Donald Nally
Encyclopedia
Donald Nally is an American conductor and opera chorus master, specializing in chamber choirs and new music. He currently conducts three professional chamber choirs: The Crossing
in Philadelphia, VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble, and the Chicago Bach Choir, the vocal ensemble of the Chicago Bach Project.
, Richard Hickox
, Spiros Argiris, Vladimir Jurowski
, Sir Charles Mackerras, Alexander Polianichko, Corrado Rovaris, Maurizio Barbacini, Markus Stenz
, Gian Carlo Menotti
, Günther Kraemer, David Pountney
, Richard Jones
, Carlos Saura
, John Caird
, Ralf Långback, Giulio Chazalettes
, Filippo Sanjust, Alfredo Arias, Patrice Caurier, Moshe Leiser, Robert Spano
, Andrew Davis
, Bruno Bartoletti
, John Nelson
, Peter Sellars
, Elijah Moshinsky, David McVicar
, Neil Armfield
, Renata Scotto
, Plácido Domingo
, Renée Fleming
, and Francesca Zambello
.
He has conducted the Latvian State Choir, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale
, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Musica Pacifica, Coro Vico Alto of Siena, the Siena International Choral Festival, Chicago Choral Artists, and The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.
Nally has prepared choirs for the Philharmonia Orchestra
, the BBC Symphony Orchestra
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
(including the world premiere of Hannibal’s One Heart Beating), Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, the Pennsylvania Ballet
, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Opera Theater, Westminster Opera Theater, Brattleboro Opera, the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition Galas, Il Festival dei Due Mondi
, and Spoleto USA
. His opera choruses have sung in the opera houses of Spoleto, Genoa, Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swansea, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Llandudno, Oxford, Philadelphia, Brattleboro, and Chicago. His choirs have sung in the churches and theaters of Florence, Sienna, Venice, Norcia, Coventry, London, Cambridge, St. John’s New Brunswick, Washington, DC, San Jose, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Providence, and Princeton.
(BM, music education), Westminster Choir College
(MM, choral conducting), and the University of Illinois
(DMA, choral conducting). He has been Artist in Residence at Washington and Lee University and Shorter University and has lectured at Westminster Choir College and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
in 1983, Nally became head of the music department at The Academy, Chicago's performing arts high school. He left this position to move to Princeton and study with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College
.
From 1992-1996, he was on the conducting faculty at West Chester University.
From 1992-2003 he was chorus master at Opera Company of Philadelphia
, collaborating on over 40 productions.
From 1994-2001 he was Chorus Master of the Spoleto Festival, Italy
, where he collaborated on over twenty operas and conducted nearly one hundred concerts, including the Italian premieres of works of Huber, Musto, Convery, MacMillan, and Pärt. An Opera News review of the 2001 recording of Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street
(Chandos/Hickox) noted, “most remarkable is the superb singing of the Spoleto Festival Chorus.” During this time, the Spoleto Festival Chorus was known as the Bridge Ensemble in Philadelphia, presenting two concert seasons and a number of commissioned premieres. Nally returned with the Spoleto Festival Choir in 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival and to honor the life and work of its founder Gian Carlo Menotti
, who died in February of that year.
From 1997-2004 he was Music Director at Saint Mark's Church, Philadelphia, building the choir to be one of the premiere ensembles of the city in collaboration with organist Scott Dettra (now organist at Washington National Cathedral
), invited to sing services and concerts for national gatherings of the American Guild of Organists
and the Lutheran Association of Church Musicians as well as the 100th anniversary of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The choir was particularly noted for new music and was instrumental in bringing James MacMillan to the city in 2002 for a festival of his music in collaboration with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2002, a Philadelphia music critic named him “the choral czar of Philadelphia.”
Nally’s first professional chamber choir was The Bridge Ensemble which sang concerts 1996-1997; though it failed financially, it established a significant presence in Philadelphia, receiving a great amount of critical attention and laying the groundwork for the success of The Crossing
. As a result of The Bridge Ensemble, Nally was featured in Philadelphia’s Seven Arts Magazine as one of the Rising Stars of Philadelphia. In 1997, the Bridge Ensemble recorded the CD Music of Longing and Lament, which was featured a number of times on Public Radio’s broadcast “The First Art.”
