Episode 38: Conducting the Choral Spiritual
D'Walla Simmons-Burke
Maestra D'Walla Simmons-Burke is the Director of Choral and Vocal Studies and founder of three of the five choral ensembles currently existing within the department of Music at Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem State University Singing Divas; Complesso Voce’ and the renowned Burke Singers). The fourth choral ensemble is - the Grammy-nominated Winston-Salem State University Choir (aka WSSU Singing Rams). Her choirs have performed with local/regional and world symphony orchestras and is well sought after for its performances of master choral works, social justice, spirituals and world musics. Her ensembles have also performed on national stages such as Carnegie Hall and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. Maestra Simmons-Burke has also performed internationally with her choral ensembles and as a guest conductor/lecturer (Prague, Czech Republic; Nassau, Bahamas; Accra, Cape Coast & Kumasi, Ghana - West Africa; and Pilanesberg, Cape Town and Johannesburg – South Africa). She was named one of the national conductors for the 105 Voices of History Concert Choir at the John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center and in Nassau, Bahamas. Simmons-Burke was also the national choral coordinator and one of three national conductors who lead the 105 Voices of History Concert Choir in their inaugural performance at the Grand Ole Opry.
Under Simmons-Burke's baton, her choral ensembles have performed for and/or with such regional, national and international dignitaries. Simmons-Burke has been the recipient of several teaching, community service and performance awards for her national achievements in music and research. Maestra Simmons-Burke is listed in Outstanding Young Women of America and holds memberships in several professional organizations such as the Music Educators National Conference; American Choral Directors Association; Chorus America; National Association for the Study and Performance of African-American Music; National Association of Negro Musicians; Intercollegiate Music Association; Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., The Moles, and The Links, Inc.
Simmons-Burke has made numerous guest appearances as a conductor and adjudicator for high and middle school All-State/All-County festivals and collegiate choral festivals/workshops. She is often sought after as a choral music clinician/lecturer. Recently, D’Walla has been appointed the musical consultant of the Stacey V. Gibbs and Just Music Vocal Ensemble.
Everett McCorvey
Everett McCorvey is an American classical tenor, teacher, impresario, conductor and producer, living in Lexington, Kentucky, where he holds an Endowed Chair in Opera Studies at the University of Kentucky,[1] is director of the University of Kentucky Opera Theatre and Professor of Voice. He is also the founder and conductor of the American Spiritual Ensemble,[2] Artistic Director of the National Chorale[3][4] and President of Global Creative Connections,[5] a production company producing live public and private events. He has also been on faculty at the American Institute of Musical Studies in Graz, Austria,[6] the Opera Theatre of St. Louis, and the Bay View Music Festival[7] in Bay View, Michigan. His students have won numerous national and international singing competitions and regularly perform at leading houses throughout the world.
McCorvey, a native of Montgomery, Alabama, received his degrees from the University of Alabama, including a Doctorate of Musical Arts. He founded the American Spiritual Ensemble in 1995, a group of classically trained singers that tours nationally and internationally performing American spirituals.
Since 2014 McCorvey has been Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the National Chorale of New York City, a symphonic choir which performs the great choral titans of the choral literature at Lincoln Center.
Jason Max Ferdinand
Jason Max Ferdinand is the director of choral activities, professor, and chair of the music department at Oakwood University. He directs the Aeolians of Oakwood University and, as evidenced by noteworthy awards, has distinguished himself on the national and international choral stages. In 2017, he earned the Outstanding Director and Choir of the World awards at the Llangollen International Musical Festival, in Wales. In 2018, his choir won three gold medals at the 10th World Choir Games held in South Africa, and also won the competition’s overall championship in both the Spirituals and University Choir categories. He is a published composer with GIA publications, and is exhilarated about his new choral series with Walton Music. In 2018, he was named “Teacher of the Year” by Oakwood University. The Aeolians made their first appearance at the national conference of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) in 2019 and the term “they broke ACDA” was used to describe their outstanding presentation. “Teaching With Heart” is a new book released by Ferdinand and is a useful choral compendium for all choral directors. Ferdinand holds non-terminal degrees from Oakwood University, Morgan State University, and a doctorate in choral conducting from the University of Maryland.
