Conducting

Heather Buchanan Associate Professor of Music Director of Choral Activities Music Education 973-655-7913 buchananh@mail.montclair.edu Heather Buchanan - Website Choral Program - General Information (PDF)

Heather J. Buchanan conducts the 160-voice Chorale, 60-voice University Singers, and 24-voice Vocal Accord. Choirs under her direction have been critically acclaimed for their performances in collaboration with a variety of renowned artists including Meredith Monk, Mícheál ÓSúílleabháin, Tarik O’Regan, and Joseph Flummerfelt; and performed major choral works with conductors Neeme Järvi, Jacques LaCombe, and John Maucceri and the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra. The University Singers performed Meredith Monk’s Songs of Ascension at the Guggenheim Museum, and their 2011 recording of the work received a preliminary Grammy nomination for Best Choral Performance. In 2011, Dr. Buchanan conducted the MSU Chorale and Symphony Orchestra in the East Coast Premiere of the new American oratorio Parables (Aldridge) at Montclair State University. A licensed Andover Educator, Dr. Buchanan specializes in the teaching of Body Mapping and somatic pedagogy for musicians. She is co-editor of the GIA choral series Teaching Music through Performance in Choir (Vol.3. released March 2011), has published a DVD-Video Evoking Sound: Body Mapping & Gesture Fundamentals, and choral octavos in the Evoking Sound Choral Series (GIA). She holds degrees from the Queensland Conservatorium of Music, Griffith University (Australia), Westminster Choir College of Rider University, and a PhD from the University of New England (Australia).

Ken Lam Director of Orchestral Studies 973-655-7584 lamk@mail.montclair.edu Ken Lam - Website

Ken Lam is the conductor of the Montclair State University Symphony Orchestra and the Cali School opera orchestra. He is the winner of the 2011 Memphis Symphony Orchestra Conducting Competition and was Assistant Conductor of the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra for three seasons. He is Resident Conductor at the Brevard Music Center in North Carolina, Artistic Director of the Greater Baltimore Youth Orchestras and Artistic Director of Hong Kong Voices in China. Ken was a featured conductor at the League of American Orchestras' 2009 Bruno Walter National Conductors Preview and made his professional debut in 2008 with the National Symphony Orchestra. He was a fellow at the Aspen Music Festival (with David Zinman and Murry Sidlin), the National Conducting Institute (with Leonard Slatikin) and assistant conductor at the Castleton Festival (under Lorin Maazel) He read economics at Cambridge University and studied orchestra conducting at Peabody Conservatory with Gustav Meier and Markand Thakar.

Thomas McCauley Associate Professor of Music Director of University Bands 973-655-7036 mccauleyt@mail.montclair.edu

Thomas McCauley conducts the MSU Wind Symphony and Symphonic Band. He came to the Cali School from the University of Indianapolis, where he was Director of Instrumental Music Activities and the founder of the University of Indianapolis Chamber (later Symphony) Orchestra. He holds a DMA degree in conducting from Northwestern University, and Master and Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from the University of Nevada, Las Vegas. He has been mentored by such notable conductors as Mallory Thompson, Larry Rachleff and Stanley DeRusha. In addition to directing the bands, Dr. McCauley directs a Weekend Wind Conducting Symposium each November with special guest clinicians from around the world, building on his past work with such notable clinicians as Eugene Corporon, Jerry Junkin, Craig Kirchhoff, and Felix Hauswirth. He has appeared with the Northshore Concert Band, the Indianapolis Brass Choir (in Italy), and led the University of Indianapolis Symphonic Wind Ensemble and Chamber Orchestra on a tour of the major cities of Austria. Dr. McCauley was the creator and host of Music Education Matters, a 30-minute radio talk show heard weekly on WICR in Indianapolis. The Nevada Music Educator’s Association named him Music Educator of the Year in 1995, and the Indiana Music Educators Association honored him with an Outstanding University Music Educator Award in 2006.

Gregory Dlugos
Adjunct Professor
Director of Pit Orchestra
973-655-7212