From 1998-2002, he was Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
, during which time the chorus received Chorus America’s 2002 Margaret Hillis National Award for Excellence and was chosen as “The Best of Philadelphia” by Philadelphia Magazine. At this time The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia was also the recipient of a Cultural Leadership Award from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The ensemble toured Italy in the summer of 2000, singing in Florence, Venice, and Spoleto. Nally formed the Choral Arts Society Chamber Choir during this time, which collaborated with the American Composers Forum
(Philadelphia Chapter), on readings and recordings of new music.
At the end of 2002, Nally left Philadelphia and moved to Wales to become the chorus master at Welsh National Opera
.
from 2003–2007, he conducted the Welsh National Opera chorus and orchestra in Cardiff and on tour in throughout England and Northern Ireland. He conducted the award-winning production of Handel’s Jephtha – a collaboration with director Katie Mitchell
– that was listed as No. 2 on The Sunday Times' “Must-see Operas.” With director David Pountney
he created Chorus!, a popular revue featuring the chorus and orchestra that has seen revivals at WNO as well as a new production at Houston Grand Opera. With the WNO chorus and orchestra, Nally conducted an acclaimed performance of Handel’s Messiah and collaborated with James MacMillan on a concert of the composer's works.
. In 2008, the Chorus of Lyric Opera of Chicago
presented the first concert of their 60-year history, “Holly and Ivy.” The Chicago Sun-Times noted it “set a new high bar for downtown choral performance and programming” in its Top Classical Events of 2008
Nally has conducted VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble since 2009 and has presented a number of regional premieres during that time, including David Lang’s 2008 Pulitzer-winning The Little Match Girl Passion, and Francis Pott’s My song is love unknown. VAE collaborates with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and concert:nova and performs in the great spaces of Cincinnati. VAE’s performance of James MacMillan’s Seven Lasts Words from the Cross was named one of the Top Classical Events of 2010 by musicincincinnati.com. Their concerts are regularly broadcast on the radio in Cincinnati.
, which specializes in contemporary works. The Crossing has evoked overwhelming critical response from the Philadelphia newspapers, calling Nally "a musical treasure whose local ties should be maintained and sustained at all costs," and the ensemble "an answered prayer" to Philadelphia musicians.
In 2009, The Crossing gave the opening concert for Chorus America’s National Conference in Philadelphia. It has received the 2009 and 2011 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming from Chorus America. The Crossing has produced two recordings to date: Kile Smith's Vespers – with Piffaro, The Renaissance Band – and It Is Time, a collection of new works on words of Philip Levine
(U.S. Poet Laureate 2011-12) and Paul Celan
, including works (commissioned by The Crossing) by Kirsten Broberg, Paul Fowler
, David Shapiro
, and Kile Smith. In addition to these composers, the Crossing has commissioned works by Benjamin C.S. Boyle, William Brooks
, Gene Coleman, Eriks Esenvalds, Kamran Ince
, Gabriel Jackson, Chris Jonas, David Lang
, Andrew Gant
, Lansing McLoskey, Lewis Spratlan
(co-commissioned with Philadelphia’s Network for New Music), and Joby Talbot
and has presented American premieres of works by Ešenvalds, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
, Frank Havrøy, Bo Holten
, Erhard Karkoschka
, James MacMillan, and Francis Pott
.
Additionally, Nally has conducted world premieres with his other ensembles of works by Jake Heggie
, John Musto
, Robert Maggio, Robert Convery, Neely Bruce
, Sharon Hershey, Howard Yermish, and Gian Carlo Menotti
. The Crossing counts among its collaborators International Contemporary Ensemble
(ICE), Lyric Fest, Network for New Music, Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, and Tempesta di Mare. David Patrick Stearns, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, has called The Crossing “Philadelphia’s best chorus”; it is been named to the Inquirer’s Top Ten Classical Events of 2008 and 2009. The Philadelphia Classical and Jazz Radio Station WRTI will begin broadcasting all of The Crossing’s concerts in December 2011. The Crossing has been the recipient of three major grants from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.
Nally's music is published by Paraclete Press.
Print
The Crossing (choral ensemble)
The Crossing is a professional chamber choir in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. They focus on new music, commission and premiere works, and collaborate with other Philadelphia ensembles....
in Philadelphia, VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble, and the Chicago Bach Choir, the vocal ensemble of the Chicago Bach Project.
