David L. Mennicke - Conflict & Contentment
Conflict & Contentment
November, 2011
Singers in Accord opens its 2011-2012 concert season performing Conflict & Contentment, a contemplative journey through choral music that searches for peace and harmony in the midst of life's struggles. The chorale sings under the masterful baton of Dr. David L. Mennicke, Director of Choral Studies and Music Chair at Concordia University, St. Paul, where he also directs the Christus Chorus. He is a graduate of St. Olaf College with masters and doctoral degrees from the University of Arizona. He has studied with such eminent conductors as Kenneth Jennings, Helmuth Rilling, Robert Shaw and Maurice Skones. Mennicke is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician and adjudicator, having served as a clinician for nearly 200 festivals. He has received the "Outstanding Young Director of the Year" and "Creative Programming" awards from the ACDA of Minnesota.
"In a community, we find resolution by learning to live together in harmony," says Dr. Mennicke. "A choir is a wonderful living-out of that vision -- a community that struggles together through challenges, and reaches unity, contentment, satisfaction and resolution as a group."
This presentation of classical, spiritual and folk literature will include: Mozart's Placido è il Mar; Benjamin Britten's A Wedding Anthem (Amo Ergo Sum), with tenor and soprano soloists; Psalm 90 written by Charles Ives for choir, organ and chimes; David Mennicke's lovely arrangement of Down in the River to Pray; and the wonderful King's Singers setting of That Lonesome Road by James Taylor. Powerful music by Brahms, Debussy, Monteverdi, Schütz, Kevin Siegfried and Moses Hogan will also be performed. The chorale is joined by Bill Munson on piano and organ for both performances.
David L. Mennicke
David L. Mennicke
Dr. David L. Mennicke is Professor of Music and Chair of the Concordia University, St. Paul Music Department, where he has been Director of Choral Studies since 1989. Mennicke encourages at Concordia a musical community that nurtures each student from the beginner to the accomplished musician. His teaching expertise covers choral conducting, voice training, music education, church music, musical theatre, and music arranging. Under his direction, the Concordia University Christus Chorus has performed for the national College Music Society, regional MENC and state ACDA conferences. The Christus Chorus has been invited to perform with the Minnesota Orchestras seven times, and toured throughout the United States and to Africa, Europe, and South Korea.
Mennicke is in demand as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator, having served in over 200 festivals, including the Minnesota All-State Children’s and Men’s Choirs. He sang in the Grammy Award-winning Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, and is a tenor section leader with the Minnesota, SPCO, and Beethoven Festival Chorales. His choral anthems, services, music education materials, and articles published by CPH, Morningstar, the Association of Lutheran Church Musicians, Lutheran Forum, and the AGEHR. Mennicke is also an active church musician, directing the Senior, Men’s, and Youth Choirs at Bethlehem Lutheran Church (ELCA) in Minneapolis.