DOREEN RAO Guest Conductor for The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay THE FLORIDA ORCHESTRA | 2016-2017 55 Doreen Rao is celebrated internationally for her moving concerts and inspirational teaching. Linking the standards of performance and the goals of education with the values of diversity and social r e s p o n s i b i l i t y , Rao’s seminal work teaching children to sing inspired a generation of conductors and teachers to lead young choirs in schools and communities around the world. As artistic director of the Chicago Chamber Choir, Rao is committed to global-style programming, intergenerational performance projects, and innovative collaborations across the city. She founded The Rao Center for Choral and Contemplative Arts to mentor emerging conductors, singers and music educators in the practice of mindfulness-based conducting and choral teaching. Rao holds the University of Toronto Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting Emeritus, and during her tenure as director of choral programs, she founded Toronto’s International Bach Festival with Bach conductorscholar Helmuth Rilling. She currently serves as artistic director of the Buffalo Master Chorale in association with Buffalo Niagara Choirs, Inc., an urban community of adult and youth choruses. During Rao’s association with the Chicago Symphony Chorus and Orchestra, she prepared the Glen Ellyn Children’s Chorus for concerts and four Grammy Award-winning recordings. She also served as assistant conductor to Margaret Hillis, preparing the Symphony Chorus for Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado, James Levine, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra. Rao is the founder-director of CME Institute for Choral Teacher Education and editor and choral advisor to music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. She received her degrees from the University of Illinois, where her teachers were Harold Decker and Colleen Kirk, and Northwestern University, where she was mentored by Margaret Hillis and Robert Shaw. Dr. Beth Gibbs is the director of choral studies at Florida Southern College, where she conducts the Chamber Singers and Concert Choir and teaches conducting, choral pedagogy, music and wellness, and Caribbean music. She earned a doctorate of musical arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Miami in Coral Gables, Florida, master’s of music degrees in choral conducting and vocal performance from East Carolina University in Greenville, North Carolina, and a bachelor’s of music education degree from Stetson University in DeLand, Florida. She spent six years teaching at the high school level in Atlanta, Georgia. She has recently conducted in the Chartres Cathedral in France, St. Peter’s Basilica in Vatican City, and at the International Festival of Choirs in Santiago de Cuba. Active as a performer, she has been a member of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chorus and Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Chamber Chorus, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, and Tennessee Chamber Chorus. She has also performed under the batons of Michael Tilson Thomas and Helmuth Rilling. BETH GIBBS Artistic Assistant to Doreen Rao
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