national music conferences in Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Kansas, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, Mississippi, New York, Oklahoma, Tennessee, Texas, and Virginia. Articles by Dr. McClung have appeared in Southeastern Journal of Music Education, ACDA's Choral Journal, MENC's Music Educators Journal, Update: Applications of Research in Music Education, and Journal of Research in Music Education. Additionally, he is the author of the Movable Tonic: A Sequenced Sight-Singing Method, published by GIA, Publications.
Graduate Teaching Fellows
Nathan Frank - Conductor of Women's Chorus
Nathanafrank@aol.com
David Edmonds - Conductor of Men's Chorus
davidedmonds@my.unt.edu
Graduate Teaching Assistants
JD Burnett - Teaching undergraduate conducting courses.
Christopher Jackson - Conducting Associate of Men's Chorus.
Holly Dalrymple - Conducting Associate of Collegium.
Brian Schmidt - Conducting Associate for Acapella Choir and Assistannt to Director of Choral Activities.