Overview
Nally has collaborated on opera and concert music with many of the world’s great conductors and directors, including Carlo RizziCarlo Rizzi (conductor)
Carlo Rizzi is an Italian conductor.Rizzi studied music at the Milan Conservatory. He later was a conducting student of Vladimir Delman, in Bologna, and with Franco Ferrara in Siena. His opera conducting debut was in 1982, with Donizetti's L'ajo nell'imbarazzo...
, Richard Hickox
Richard Hickox
Richard Sidney Hickox CBE was an English conductor of choral, orchestral and operatic music.-Early life:Hickox was born in Stokenchurch in Buckinghamshire into a musical family...
, Spiros Argiris, Vladimir Jurowski
Vladimir Jurowski
Vladimir Mikhailovich Jurowski is a Russian conductor. He is the son of conductor Mikhail Jurowski.Jurowski began his musical studies at the Moscow Conservatory...
, Sir Charles Mackerras, Alexander Polianichko, Corrado Rovaris, Maurizio Barbacini, Markus Stenz
Markus Stenz
Markus Stenz is a German conductor. He studied at the Hochschule für Musik Köln with Volker Wangenhein and at Tanglewood with Leonard Bernstein and Seiji Ozawa....
, Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, Günther Kraemer, David Pountney
David Pountney
David Pountney is a British theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works...
, Richard Jones
Richard Jones
-Artists and entertainers:* F. Richard Jones , American filmmaker* Dick Clair , born Richard Jones, American producer, actor and TV writer* Richard Jones , British bass guitarist...
, Carlos Saura
Carlos Saura
Carlos Saura Atarés is a Spanish film director and photographer.-Early life:Born into a family of artists , he developed his artistic sense in childhood as a photography enthusiast.He obtained his directing diploma in Madrid in 1957 at the Institute of Cinema Research and Studies...
, John Caird
John Caird (director)
John Newport Caird is a British stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas. He is an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, a regular director with the Royal National Theatre of Great Britain and the Principal Guest Director of the Royal Dramatic Theatre,...
, Ralf Långback, Giulio Chazalettes
Giulio Chazalettes
Giulio Chazalettes is an Italian opera director and former actor.-Biography:He was born in Verona . He was taught in music by his mother, a German pianist. After having settled in Milan, he was accepted by the Piccolo Teatro's acting school...
, Filippo Sanjust, Alfredo Arias, Patrice Caurier, Moshe Leiser, Robert Spano
Robert Spano
Robert Spano is an American conductor and pianist. Since 2001 he has been Music Director of the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra , and he served as Music Director of the Brooklyn Philharmonic from 1996 to 2004...
, Andrew Davis
Andrew Davis (conductor)
Sir Andrew Frank Davis CBE is a British conductor.Born in Ashridge, Hertfordshire to Robert J. Davis and his wife Florence J. née Badminton, Davis grew up in Chesham, Buckinghamshire, and in Watford. Davis attended Watford Boys' Grammar School, where he studied classics in his sixth form years...
, Bruno Bartoletti
Bruno Bartoletti
Bruno Bartoletti is an Italian operatic conductor, particularly associated with the Italian repertory and contemporary works....
, John Nelson
John Nelson (conductor)
John Wilton Nelson is an American conductor. Nelson studied at Wheaton College, and later at the Juilliard School of Music with Jean Morel ....
, Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars
Peter Sellars is an American theatre director, noted for his unique contemporary stagings of classical and contemporary operas and plays...
, Elijah Moshinsky, David McVicar
David McVicar
David McVicar is a Scottish opera and theatre director. He attended Netherlee Primary School and then Williamwood High School. He studied as an actor at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, graduating in 1989...
, Neil Armfield
Neil Armfield
Neil Geoffrey Armfield AO is an Australian director of theatre, film and opera.Born in Sydney, Armfield was the youngest of three boys. The son of a factory worker at the nearby Arnott's biscuit factory he was brought up in the suburb of Concord adjacent to Exile Bay...
, Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto
Renata Scotto is an Italian soprano and opera director.Recognized for her sense of style, musicality and as a remarkable singer-actress, Scotto is considered one of the preeminent singers of her generation, specializing in the bel canto repertoire with excursions into the verismo and Verdi...
, Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo
Plácido Domingo KBE , born José Plácido Domingo Embil, is a Spanish tenor and conductor known for his versatile and strong voice, possessing a ringing and dramatic tone throughout its range...
, Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming
Renée Fleming is an American soprano specializing in opera and lieder. Fleming has a full lyric soprano voice.Fleming has performed coloratura, lyric, and lighter spinto soprano repertoires. She has sung roles in Italian, German, French, Czech, and Russian, aside from her native English. She also...
, and Francesca Zambello
Francesca Zambello
Francesca Zambello is a leading American opera and theatre director. Zambello lived in Europe when she was a child, learning to speak French, Italian, German and Russian. Zambello is of Italian descent, the daughter of Jean , an actress and Charles C. Zambello, a former actor who became head of...
.
He has conducted the Latvian State Choir, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale
Santa Fe Desert Chorale
The Santa Fe Desert Chorale is a 24-voice professional choir in Santa Fe, New Mexico.The choir was founded in 1982. They hold general concerts during Summer, and holiday concerts in December...
, The Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Musica Pacifica, Coro Vico Alto of Siena, the Siena International Choral Festival, Chicago Choral Artists, and The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia.
Nally has prepared choirs for the Philharmonia Orchestra
Philharmonia Orchestra
The Philharmonia Orchestra is one of the leading orchestras in Great Britain, based in London. Since 1995, it has been based in the Royal Festival Hall. In Britain it is also the resident orchestra at De Montfort Hall, Leicester and the Corn Exchange, Bedford, as well as The Anvil, Basingstoke...
, the BBC Symphony Orchestra
BBC Symphony Orchestra
The BBC Symphony Orchestra is the principal broadcast orchestra of the British Broadcasting Corporation and one of the leading orchestras in Britain.-History:...
, the Philadelphia Orchestra
Philadelphia Orchestra
The Philadelphia Orchestra is a symphony orchestra based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in the United States. One of the "Big Five" American orchestras, it was founded in 1900...
(including the world premiere of Hannibal’s One Heart Beating), Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra, Sinfonia Cymru, the Pennsylvania Ballet
Pennsylvania Ballet
Founded in 1963 by Balanchine student and protégée Barbara Weisberger, Pennsylvania Ballet is one of the leading ballet companies in the United States. Headquartered in Philadelphia, the company’s annual local season features six programs of classic favorites and new works, including the...
, the Illinois Symphony Orchestra, Illinois Opera Theater, Westminster Opera Theater, Brattleboro Opera, the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition Galas, Il Festival dei Due Mondi
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
, and Spoleto USA
Spoleto Festival USA
Spoleto Festival USA in Charleston, South Carolina, is one of the world's major performing arts festivals. It was founded in 1977 by Pulitzer Prize-winning composer Gian Carlo Menotti, who sought to establish a counterpart to the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy...
. His opera choruses have sung in the opera houses of Spoleto, Genoa, Belfast, London, Edinburgh, Cardiff, Birmingham, Liverpool, Swansea, Bristol, Plymouth, Southampton, Milton Keynes, Llandudno, Oxford, Philadelphia, Brattleboro, and Chicago. His choirs have sung in the churches and theaters of Florence, Sienna, Venice, Norcia, Coventry, London, Cambridge, St. John’s New Brunswick, Washington, DC, San Jose, Chicago, Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, Taos, Santa Fe, Albuquerque, Minneapolis, Providence, and Princeton.
Education
Nally was educated at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of MusicUniversity of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music is the performing arts college of the University of Cincinnati and is one of the nation's leading music conservatories. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cincinnati sixth nationally among university programs...
(BM, music education), Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano...
(MM, choral conducting), and the University of Illinois
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
The University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign is a large public research-intensive university in the state of Illinois, United States. It is the flagship campus of the University of Illinois system...
(DMA, choral conducting). He has been Artist in Residence at Washington and Lee University and Shorter University and has lectured at Westminster Choir College and the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati.
