ECS Summer Celebration

Monday, July 28th

• 9:00 to 10:00 Middle School/Beginning High School
• 10:10 to 11:10 High School Mixed
• 11:20 to 12:20 High School (including SSA and TTB)
• 12:20 to 1:30 Lunch
• 1:30 to 2:30 Interest Session (Kyle Pederson)
• 2:40 to 3:30 Christmas/Winter/Seasonal
• 3:40 to 4:30 Concert Works

Tuesday, July 29th

• 9:00 to 10:00 Small Church
• 10:10 to 11:10 Medium/Large Church
• 11:20 to 12:20 Advent/Christmas
• 12:20 to 1:30 Lunch
• 1:30 to 2:30 Interest Session (Matthew Culloton)
• 2:40 to 3:30 General anthems
• 3:40 to 4:30 Extended works

House of Hope Presbyterian Church

797 Summit Ave.
St Paul, MN 55105

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Matthew Culloton is the Founding Artistic Director and Conductor of The Singers - Minnesota Choral Artists. He holds degrees from Concordia College, Moorhead (B.M. in Music Education) and the University of Minnesota (M.M. in Choral Conducting, D.M.A. in Conducting). In August 2010, Matthew became Choirmaster at The House of Hope Presbyterian Church in St. Paul. He is also an adjunct faculty member at the University of Saint Thomas in St. Paul, teaching a graduate music course, Choral Repertoire for Mature Adolescent Voices. Matthew has studied conducting with René Clausen, Kathy Romey, Craig Kirchhoff, Paul Nesheim, Matthew Mehaffey, Mark Russell Smith, and Bruce Houglum.

As a composer, Matthew has been commissioned by The Singers, the Dale Warland Singers, Choral Arts Ensemble of Rochester (MN), Ames Chamber Artists, Chanson, the Minnesota MMEA All-State Choir, and numerous high school, collegiate, and church choirs. He is co-editor of the Matthew and Michael Culloton Choral Series with Santa Barbara Publishing Company. He is also the editor of the Christmas with The Singers Choral Series published by MorningStar Music Publishers. His music is published by Santa Barbara Music Publishing, Hinshaw Music, Mark Foster Music (Shawnee),Kjos Music, and Graphite Publishing.

Matthew is a contributing writer to Teaching Music Performance through Literature, Vols. 2 & 3, for which he writes repertoire resource guides in a collection alongside some of America's most respected choral conductors. He has also been published in the Choral Journal, co-authoring a collection of interviews with some of today's leading conductors.

An experienced and celebrated music educator, Matthew began his teaching career in the Long Prairie / Grey Eagle School District. From 2000-2006, he was Director of Choral Activities at Hopkins High School, overseeing a choral program of six performing ensembles. His Hopkins Concert Choir performed at the 2002 and 2004 MN ACDA Fall Conventions and the 2005 MMEA Mid-Winter Clinic. In November 2004, Matthew was presented with the MN ACDA Outstanding Young Choral Conductor of the Year Award. In the fall of 2003, he was the recipient of the VocalEssence/ACDA of Minnesota Creative Programming Award for his work at Hopkins High School. From 2008-2011, he was conductor of the University of Minnesota Women's Chorus.

From 1999-2004, Matthew was a member of The Dale Warland Singers, having served as Music Adviser to Dale Warland, Assistant Conductor, and Bass Section Leader. As Warland's Music Adviser, the two worked closely together on artistic programming and recording projects, including the editing preparation for that organization's final four recordings.

Kyle Pederson is a Minneapolis-based composer, lyricist, pianist, and educator. He enjoys working at the intersection of the sacred and secular, and his lyrics and music invite the choir and audience to be agents of hope, grace, and compassion in the world. Kyle was awarded the American Prize in Choral Composition in 2019, and has also won awards from Cerddorion Choral Ensemble of NYC, National Lutheran Youth Choir, and Little Singers of Armenia. Recent commissions include AMIS International High School Honors Choir, TAISM International Choral Festival, Minnesota ACDA All-State High School Treble Chorus, and Choral Arts Initiative. Several of Kyle’s choral pieces are featured in the commercially released New Choral Voices Volume II and III by Ablaze Records. Kyle’s work also includes two critically acclaimed piano-based albums, Renewal and 12.25, both collections of acoustic hymn arrangements. Kyle has an undergraduate degree from Augustana University, a Masters Degree in Education from University of St. Thomas, and an MFA in Music Composition from Vermont College of Fine Art.

Noted composer, Kenney Potter is Vice President of Publications for ECS Publishing Group. His compositions are published by E. C. Schirmer Music Company, Hinshaw Music, Choristers Guild, and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, and he is founder and editor of Wingate University Music Press, which publishes Folk Songs of South Africa, a series of pedagogical resources that he co-authored with Dalene Hoogenhout, conductor of the Wits Choir of Johannesburg. He serves as the Artistic Director of the Charlotte Master Chorale. His choirs have received wide-spread acclaim including winning the Grand Prix for best choir in the Pärnu International Choral Festival in Pärnu, Estonia. As a performer, he has been a featured soloist in Carnegie Hall, and was choir soloist for the Grammy-winning Oregon Bach Festival choir as well as the International Bach Academy, conducted by Helmuth Rilling.

In addition to his work with the Charlotte Master Chorale, he serves as Choral Conductor at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Charlotte, North Carolina. As a clinician, Dr. Potter has conducted state-wide festival choirs for NAfME and ACDA in Florida, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, and West Virginia as well as in Nairobi, Kenya and Johannesburg, South Africa. In 2019, the North Carolina ACDA awarded Dr. Potter the Lara Hoggard Award for distinguished accomplishments in the field of choral music. He holds degrees from Florida State University, Portland State University, and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro resides in Charlotte with his wife, Heather, and their children, Syl and Calvin.

Lunch is not provided, but there are many great restaurants nearby!