The Huntsville Master Chorale is beginning its 14th season offering quality choral music in the Huntsville community. We are excited about our new year and want you to be among the first to hear about our plans for this year’s concerts.
We will have three guess conductors this season, each of whom will direct two concerts, as shown below.
Friday, November 4, 7:00 p.m., First Presbyterian Church, 307 Gates Ave SE, Huntsville
Saturday, November 5, 4:00 p.m., Monte Sano Methodist Church, Monte Sano Boulevard, Huntsville
Patricia Hacker, Conductor
Patricia Ramírez Hacker is a native of Tegucigalpa, Honduras. Since September 2010 she has worked as Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church in Huntsville, AL. For the past three years she has served as Adjunct Professor of Voice at the University of Mobile where she taught diction, vocal literature, and choral conducting.
Patricia has served as conductor and assistant conductor of the University of Southern Mississippi (USM) Southern Chorale, University Singers, Chamber Singers and Gulf Coast Civic Chorale. With USM Southern Chorale she had the opportunity to perform at National ACDA, Regional ACDA, and sing world premiere compositions of renowned American composers.
At USM she also taught voice and conducted operas for the outreach program. She has conducted Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) Concert Choir and served as Assistant Conductor for the University Singers and Women’s Ensemble. Alongside of her work in the academic field, she has been a successful church choral conductor.
As a singer she has appeared as a soloist of major choral works, professional opera companies, and as a recitalist in Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, Washington D.C., México, Colombia, Guatemala, El Salvador, and Costa Rica. In 2010 she appeared as soloist in Carnegie Hall for the world premiere of “An American Requiem” by Edwin Penhorwood. For five consecutive years Patricia won first place on state and regional NATS. She is also winner of the William T. Gower concerto competition.
Patricia is a DMA candidate in Choral Conducting (ABD) from USM. She attained a double Master’s degree in Choral Conducting and Vocal Performance and Pedagogy. Additionally, she received her Bachelor of Music degree in Vocal Performance from SLU.
The November concerts will feature a Haydn Mass in addition to other exciting anthems.
Friday, February 10, 7:00 p.m., St. Mary’s of the Visitation Church, Huntsville
Sunday, February 12, 3:00 p.m., Providence Baptist Church, Huntsville
Ian Loeppky, Conductor
Originally from Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, Ian Loeppky is an Associate Professor and Director of Choral Activities at the University of North Alabama since the fall of 2003. Mr. Loeppky studied at the University of Manitoba, the University of Minnesota, and the College – Conservatory of Music in Cincinnati.
He is a member of the American Choral Directors Association, the Music Educators National Convention, the National Collegiate Choral Organization, the Alabama Vocal Association, the International Federation for Choral Music, Phi Mu Alpha, and Pi Kappa Lambda. Currently he is the Repertoire and Standards Chair for Multicultural Choral Music for the Alabama chapter of ACDA.
Mr. Loeppky directs all four choral ensembles at UNA and teaches undergraduate and graduate choral conducting, choral techniques, and graduate choral literature. In addition, he directs the choir at Trinity Episcopal Church and is founder and artistic director of Florence Camerata.
Ian has also worked as a singer, scholar, conductor, clinician, adjudicator, and arranger in Canada, the United States, and Portugal. He conducted the premiere performance of Haydn’s The Creation in Varna, Bulgaria, and led the World Voices Festival in Costa Rica with Kingsway International in the spring of 2011. He is a frequent contributor to the Choral Journal and the Alabama Reprise.
Mr. Loeppky’s concerts are entitled The Golden Age: English and Italian Music of the Sixteenth Century.
Friday, April 27, 7:00 p.m., Trinity United Methodist Church, Huntsville
Sunday, April 29 – Time and location To Be Announced
Shane Kennedy, Conductor
Shane Kennedy is the Worship & Fine Arts Associate as Trinity United Methodist Church in Huntsville since August 2002. A native of Folly Beach, South Carolina, he has a Masters of Music degree from Belmont University in Nashville in vocal performance and church music.
Mr. Kennedy directs the handbell and youth music ministries at Trinity. He leads two adult bell choirs, one youth bell choir, the Trinity Handbell quartet, the Trinity Singers youth choir, and the Trinity Youth Praise Band. He has served as an officer with the Tennessee Valley Handbell Association, and is the current president and associate artistic director of the Heritage Ringers, Huntsville’s community handbell choir.
Previously, Mr. Kennedy sang in the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus from 1997—2002 under Robert Shaw and Norman Mackenzie. As an accomplished tenor, he has sung lead tenor roles in Mozart’s Magic Flute and Lehar’s The Merry Widow with Belmont Opera Theater, Mozart’s Requiem with the Huntsville Symphony in 2005, and numerous performances of Handel’s Messiah for local churches. Most recently Mr. Kennedy sang the role of Max Detweiller in Theater Huntsville’s 2010 production of The Sound of Music.
Congratulations Patty, we are very proud of you, go on.