1983-2002
After graduating from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of MusicUniversity of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music
The University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music is the performing arts college of the University of Cincinnati and is one of the nation's leading music conservatories. In its most recent rankings, U.S. News & World Report ranked Cincinnati sixth nationally among university programs...
in 1983, Nally became head of the music department at The Academy, Chicago's performing arts high school. He left this position to move to Princeton and study with Joseph Flummerfelt at Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College
Westminster Choir College is a residential college of music, part of Rider University, located in Princeton, New Jersey, United States.Westminster Choir College educates men and women at the undergraduate and graduate levels for musical careers in music education, voice performance, piano...
.
From 1992-1996, he was on the conducting faculty at West Chester University.
From 1992-2003 he was chorus master at Opera Company of Philadelphia
Opera Company of Philadelphia
The Opera Company of Philadelphia is an American opera company in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and is the city's only company producing grand opera. The organization produces four fully staged opera productions annually, encompassing works from the seventeenth through the 21st century...
, collaborating on over 40 productions.
From 1994-2001 he was Chorus Master of the Spoleto Festival, Italy
Festival dei Due Mondi
The Festival dei Due Mondi ' is an annual summer music and opera festival held each June to early July in Spoleto, Italy, since its founding by composer Gian Carlo Menotti in 1958...
, where he collaborated on over twenty operas and conducted nearly one hundred concerts, including the Italian premieres of works of Huber, Musto, Convery, MacMillan, and Pärt. An Opera News review of the 2001 recording of Menotti's The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street
The Saint of Bleecker Street is an opera in three acts by Gian Carlo Menotti to an original English libretto by the composer. It was first performed at The Broadway Theatre in New York City on December 27, 1954. David Poleri and Davis Cunningham alternated in the role of Michele, and Thomas...
(Chandos/Hickox) noted, “most remarkable is the superb singing of the Spoleto Festival Chorus.” During this time, the Spoleto Festival Chorus was known as the Bridge Ensemble in Philadelphia, presenting two concert seasons and a number of commissioned premieres. Nally returned with the Spoleto Festival Choir in 2007 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the festival and to honor the life and work of its founder Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
, who died in February of that year.
From 1997-2004 he was Music Director at Saint Mark's Church, Philadelphia, building the choir to be one of the premiere ensembles of the city in collaboration with organist Scott Dettra (now organist at Washington National Cathedral
Washington National Cathedral
The Washington National Cathedral, officially named the Cathedral Church of Saint Peter and Saint Paul, is a cathedral of the Episcopal Church located in Washington, D.C., the capital of the United States. Of neogothic design, it is the sixth-largest cathedral in the world, the second-largest in...
), invited to sing services and concerts for national gatherings of the American Guild of Organists
American Guild of Organists
The American Guild of Organists, or AGO, is a national organization of academic, church, and concert organists in the U.S., headquartered in The Interchurch Center in New York City. It was founded in 1896 as both an educational and service organization...
and the Lutheran Association of Church Musicians as well as the 100th anniversary of the Philadelphia Chapter of the American Guild of Organists. The choir was particularly noted for new music and was instrumental in bringing James MacMillan to the city in 2002 for a festival of his music in collaboration with the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia and the Philadelphia Orchestra. In 2002, a Philadelphia music critic named him “the choral czar of Philadelphia.”
Nally’s first professional chamber choir was The Bridge Ensemble which sang concerts 1996-1997; though it failed financially, it established a significant presence in Philadelphia, receiving a great amount of critical attention and laying the groundwork for the success of The Crossing
The Crossing
Operation Badr or Plan Badr was the code name for the Egyptian military operation to cross the Suez Canal and seize the Bar-Lev Line of Israeli fortifications on October 6, 1973...
. As a result of The Bridge Ensemble, Nally was featured in Philadelphia’s Seven Arts Magazine as one of the Rising Stars of Philadelphia. In 1997, the Bridge Ensemble recorded the CD Music of Longing and Lament, which was featured a number of times on Public Radio’s broadcast “The First Art.”
From 1998-2002, he was Artistic Director of the Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia
The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia is a 60-voice choir founded in 1982 in Philadelphia. The chorus consists of volunteer singers with a 12-voice professional core. The Choral Arts Society is currently directed by Matthew Glandorf, who also serves on the faculty of the Curtis Institute of Music...
