Scott Tucker to serve as Guest Director during 2023-24 Concert Season

WASHINGTON, DC, UNITED STATES, May 17, 2023/EINPresswire.com/ -- The Washington Men’s Camerata, a choral music institution in the Nation’s Capital since 1984, and its longtime Music Director Frank Albinder announced today that Albinder will retire from the group following the 2023-24 season. The season will mark the Camerata’s 40th anniversary and Albinder’s 25th year on the group’s podium.

During most of the season, Albinder will take a sabbatical to focus on the Camerata’s “Demetrius Project” – the creation of a comprehensive national library of men’s choral music, launched in 1998 and funded by the National Endowment for the Arts.

Stepping in as Guest Director during that time will be Scott Tucker, former Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Society of Washington and Professor Emeritus at Cornell University. Tucker will assume responsibility for preparing the chorus and conducting all of the season’s concerts except for Albinder’s farewell concert in the late Spring of 2024.

“It’s impossible to express just how much Frank has contributed to the Camerata,” said Luis Ferran, President of the Camerata’s Board of Directors. “His musicianship, vision, leadership and dedication have been invaluable to the organization, our audiences, and the greater medium of men's choral singing. We are thankful for his long tenure with us and he will be sorely missed.”

Frank Albinder said, “It has been my honor and privilege to serve as Music Director of the Washington Men's Camerata for almost 25 years. There aren't enough thanks to offer to our past and present singers and staff, our audiences and donors, and especially our board, who are making it possible for me to take my first sabbatical in nearly 40 years as a professional choral musician. I'm grateful that my dear friend Scott Tucker will take over my musical responsibilities while I immerse myself in the treasure trove that is the Camerata's National Library of Men's Choral Music.”

Scott Tucker’s career has included serving as Assistant Choral Conductor at Harvard and Professor of Music at Cornell, where he directed the Cornell Glee Club and the Cornell University Chorus. During a decade with Choral Arts from 2012-2022, he conducted a wide range of classic, lesser-known and new works, including the East-coast premiere of Damien Geter’s “An African American Requiem,” and prepared the chorus for over two dozen appearances with the National Symphony Orchestra at the Kennedy Center.

“We are incredibly fortunate to have Maestro Tucker’s talents for the upcoming season,” added Ferran. “His work with Choral Arts was widely respected, and he’s equally at home with a classic choral masterwork, a little-known treasure, a newly commissioned work or a piece of folk or indigenous music. He can do it all.”

Noted from Scott Tucker, “I have known Frank Albinder longer than either of us care to admit. I admire him greatly and am honored to be asked to fill in for him for a portion of the coming season. Having spent some years earlier in my career conducting TTBB choirs, I am very familiar with the Camerata, and excited at the prospect of working with the talented singers there.”

Ferran mentioned the Board has formed a Search Committee to identify a full-time Music Director starting in the 2024-25 season.

About The Camerata

The Washington Men’s Camerata was founded by its members in 1984 to perform, promote and preserve the rich legacy of men’s choral singing. In support of its mission, the Camerata seeks to: (1) educate young people and generate interest on their part in choral music; (2) collaborate with orchestras, other ensembles and recording companies in performances and recordings of the men’s choral repertoire; (3) through the Demetrius Project, the Camerata’s National Repository Library of Men’s Choral Music, preserve and share worthy collections of music that are no longer in use; and (4) encourage composers to write music for men’s choruses by promoting and performing newly composed men’s choral works.

About the National Library of Men’s Choral Music – The Demetrius Project

In 1998 the Washington Men’s Camerata, with the support of the National Endowment for the Arts, established a National Library of Men’s Choral Music in Washington, DC. This effort, named “the Demetrius Project” (after the founder and the first chief librarian of the Royal Library in ancient Alexandria, Egypt) continues to receive NEA support and has grown to include over 3,333 titles and approximately 199,000 individual copies of music.

###

Lawrence Reppert
Washington Men's Camerata
+1 202-364-1064
email us here

Legal Disclaimer:

EIN Presswire provides this news content "as is" without warranty of any kind. We do not accept any responsibility or liability for the accuracy, content, images, videos, licenses, completeness, legality, or reliability of the information contained in this article. If you have any complaints or copyright issues related to this article, kindly contact the author above.