Constance DeFotis
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Constance DeFotis's conducting and teaching positions have included Harvard University, Wellesley College, the Katholische Hochschule für Kirchenmusik Berlin, the Knabenchor der St. Hedwigs-Kathedrale in Berlin, and Lake Forest College. Dr. DeFotis also has been invited to serve as Visiting Director of Choral Activities at DePaul University, the University of Chicago, the College of William and Mary, and Vassar College.
During the last decade she has premiered works by composers Greg Bartholomew, Peter Child, Zae Munn, Beth Wiemann, William DeFotis, and Arlene Zallman. Her ensembles have won international competitions and received invitations to perform at Symphony Hall in Boston; the National Cathedral in Washington D.C.; the Spoleto Festival in Italy; Town Hall in Sydney; the American Women Composers Annual Marathon; the Boston American Women Composers, Inc., New Dimensions Series; the New England Conservatory of Music Enchanted Circle series; the American Society of University Composers conference; and at Trinity Church in Boston for the northeastern chapter of the ACDA.
Among her major chorus preparations were collaborations with Claudio Abbado, James Levine, Antol Dorati, and Charles Dutoit with the Berlin Philharmonic. While on a Fulbright grant, she worked with Frieder Bernius and the Kammerchor Stuttgart, Eric Ericson and the Choeur de Radio France, the Nederlands Kamerkoor and Danmarks Radiokor with Uwe Gronostay, and observed the Berlin Philharmonic under various conductors. Dr. DeFotis received her B.A. and M.M. degrees in choral music from the University of Illinois in Urbana and her D.M.A. in choral conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music.
Constance DeFotis is also a mezzo-soprano and German diction coach. As a member of the Chicago Symphony Orchestra Chorus directed by Margaret Hillis, she performed, recorded, and toured with Carlo Maria Giulini, Claudio Abbado, Georg Solti, Daniel Barenboim, James Levine, Gennady Rozhdestvensky, et al. Her interpretations of new music have brought her critical acclaim, especially through performances with the San Francisco Symphony, Südwestfunk-Orchester in Baden-Baden, and work with Luigi Nono in Freiburg. As a member of the Deutscher Oper Berlin chorus, she sang in over fifty operas.
In the fall of 2006, Ms. DeFotis began her tenure as director of choral activities at the University of Connecticut. She also is currently at work on a monograph entitled The Dramaturgy of the Choral Rehearsal: Techniques for the Phases of Work. In addition, she is active as a clinician, guest conductor, and program annotator. Constance DeFotis is recorded on the Centaur, Holden CD, and The Colonial Williamsburg Foundation labels.