, during which time the chorus received Chorus America’s 2002 Margaret Hillis National Award for Excellence and was chosen as “The Best of Philadelphia” by Philadelphia Magazine. At this time The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia was also the recipient of a Cultural Leadership Award from The Pew Charitable Trusts. The ensemble toured Italy in the summer of 2000, singing in Florence, Venice, and Spoleto. Nally formed the Choral Arts Society Chamber Choir during this time, which collaborated with the American Composers Forum
American Composers Forum
The American Composers Forum is a non-profit membership organization dedicated to the promotion and assistance of American composers and their music. It was founded in 1973 as the Minnesota Composers Forum and is based in Saint Paul, Minnesota, United States...
(Philadelphia Chapter), on readings and recordings of new music.
At the end of 2002, Nally left Philadelphia and moved to Wales to become the chorus master at Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
.
2003-2007
As chorus master at Welsh National OperaWelsh National Opera
Welsh National Opera is an opera company founded in Cardiff, Wales in 1943. The WNO tours Wales, the United Kingdom and the rest of the world extensively. Annually, it gives more than 120 performances of eight main stage operas to a combined audience of around 150,000 people...
from 2003–2007, he conducted the Welsh National Opera chorus and orchestra in Cardiff and on tour in throughout England and Northern Ireland. He conducted the award-winning production of Handel’s Jephtha – a collaboration with director Katie Mitchell
Katie Mitchell
Katrina Jane Mitchell OBE is an English theatre director. She is an Associate of the Royal National Theatre.-Life and career:Mitchell was raised in Hermitage, Berkshire and educated at Oakham School. Upon leaving Oakham she went up to Magdalen College, Oxford to read English...
– that was listed as No. 2 on The Sunday Times' “Must-see Operas.” With director David Pountney
David Pountney
David Pountney is a British theatre and opera director and librettist internationally known for his productions of rarely performed operas and new productions of classic works...
he created Chorus!, a popular revue featuring the chorus and orchestra that has seen revivals at WNO as well as a new production at Houston Grand Opera. With the WNO chorus and orchestra, Nally conducted an acclaimed performance of Handel’s Messiah and collaborated with James MacMillan on a concert of the composer's works.
2007-present
Nally returned to the United States to become the chorus master for the Lyric Opera of ChicagoLyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
. In 2008, the Chorus of Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
presented the first concert of their 60-year history, “Holly and Ivy.” The Chicago Sun-Times noted it “set a new high bar for downtown choral performance and programming” in its Top Classical Events of 2008
Nally has conducted VAE: Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble since 2009 and has presented a number of regional premieres during that time, including David Lang’s 2008 Pulitzer-winning The Little Match Girl Passion, and Francis Pott’s My song is love unknown. VAE collaborates with the Cincinnati Chamber Orchestra and concert:nova and performs in the great spaces of Cincinnati. VAE’s performance of James MacMillan’s Seven Lasts Words from the Cross was named one of the Top Classical Events of 2010 by musicincincinnati.com. Their concerts are regularly broadcast on the radio in Cincinnati.
The Crossing
The ensemble began in 2005 when Nally and a group of friends sang an informal concert together. At the end of the 2010-11 season, Nally left Lyric Opera of Chicago and moved back to Philadelphia to focus on his Philadelphia ensemble, The CrossingThe Crossing (choral ensemble)
The Crossing is a professional chamber choir in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA. They focus on new music, commission and premiere works, and collaborate with other Philadelphia ensembles....
, which specializes in contemporary works. The Crossing has evoked overwhelming critical response from the Philadelphia newspapers, calling Nally "a musical treasure whose local ties should be maintained and sustained at all costs," and the ensemble "an answered prayer" to Philadelphia musicians.
In 2009, The Crossing gave the opening concert for Chorus America’s National Conference in Philadelphia. It has received the 2009 and 2011 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming from Chorus America. The Crossing has produced two recordings to date: Kile Smith's Vespers – with Piffaro, The Renaissance Band – and It Is Time, a collection of new works on words of Philip Levine
Philip Levine (poet)
Philip Levine is a Pulitzer Prize-winning American poet best known for his poems about working-class Detroit. He taught for over thirty years at the English Department of California State University, Fresno and held teaching positions at other universities as well...
(U.S. Poet Laureate 2011-12) and Paul Celan
Paul Celan
Paul Celan was a poet and translator...
, including works (commissioned by The Crossing) by Kirsten Broberg, Paul Fowler
Paul Fowler
Paul Albert Fowler is a former English cricketer. Fowler was a left-handed batsman. He was born in Wigan, Lancashire.Fowler made his debut for Oxfordshire in the 1978 Minor Counties Championship against Wiltshire...