Lloyd Mallory
A native of Washington, DC, Lloyd Mallory currently serves as Director of Vocal Choral Activities at Kentucky State University in Frankfort. Over Mallory’s career path, he has built a reputation for conducting great choirs and training the voices within the ensemble. Mallory is the former chairperson & director of the Delaware State University Choirs; Oakwood University Choirs in Huntsville, Alabama; The Lincoln University Choirs in Pennsylvania; and Pine Forge Academy Choir (a boarding academy) in Pine Forge, Pennsylvania. His training has produced SUNDAY’S BEST 2011 winner AMBER BULLOCK; Los Angeles’ rising vocal coach, Steve Mackey; professional singer/background vocalist Nelson Beato of Los Angeles; R & B recording artist /producer, Terrell King; and several Opera, Classical and Broadway singers. Conducting protégé’s include Dr. Jason Ferdinand the current Chairperson & Director of Choral Activities at Oakwood University; Dr. Jeremy Winston, Director of Music at the Kettering Seventh-day Adventist Church in Ohio; Theodore Thorpe, III at T. C. Williams High School in Virginia; Jarrett Roseborough at Pine Forge Academy in Pennsylvania.
As a performer, Mallory has been tenor soloist with the Morgan State University Choir; the Huntsville Symphony; the Stockton State Choral Arts Society; the Baltimore Symphony; the Philadelphia Symphony; State University of New York Symphony and traveled quite extensively abroad with the renowned Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers of Los Angeles. One extraordinary opportunity given to Mallory was upon audition, UNCF selected him to sing for the legendary entertainer, Michael Jackson. Mallory was the recipient of his World Tour UNCF scholarship for four years while matriculating at Oakwood University.
Mallory is Co-producer of the album DEVOTIONS featuring Janice Chandler-Eteme’, soprano and Evelyn Curenton at the piano; Edwina Humphrey-Flynn, soprano – THE LORD WILL MAKE A WAY; The Aeolians of Oakwood University, LIFT EV’RY VOICE & SING; and in 2011, the Lloyd Mallory Singers released an album on the Breath of Life Records with producer, Tony Shepherd and team WITH MY WHOLE HEART. Most recent is DSU Choir’s 2018 recording, COLORS & CONTRASTS featuring hymns, sacred classical, concert spirituals and contemporary gospel selections.
Louise Toppin
Louise Toppin has received critical acclaim for her operatic, orchestral, and oratorio performances in the United States, Europe, Czech Republic, Sweden, Uruguay, Scotland, China, England, New Zealand, the Caribbean, Cuba, Puerto Rico, Colombia, Bermuda, Japan, and Spain. She has appeared in recital on many concert series including Carnegie Hall, Kennedy Center, Broadway’s Hudson Theater, and Lincoln Center. Her most recent Lincoln Center appearance was in June as a part of the Masters of the Spirituals program to honor composers Jacqueline Hairston, Roland Carter and Lena McLin. Represented by Joanne Rile Artist Management, she toured in "Gershwin on Broadway" with pianist Leon Bates and currently tours in that show with Joseph Joubert, piano and Robert Sims, baritone. She has recorded eighteen compact disks of primarily American Music including solo CDs Songs of Illumination, (Centaur Records), and on Albany Records Ah love, but a day, He’ll Bring it to Pass, (Joseph Joubert, piano), Witness with the Czech National Symphony, Heart on the Wall with the Prague Radio Symphony and La Saison des fleurs, CDs with three publications including A Hall Johnson collection from Carl Fisher publisher. Her newest releases due out in 2020 are Songs of Love and Justice and Summer.Life.Songs (two CDs of songs for soprano by Adolphus Hailstork); Duos (with countertenor Darryl Taylor on African American vocal chamber music) and The Soprano Songs of T. J. Anderson with pianist John McDonald.
Shawn-Allyce White
Shawn-Allyce White, soprano, is from Washington, DC. She holds a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) degree in Voice Performance from the University of Kentucky (UK) School of Music, a Master of Music degree in Voice Performance from Yale University School of Music, Yale Opera Program, and a Bachelor of Music degree in Voice Performance from Syracuse University School of Music, College of Visual and Performing Arts.
Shawn-Allyce began her career teaching Pre-K – Sixth grades general/vocal music after college, in the District of Columbia Public Schools and taught private piano lessons as well. She later continued teaching public school through middle and high school and as choral director in New Haven, CT; New York City; and Lexington, KY, preparing students for city and statewide choral festivals, instructing acting classes and teaching music theory as well.
Shawn-Allyce has performed in Venice, Italy, Düsseldorf and Berlin, Germany, and Amsterdam in productions of Porgy and Bess starring in the role of Bess. She has also performed roles in operas by Verdi, Puccini, Strauss, and Offenbach, as well as soprano soloist in Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, Symphony of a Thousand, and Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9. Additionally, she has toured with the National Broadway musical productions of Ragtime as a Swing and Showboat; cover for the role of Queenie. White also won first place in the Eastern Regional Metropolitan Opera Competition and was a finalist in the Mid-Atlantic Regional Metropolitan Opera Competition.