Mary Louise Burke
Mary Louise Burke lives in Denver, Colorado and is the Associate Director of the Colorado Symphony Chorus and Associate Director of the acclaimed Colorado Children’s Chorale, conducting the Concert Choir and acting as a vocal coach for the Chorale. She has been a guest clinician and adjudicator at music and drama workshops and festivals throughout Colorado and the Rocky Mountain region. Ms. Burke has a Doctorate in voice from the University of Colorado and has appeared as a guest soloist with the Colorado Symphony orchestra and the Boulder Bach Festival, and performed regularly with Central City Opera’s educational programs.
Contact Mary Louise at burke@childrenschorale.org
David Farwig
David Farwig, baritone, resides in Denver, Colorado and has performed as a professional soloist, chorister and conductor regionally and nationally. For six years, he performed full-time with The United States Air Force Singing Sergeants, one of the premier, full-time military choral ensembles in Washington DC, singing exclusively for US and foreign dignitaries. During this time he was featured in various solo performances throughout the United States, Europe and the Middle East. As a free-lance concert artist Mr. Farwig has sung with various professional choruses and orchestras regionally and nationally including the Boulder Philharmonic, St. Martin’s Chamber Choir, the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Santa Fe Pro Musica, the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado, The Orchestra of St. Luke with Peter Schrier, Charles Dutiot, and Robert Shaw and his Festival Singers at Carnegie Hall, the National Symphony with Leonard Slatkin at the Kennedy Center, and Conspirare with Craig Hella Johnson in Nebraska, Texas, California Oklahoma and New York. In 2003, he was awarded the "Virginia Best Adams Fellowship" at the Carmel Bach Festival, and the following summer he was the recipient of the "New Young Artist Fellowship" at the Victoria Bach Festival.
Mr. Farwig holds degrees in vocal performance and education as well as a master’s degree in choral conducting from the Lamont Conservatory at the University of Denver. He is currently the bass section leader and soloist at St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Denver and maintains a coaching studio in his home.
MB Krueger
MB Krueger earned her bachelor’s degree in music education and voice at Michigan State University (1990), where she was a National Merit Scholar. She received her masters degree in music education with an emphasis in choral conducting from Miami University in Oxford, Ohio (1995). While at Miami, MB founded and conducted a chamber ensemble of women’s voices and was chorusmaster for Miami’s production of Le Nozze di Figaro. She began her career in Michigan as a high school choir director, and after two years, went on to teach and direct all three choirs at Lansing Community College. Currently, MB is an assistant professor of music at Metropolitan State College of Denver, where she directs the Women’s Choir and teaches class voice, private voice, and musical theatre. She has music directed over 30 shows, including Into the Woods(Metro), La Cage aux Folles (Riverwalk Theatre, Lansing, Michigan), Forever Plaid (Boarshead Theatre, Lansing, Michigan), Man of LaMancha (Riverwalk and Metro), The Secret Garden (Metro), and many others. MB has also conducted and accompanied a number of church choirs and community choirs. She is a member of St. Martin’s Chamber Choir and St. Andrew’s Episcopal Church Choir, and has also sung professionally with the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Santa Fe Opera, Ars Nova Singers, Diverse Passions Early Music Ensemble, and the Baroque Chamber Orchestra of Colorado.
Michael Todd Krueger
Michael Todd Krueger has recently relocated to the Denver area after twenty years of service as a music educator and conductor at the secondary school and college/university levels. He is the conductor and artistic director of the 135-voice Larimer Chorale and Chamber Choir in Fort Collins, Colorado and he works creatively as a free-lance teacher and musician along the Front Range.
Dr. Krueger began his musical training on the trumpet as a student of his father, but a love for singing also developed, leading to performing, teaching and conducting interests that have regularly incorporated both vocal and instrumental idioms. He earned the Bachelor of Arts degree in music education from Luther College and the Master of Music degree in trumpet performance and jazz studies from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley (UNC). Following his studies at Greeley, he taught high school and junior high vocal music and subsequently earned the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting and vocal studies from the University of Illinois. He has served on the music faculties of Ithaca College, Morningside College, and most recently, the University of Wyoming.
Michael is a former resident member of the Grammy Award-winning Robert Shaw Festival Singers, having performed in concert and recording sessions with the late Maestro Shaw as part of a three-week residency in southern France, at Carnegie Hall, and at the ACDA National Convention in San Antonio, Texas.
Michael is very excited to be a clinician for the 2007 GALA Choruses Annual Conference and he looks forward to future involvement with the GALA Choruses movement.
Gary Madison
Gary Madison has held the position of Music Director for the Baltimore Opera Company, the Baltimore Opera Touring Theatre, Annapolis Opera Company, Minnesota Repertoire Theater, Minnesota Music Theater, and the Universities of Maryland and Minnesota. Mr. Madison was also the Co-Founder and Music Director of KinderOpera Theatre in Washington, D.C. He has directed and performed both on and off-Broadway, most notably in premieres by Terrence McNally, Katherine Houghton and in the original Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera. Mr. Madison is also the author of 14 complete opera surtitle translations which are used by opera companies throughout the U.S., as well as two song-cycles written for soprano Carol Neblett and baritone Dale Duesing. In addition to teaching voice, musical theatre, acting/directing and improvisation at numerous U.S. colleges, he has been a coach/accompanist for such artsts as Leontyne Price, Joan Sutherland, Eleanor Steber, Carol Neblett, Aprile Milo, Ruth Welting, Luciano Pavarotti, Richard Leech, James Morris, Jean Stapleton, Roberta Flack ... and Blondie.
A long-time survivor of cancer and lupus, Gary is also a naturopathic consultant specializing in cancer and total body detoxification. His expertise in breathing technique has been utilized both by singers as well as his natural health clients.
Gary makes his home in Woodbridge, New Jersey. Exciting upcoming engagements include a Carnegie Hall debut in December, 2007.
Timothy Seelig
Dr. Timothy Seelig holds four degrees, including Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas and the Diploma in Lieder and Oratorio from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria. He was the Artistic Director for the world-renowned Turtle Creek Chorale for 20 years and on the adjunct music faculty at the Meadows School for the Arts at Southern Methodist University since 1996.
Dr. Seelig’s early training was as a singer. He made his European operatic debut at the Staatsoper in St. Gallen, Switzerland and his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in 1991. He has two solo recordings, EVERYTHING POSSIBLE and TWO WORLDS. He is a published arranger, lyricist and writer. His best-selling book, The Perfect Blend, was followed by an instructional DVD, both published by Shawnee Press. The sequel, The Perfect Rehearsal, was released in the spring of 2007.
Upon stepping down from the Turtle Creek Chorale, Dr. Seelig began as the Director of Art for Peace & Justice, a program of the national non-profit Hope for Peace & Justice (www.H4PJ.org). In this capacity, he will continue the work he started with the Turtle Creek Chorale of using the arts to raise awareness and further social issues and causes. He continues his teaching at SMU.
He is the proud father of two incredible, and thankfully grown, children.
Sheila Tallmon
Sheila Tallmon has choreographed for Sound Circle, Denver Women’s Chorus, Denver Gay Men’s Chorus, Resonance Women’s Chorus, and the Rainbow Chorus. She is a founding member of Sound Circle and also a member of Resonance. A composer who has released a cd of original piano music, Sheila has used her background in dance and show choir to develop a signature style of choral movement that embodies joy and humor, and has developed a teaching technique that allows singers to operate in their comfort zones and to accept gentle stretches beyond those zones in a supportive and affirming atmosphere.
