Summer Conducting Seminar
June 3-13, 2024
Deadline for Fellow applications: Monday, March 25, 2024(Associate applications will continue to be accepted)
Held on the beautiful suburban campus of Towson University, the 11-day Summer Conducting Seminar offers 10 Fellows the opportunity to conduct members of the internationally acclaimed Baltimore Chamber Orchestra in orchestral works by Elgar, Brahms, and Beethoven, and other works by Stravinsky, Mozart, Bach, Mendelssohn, and Schubert.
In this intensive 11-day Seminar, Fellows will have 25 minutes of daily conducting time, including three sessions with members of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, two with the Stravinsky L’Histoire du Soldat ensemble, and nine with a one-per-part ensemble. Associates participate fully in all activities outside of conducting the ensembles.
The Seminar begins with five days of Boot Camp: building technical control from the bottom up, and exploring the fundamental issues of music making: how single lines, progressions, phrases, and ultimately whole movements can be unfolded in the most beautiful, most moving way; followed by hands-on experience with the building blocks of musical form: Fugue, Theme and Variations, and Sonata Form.
L’Histoire Day offers a focus on mixed meters, and the final Orchestra component offers three days of conducting members of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra musicians in music by Elgar, Brahms, and Beethoven.
Activities include two hours daily technique sessions focused on gaining control of the muscles that generate the physical component of conducting, and video reviews of that day’s conducting, essentially mini-lessons. Each day the group conversations with Maestro Thakar cover topics musical and practical.
Associates participate fully in all activities outside of conducting the ensembles.
Henry Fogel, preeminent among American orchestra administrators, will be in residence to provide individual career counseling for all Seminar conductors, and to oversee the Career Day. Participants will take mock interviews for music director, assistant conductor, and academic conducting positions, and will participate in the reviews.
Repertoire
ELGAR Serenade for Strings
BRAHMS Serenade No. 2 in A Major
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4
STRAVINSKY L’Histoire du Soldat Suite
Plus assorted smaller works, including:
BACH Contrapunctus I from The Art of the Fugue
MOZART Adagio and Fugue K.546
MENDELSSOHN Op. 81 No. 4, Theme and Variations
SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 14 “Death and the Maiden,” mvt. 2
MOZART Divertimento in F Major K.138
Schedule
Boot Camp
Part 1 - Fundamentals of Technique and Music-Making
Monday, June 3
afternoon check-in
opening meeting
two technique sessions
music-making: single lines
Tuesday, June 4
two technique sessions
two music-making sessions: harmonization
group conversation
Part 2 – Forms (with small ensembles)
technique
conducting the small ensemble
group conversation
video review sessions
technique
conducting the small ensemble
Wednesday, June 5 - Fugue
BACH Contrapunctus I from The Art of the Fugue
MOZART Adagio and Fugue K.546
Thursday, June 6 - Theme & Variations
SCHUBERT String Quartet No. 14 “Death and the Maiden,” mvt. 2
MENDELSSOHN Op. 81 No. 4, Theme and Variations
Friday, June 7 - Sonata Form
MOZART Divertimento in F Major K.138
Study Day
Saturday, June 8
A day off to recharge and study for the upcoming ensemble sessions
Henry Fogel Career Day
Sunday, June 9
mock interviews for Music Director, Assistant Conductor/Youth Orchestra, and College teaching positions
group conversation with Mr. Fogel
L’Histoire Day
Monday, June 10
technique
mock L’Histoire practice
group conversation
mock L’Histoire practice
two sessions with full L’Histoire ensemble
Orchestra
technique
conducting the small ensemble
group conversation
video review sessions
technique
conducting the orchestra
Tuesday, June 11
ELGAR Serenade for Strings
Wednesday, June 12
BRAHMS Serenade No. 2 in A Major
Thursday, June 13
BEETHOVEN Symphony No. 4
Faculty
Markand Thakar
Markand Thakar is renowned world-wide as one of the major conducting pedagogues of the 21st century. For 20 years co-director of Graduate Conducting (with Gustav Meier) at the Peabody Conservatory, he is Director of Conducting Programs International and frequent Visiting Faculty at the Juan N. Corpas University School of Music in Bogota, Colombia.
As a conductor Maestro Thakar has appeared with some 40 orchestras across North America, in addition to orchestras in Asia and Europe. Currently Music Director emeritus of the Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, his career included stints as Assistant Conductor of the New York Philharmonic, Associate conductor of the Colorado Symphony, and Music Director of the Duluth Superior Symphony. Notable among his studies was his work with the legendary conductor Sergiu Celibidache. Thakar is the author of On the Principles and Practice of Conducting (University of Rochester Press, 2016) Looking for the "Harp” Quartet: An Investigation into Musical Beauty (University of Rochester Press, 2011), and Counterpoint: Fundamentals of Music Making (Yale University Press, 1990).
