Gary Wilson to conduct new Williamson County Schools honor choir
Lacey Klotz |
Williamson County residents will have a chance to meet the man behind much of the music on Lipscomb’s campus this January, when Gary Wilson conducts the first performance of the Williamson County Schools mixed honor choir, Jan. 12.
Dividing his professional time between the roles of conductor, scholar and educator on campus, he serves as director of choral and vocal studies including conducting the A Cappella Singers and Chamber Men and directing the Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
Wilson also founded the Lipscomb Men’s Choral Festival, an annual event that brings high school singers together from all across the state for a performance of men’s choral literature. The fourth annual festival will take place Jan. 28, at 7:30 p.m. in Lipscomb’s Collins Alumni Auditorium.
While Wilson has had great success at Lipscomb, he is also highly regarded in other community circles and has recently been asked to conduct Williamson County’s new honor choir, on Tuesday, Jan. 12.
“I'm thrilled to conduct the Williamson County mixed honor choir for the inaugural year of the festival,” said Wilson. “Working with high school students is an exciting part of my job and I look forward to the rehearsals and the performance with the choir.”
The Williamson County Schools honor choir is offered to the top choral students in the county.
“Our honor choir features the top choral students from 16 of our Williamson County Schools and was modeled after our all-district honor band that has been going on for over 10 years,” said Melissa Dufrechou, fine arts curriculum specialist for Williamson County Schools. “The financial piece was our biggest barrier, but once we were able to get the funding, we experienced great administrative support to make this choir happen.”
Williamson County Schools received nearly $20,000 in sponsorships for the second annual Fine Arts Festival, which made the honor choir and other new programming opportunities possible.
The honor choir will consist of both a mixed choir conducted by Wilson as well as a treble choir conducted by Jeanette MacCallum, music director at Second Presbyterian Church Nashville and founder and director of Vox Grata Women’s Choir.
“We decided to ask Gary Wilson to conduct our mixed choir after a teacher recommended him,” said Dufrechou. “He has a lot of great experience and works well with kids. Jeanette MacCallum was similar, she also has a lot of experience working with women’s choirs, and both conductors seemed like natural fits for the group.”
The Williamson County Schools honor choir will perform Tuesday, Jan. 12 at Brentwood Baptist Church on 7777 Concord Road at 7 p.m.
This event is free and open to the public.
“We are very excited because this is a great opportunity for the community to come together to collaborate and share in music together,” said Dufrechou.