American Choral Directors Association

The American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), headquartered in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, is a non-profit organization with the stated purpose of promoting the field of choral music. Its membership comprises approximately 22,000 choral directors representing over a million singers.^[1]

ACDA is organized in six regions: Midwestern, Eastern, Northwestern, Southern, Southwestern, and Western. Every year, conferences with topics pertaining to choral conductors are held. In even numbered years, a region conference is held in each region, and in odd numbered years, a national conference takes place in a major U.S. city. In 2021, ACDA organized its first virtual national conference in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2023, the organization returned to an in person conference, with Cincinnati serving as the host city. Each year, a different university hosts the yearly ACDA chapter.^{[citation needed]}

Their official publications are the Choral Journal, as well as the scientific research journal International Journal of Research in Choral Singing (online only).^{[citation needed]}

As of 2020, Robyn Hilger was serving as the organization's executive director.^[2]

Brock Commission

Since 1991, the ACDA awards the "Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission" to "a recognized composer to write a choral composition in an effort to perpetuate quality choral repertoire."^[3]

Year	Composer	Title	Orchestration	Duration	Notes
1991	Theron Kirk	O For A Thousand Tongues
1993	Carlisle Floyd	A Time to Dance
1994	Daniel E. Gawthrop	Sing a Mighty Song
1995	Daniel Pinkham	Alleluia for the Waters
1996	James Mulholland	That I Shall Never Look Upon Thee More
1997	Stephen Paulus	God Be With Us
1997	Gian Carlo Menotti	Jacob’s Prayer
1998	Samuel Adler	A Psalm Trilogy
1999	Gwyneth Walker	I Thank You God
1999	Adolphus Hailstork	The God of Glory Thunders
2000	David Brunner	The Circles of Our Lives
2001	Eric Whitacre	Leonardo Dreams of His Flying Machine		10 min
2002	Richard Nance	Psalm 36
2003	René Clausen	Memorial
2004	Z. Randall Stroope	We Behold Once Again the Stars
2005	Morten Lauridsen	Nocturnes
2006	Mack Wilberg	Dances to Life
2007	David Conte	The Nine Muses
2008	Eleanor Joanne Daley	Life's Mirror
2009	Dominick Argento	Cenotaph
2010	Joan Szymko	All Works of Love
2011	Steven Sametz	Three Mystical Choruses
2012	Chen Yi	Distance can’t keep us two apart	A capella mixed choir	5 min	Text by Wang Bo[4]
2013	Steven Stucky	Take Him, Earth	SATB choir and 9 instruments	13 min
2014	Alice Parker	The Definition of Beauty	SSAA, unaccompanied	4:45 min
2015	Jake Heggie	Stop this Day and Night with Me	SATBBB, unaccompanied
2016	Ola Gjeilo	The River	choir, piano and string quartet		[5]
2017	J.A.C. Redford	Homing	Mixed chorus and orchestra	28 min
2018	Tarik O'Regan	All Things Common	Acapella SATB	5 min
2019	Jake Runestad	A Silence Haunts Me	SATB choir and piano	11:30 min	Text by Todd Boss
2020	Ivo Antognini	There is that in me
2021	Bob Chilcott	Songs My Heart Has Taught Me
2022	Ēriks Ešenvalds	Stopping by Woods on a Snowy Evening
2023	Jennifer Higdon	The Absence
2024	Andre J Thomas	In Time of Silver Rain

See also

• John B. Haberlen, a past national President of the Association

References

1. "American Choral Directors Association". acda.org. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
2. Sharp, Tim. "Opinion | The pandemic shut down choirs. We're finding new ways to sing together". Washington Post. Retrieved 2020-05-21.
3. "American Choral Directors Association". Acda.org. Archived from the original on 2016-03-08. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
4. Make (2012-02-17). "2012 Brock Commission – ACDAEast". Acdaeast.org. Archived from the original on 2016-12-20. Retrieved 2017-02-18.
5. "Ola Gjeilo (pronounced Yay-lo) is one of the most frequently performed composers in the choral world" (PDF). Olagjeilo.com. Retrieved 1 September 2019.

External links

• Official site
• International Journal of Research in Choral Singing