David Schildkret
David Schildkret is Professor of Music and Director of Choral
Activities at Arizona State University. He conducts ASU's Choral Union and the
highly select Concert Choir, teaches classes in conducting and choral repertory,
and oversees the doctoral program in choral conducting.
Schildkret, a conductor, scholar, performer, and educator, holds the Doctor
of Music and the Master of Music degrees in Choral Conducting from Indiana
University School of Music and the Bachelor of Arts in Music from Rutgers
University.
Prior to his appointment at ASU, he served for seven years as the Dean of the
Salem College School of Music in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where he
conducted choirs and taught courses in music history and conducting. He has also
taught at Centre College in Danville, Kentucky, and at the University of
Rochester. Since 1999, he has been the Music Director of the Mount Desert Summer
Chorale in Bar Harbor, Maine.
His conducting experience includes nine seasons as Music Director of the
Finger Lakes Symphony Orchestra in Geneva, New York, numerous appearances as
guest conductor with regional choirs at all levels, and appearances with various
small orchestras and ensembles, in addition to conducting his collegiate groups.
These have included select choirs, men's and women's choirs, and
college-community ensembles. He has been a frequent guest conductor with the
Piedmont Chamber Singers, a semi-professional chorus in Winston-Salem, NC, with
whom he gave a highly acclaimed performance of Bach's B-Minor Mass. His choirs
at Salem College produced an outstanding CD of Christmas music and were featured
in the musical score to the film "Changing Habits."
A noted expert on the music of the eighteenth century, Schildkret has given
numerous talks and published papers on the music of Bach, Mozart, and Handel.
His articles have appeared in the newsletters of the Mozart Society of America
and the Society for Seventeenth-Century Music, in the Choral Journal, Bach,
Eighteenth Century Life, and the NATS Bulletin. He has published
reviews in the American Choral Review and has written liner notes for numerous
recordings.
Schildkret is deeply interested in the visual arts and in culture. A recent
paper, "Echoes of Eden: the Garden as Metaphor in Art and Literature,"
investigates the ways in which artists and writers employ the symbolism of the
garden. He incorporates visual art and literature into his teaching of music
history, and has led several study trips to England and Italy.
In addition to his work as a conductor and scholar, Schildkret performs as
narrator and singer. With faculty members at Salem College, he gave a series of
annual recitals celebrating such popular song composers as George Gershwin, Duke
Ellington, Hoagy Carmichael, and Steven Sondheim. He has appeared as narrator
with orchestras across the country and has worked for National Public Radio
affiliates in Indiana and North Carolina.
Schildkret is active in a number of professional societies, including The
American Bach Society, which he served for nine years as secretary-treasurer,
the Arizona Music Educators Association, and the College Music Society. He is
the Repertoire and Standards chair for Colleges and Universities in the Arizona
Chapter of the American Choral Directors Association.
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Copyright © 2003 Scottsdale United Methodist Church. 4140 N. Miller Road, Scottsdale, AZ 85251
(480) 946-5301. All rights reserved.
Revised: November, 2005.