, David Shapiro
David Shapiro
David Shapiro may refer to:*David I. Shapiro, attorney*David Shapiro *David Shapiro , , American jazz musician*David Shapiro *J. David Shapiro , American filmmaker and stand-up comedian...
, and Kile Smith. In addition to these composers, the Crossing has commissioned works by Benjamin C.S. Boyle, William Brooks
William Brooks
William Brooks may refer to:* William Brooks of Blackburn , cotton supplier* Sir William Cunliffe Brooks, 1st Baronet , British lawyer and politician* William Edwin Brooks , Irish civil engineer and ornithologist...
, Gene Coleman, Eriks Esenvalds, Kamran Ince
Kamran Ince
Kamran N. İnce is a Turkish-American composer.- Life :Ince was born in Glendive, Montana, and at the age of six moved with his family to Turkey. He entered the Ankara State Conservatory at the age of ten, in 1971, where he began studying cello and piano, and took composition lessons with İlhan Baran...
, Gabriel Jackson, Chris Jonas, David Lang
David Lang (composer)
David Lang is an American composer living in New York City. He was awarded the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Music for The Little Match Girl Passion.-Biography:...
, Andrew Gant
Andrew Gant
-Biography:Andrew attended Radley College before going on to read Music and English at St John's College, Cambridge. He was a choral scholar and sang in the College Choir under George Guest. He subsequently studied composition with Paul Patterson at the Royal Academy of Music and completed his PhD...
, Lansing McLoskey, Lewis Spratlan
Lewis Spratlan
M. Lewis Spratlan Jr. is an American music academic and composer of contemporary classical music.Born in Miami, Florida, Spratlan played the oboe as a youth. He attended Yale University and was a student of Mel Powell and Gunther Schuller...
(co-commissioned with Philadelphia’s Network for New Music), and Joby Talbot
Joby Talbot
Joby Talbot is a British composer.Born in Wimbledon, London, Talbot studied composition at Royal Holloway and Bedford New College at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama under Brian Elias and Simon Bainbridge....
and has presented American premieres of works by Ešenvalds, Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen
-Biography:Pelle Gudmundsen-Holmgreen was born in Copenhagen, Denmark, and is the son of the sculptor Jørgen Gudmundsen-Holmgreen. He studied at the Royal Danish Conservatory in Copenhagen, with Høffding, Westergaard, and Hjelmborg, graduating in 1958 .He won the Nordic Council Music Prize in 1980...
, Frank Havrøy, Bo Holten
Bo Holten
Bo Holten is a Danish composer and conductor.He has been the principal conductor for the vocal ensembles Ars Nova and Musica Ficta , as well as guest-conductor for the BBC Singers...
, Erhard Karkoschka
Erhard Karkoschka
Erhard Karkoschka , is a German composer, scholar and conductor. Karkoschka was born in the German linguistic enclave of Moravská Ostrava, Czechoslovakia, and subsequent to World War II became a violinist for the Bayreuth Symphony Orchestra, whereupon he studied composition, musicology and...
, James MacMillan, and Francis Pott
Francis Pott
Francis Pott, born 25 August 1957, is a British composer, pianist, senior academic and university administrator.-Life:He held open music scholarships at Winchester College and Magdalene College, Cambridge, studying composition at the latter with Robin Holloway and Hugh Wood while also pursuing...
.
Additionally, Nally has conducted world premieres with his other ensembles of works by Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie
Jake Heggie is an American composer and pianist.Jake Heggie is the composer of the operas Dead Man Walking , The End of the Affair , At The Statue of Venus , To Hell and Back , and Moby-Dick , as well as the stage work For a Look or a Touch...
, John Musto
John Musto
John Musto is an American composer and pianist. As a composer, he is active in opera, orchestral and chamber music, song, vocal ensemble, and solo piano works. As a pianist, he performs frequently as a soloist, alone and with orchestra, as a chamber musician, and with singers.-Career:Born in 1954...
, Robert Maggio, Robert Convery, Neely Bruce
Neely Bruce
Neely Bruce , Professor of Music and American Studies at Wesleyan University, is a composer, conductor, pianist and scholar of American music....
