Hidden among the Bobcat family, an OU conductor was selected as one of 10 of the world’s most prestigious music educators to help rehearse and perform in Sarteano Chamber Choral Conducting Workshop in Italy.
Daniel Hall, director of choral activities, was invited to the workshop alongside such names as Simon Carrington, a former professor of choral at Yale University, Brian O’Connell, founder of the workshop, and Bronislawa Falinska, who runs courses and workshops on self-music and self-healing to strengthen singers’ voices in Venice.
“They invite 10 conductors,” Hall said. “You submit a video tape of yourself conducting your choir singing. It’s really like applying for a job; it’s pretty intense.”
According to the workshop’s website, the intensive conducting workshop is geared toward music educators and choral conductors with strong vocal ability who are interested in rehearsing and performing chamber choral music.
Though Hall is very successful in the field, he said he actually started out studying theater before finding his true calling.
“I had played band instruments and piano and did some singing, and at a certain point in college I knew that (music) is what I wanted to do,” Hall said. “I wanted to write music, I wanted to conduct music, I wanted to be a conductor and a composer. I think that I knew from a young age that I was musical.”
For Hall, conducting is something he fell in love with over time and is something he knew would always be apart of his life.
“The thing about conducting that is so fascinating is you’re directing an ensemble, so you have a collection of very different people with different backgrounds, different thoughts and different ways of learning, and yet, those people can come together and unify to make something creative and musical and sing harmoniously,” Hall said. “There’s something fascinating to me about bringing all of those different elements together and making something totally amazing I really enjoy.”
Hall said what he thinks makes a great conductor varies, but being a people person always is helpful.
“The main thing that you need to be is a people person,” he said. “If you’re not, you can’t do it because you deal with people all day long.”
Students of Hall expressed how much they enjoy working with him and how passionate he is.
“He’s very down to earth,” said Joe Brenkle, president of the Singing Men of Ohio. “I always describe him as a family man. He has a huge family and he’s very understanding. He’s going to be able to use this conference on his resume and in his bio for the rest of his life. It’s cool for him to be able to go and do that, but it’s also cool for Ohio University. He’s going to go represent us during that festival.”
Christopher Hayes, director of the School of music at OU, said it is an honor for the university, as well as Hall himself.
“I think any time that a faculty member does anything for professional development it definitely brings new skills back to the school and the students,” Hayes said.
Holding true to the family man title, Bonnie Hall, Hall’s wife, said she was very happy for him.
“I think that it’s incredible,” Bonnie said. “It’s going to be an incredible experience. It’s only ten people in the whole world, so it’s pretty intense and it’s a great accomplishment to do and be apart of it and be honored to do it.”
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