Students of Maestro Thakar have won significant conducting positions across North America and internationally, including music directorships of the Aachen & Bochum Symphony Orchestras and the Württembergisches Kammerorchester Heilbronn, in Germany, the Orchestre national d’Île de France, the National Philharmonic Orchestra of Venezuela, the Changwon Philharmonic Orchestra of South Korea, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Navarra of Spain, the Orquesta Sinfónica de Michoacán of Mexico, the Sofia New Symphony Orchestra of Bulgaria, and the symphony orchestras of Winnipeg, Hartford, Charleston, Oklahoma City, Eugene, Bozeman, El Paso, Lubbock, Muncie, Williamsport, Amarillo, Illinois, Berkeley, Yonkers, Mid-Atlantic, Sioux City, Waterloo-Cedar Falls, Fresno, Lake Forest, Hamilton (Ontario), Washington-Idaho, Young Musician's Foundation, and Grande Ronde Symphony Orchestras. Students of his have held staff conducting positions with the Metropolitan and Indianapolis Opera Companies, and the orchestras of Philadelphia, New York, Cincinnati, Los Angeles, Dallas, Atlanta, St. Louis, Milwaukee, Seattle, Portland (OR), Richmond, Winnipeg, Buffalo, Phoenix, Charlotte, Kansas City, Canton, Portland (ME), Winston-Salem, and El Paso, as well as numerous collegiate positions. Among his students are Grand Prize winners in the Malko, Eduardo Mata, Memphis International, Mario Gusella International, and Fifth International Prokofiev Conducting Competitions. markandthakar.com
Henry Fogel
Recently retired as Dean of the Chicago College of Performing Arts at Roosevelt University, Henry Fogel has enjoyed an extraordinary career in orchestral administration. During his 18-year tenure as President of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra the orchestra saw an eight-fold increase in its endowment, and dramatically strengthened its community engagement and educational programs, in additional maintaining its international reputation of exceptional artistry. Subsequently as President of the League of American Orchestras for six years, he shepherded that institution to a position financial stability with a vision for the future, all while visiting over 190 American orchestras. A long-time advocate for the development of young conductors, Mr. Fogel remains active as a consultant for orchestras around the world.
Michael Avagliano
Michael Avagliano, Associate Director of the Summer Conducting Seminar, is Music Director of the Central Jersey Symphony and the Summit Symphony, and is on the faculty of Drew University as Director of the University Orchestra. Michael is a long-time colleague of Maestro Thakar and a much appreciated conducting pedagogue. Recent conducting appearances include the Bohuslav Martinu Philharmonic, Light Opera of New Jersey, the Newburgh Symphony, the University of Oregon Symphony, the YPHIL International Youth Philharmonic, the Scuola Popolare di Testaccio in Rome, the Plainfield Symphony, and the Northern Dutchess Symphony Orchestra.
Location + Lodging
The Summer Conducting Seminar will take place in the Center for the Arts on the campus of Towson University (building CA on the campus map). TU is situated on a beautiful 329-acre suburban campus, located eight miles north of Baltimore city. Just down the street, the suburban college town of Towson boasts a major mall and dozens of restaurants, pubs and shops.
Participants find lodging in area hotels (ask if they have a Towson University rate) and with airbnb (sharing is possible).
Application Procedure + Deadline
Deadline for applications: Monday, March 25, 2024.
(Associate applications will continue to be accepted.)
Acceptances will go out shortly after March 25, but openings may occur post-deadline; do not hesitate to inquire post-deadline.
To apply for consideration, please submit :
- A completed application form.
download application form - Links to video of your conducting, preferably music of contrasting styles.
- Your Curriculum Vitae.
- A list of references, including email addresses.
- Non-refundable application fee of $25
Please email all application materials to
info [at] conductingprogramsinternational [dot] org
Please make all payments online from the Fees and Payment tab.
Fees and Payment
Non-refundable application fee: $25
Fellows: $2,700
Associates: $1,350
An initial, non-refundable payment of $1,350 for Fellows or $675 for Associates is required by Monday, April 15, 2024 to reserve your place, with the remaining $1,350/$675 payment due by Monday, May 6, 2024.
Pay Online
Non-refundable application fee
Due by Monday, March 25, 2024
Pay application fee $25
Initial Tuition - Due by Monday, April 15, 2024
An initial, non-refundable payment
Pay Fellows Initial Tuition $1,350
Pay Associates Initial Tuition $675
Final Tuition - Due by Monday, May 6, 2024
Remaining payment
Pay Fellows Final Tuition $1,350
Pay Associates Final Tuition $675