, Sharon Hershey, Howard Yermish, and Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti
Gian Carlo Menotti was an Italian-American composer and librettist. Although he often referred to himself as an American composer, he kept his Italian citizenship. He wrote the classic Christmas opera, Amahl and the Night Visitors, among about two dozen other operas intended to appeal to popular...
. The Crossing counts among its collaborators International Contemporary Ensemble
International Contemporary Ensemble
The International Contemporary Ensemble is a contemporary classical music ensemble of thirty chamber musicians, including strings, woodwinds, piano, percussion, voice and composers, which enables great flexibility of programming...
(ICE), Lyric Fest, Network for New Music, Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra
The Philadelphia Virtuosi Chamber Orchestra is a chamber orchestra in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, founded in 1991 by Daniel Spalding.-References:* -Listening:*...
, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band, and Tempesta di Mare. David Patrick Stearns, in the Philadelphia Inquirer, has called The Crossing “Philadelphia’s best chorus”; it is been named to the Inquirer’s Top Ten Classical Events of 2008 and 2009. The Philadelphia Classical and Jazz Radio Station WRTI will begin broadcasting all of The Crossing’s concerts in December 2011. The Crossing has been the recipient of three major grants from The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage through the Philadelphia Music Project.
Awards and Distinctions
- 2011 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming from Chorus America (The Crossing)
- 2010 Top Classical Events of Cincinnati – VAE (musicincincinnati.com)
- 2009 Distinguished Alumnus of Pennridge High School, Perkasie, Pennsylvania
- 2009 ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming from Chorus America (The Crossing)
- 2009 Best Classical Events in Philadelphia – The Crossing (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- 2008 Best Classical Events in Chicago – Lyric Opera Chorus’ “Holly and Ivy” concert (Chicago Sun-Times)
- 2008 Best Classical Events in Philadelphia – The Crossing (Philadelphia Inquirer)
- 2002 Margaret Hillis National Award for Excellence in Choral Music (Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia)
- 2002 Best of Philadelphia (Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia)
- 1997 nominee from the University of Illinois for American Choral Director’s Julius Herford Prize for Outstanding Doctoral Terminal Research Project in Choral Music (won that year by Richard Sparks of the University of Cincinnati)
- 1997 Rising Star, Seven Arts Magazine, Philadelphia
Works
- "Gian Carlo Menotti: A Centennial Tribute", Voice Prints: Journal of the New York Teachers’ of Singing Association (January–February 2011).
- Conversations with Joseph Flummerfelt: Thoughts on Conducting, Music and Musicians, Scarecrow Press, 2010.
- "To immerse myself in words: Text and Music in the Choral Works of Samuel Barber." DMA dissertation, University of Illinois, 1995.
- "Barber's Op. 42: The poetry and music as key to his musical animus; Part I: Laurie Lee's Twelfth Night; Part II: Louise Bogan's To be sung on the water." Choral Journal 47.4 (October 2006).
Nally's music is published by Paraclete Press.
- Antman, Rachel. What the Lyric Looks for: an interview with Lyric Opera of Chicago’s Chorus Master Donald Nally, Classical Singer, April 2009.
Radio
- WRTI Philadelphia: Creatively Speaking with Jim Cotter, July 23, 2011
- WFMT Chicago: Critical Thinking with Andrew Patner, January 26, 2009
- WHYY Philadelphia: Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane – on The Crossing’s Month of Moderns, May 15, 2009
- 1000 Times No: Podcast with Jenn Yuan, February 19, 2007
- WHYY Philadelphia: Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane – on leaving Philadelphia, December 2003
- WHYY Philadelphia: Radio Times with Marty Moss-Coane – with composer David Shapiro and poet Philip Levine, May 2000
Discography
- Is Time, The Crossing (Navona Records, 2011)
- Kile Smith, Vespers, Piffaro, The Renaissance Band and The Crossing (Navona Records, 2008)
- Gian Carlo Menotti, The Saint of Bleecker Street, Choir and Orchestra of the Festival dei Due Mondi (Chandos, 2002)
- Gian Carlo Menotti, Cantatas, Choir and Orchestra of the Festival dei Due Mondi (Chandos, 2002)
- Choral Music of Longing and Lament, The Bridge Ensemble (Bridge Ensemble, 1997)