Donald Nally
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Donald Nally (b. December 27, 1960 in Hilltown, Pennsylvania) is an American conductor and opera chorus master.
He is currently Chorus Master of the Lyric Opera of Chicago and conductor of The Crossing, a chamber ensemble in Philadelphia. Previous chorus master positions include those at Welsh National Opera, the Opera Company of Philadelphia, and the Festival dei Due Mondi in Spoleto, Italy. From 1992-1996, he was on the conducting faculty at West Chester University.
He has collaborated on opera and concert music with many of the world’s great conductors and directors, including Carlo Rizzi, Richard Hickox, Spiros Argiris, Vladimir Jurovski, Sir Charles Mackerras, Alexander Polianichko, Corrado Rovaris, Maurizio Barbacini, Gian Carlo Menotti, Günther Kraemer, David Pountney, Richard Jones, John Caird, Ralf Långback, Guilio Chazalette, Filippo Sanjust, Alfredo Arias, Patrice Caurier and Moshe Leiser. Donald has prepared choirs for the Philharmonia Orchestra, London, the Philadelphia Orchestra (including the world premiere of Hannibal’s One Heart Beating), Sinfonia Cymru, the Opera Company of Philadelphia (over fifty productions), the Pennsylvania Ballet, the Luciano Pavarotti International Vocal Competition Galas, and Spoleto USA.
From 1994-2001 he was Chorus Master of Spoleto Festival Italy where he prepared and conducted over twenty operas and hundreds of 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. He 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.
He has conducted the Santa Fe Desert Chorale, the Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia, Musica Pacifica, Coro Vico Alto of Siena, the Sienna International Choral Festival, and The Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia, where he was Artistic Director from 1998-2002, 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. Under his direction the Choir of Saint Mark’s Church was chosen to sing services and concerts for national gatherings of the American Guild of Organists and the Lutheran Association of Church Musicians, the focus being the choir’s facility with and dedication to new sacred music. In 2002, a Philadelphia music critic named him “the choral czar of Philadelphia.” Nally's Philadelphia ensemble, the Crossing, specializes in contemporary works; the ensemble 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.
Nally's music is published by Paraclete Press and his articles on the choral music of Samuel Barber have been published in the Choral Journal. An advocate of new music, Nally has conducted commissioned premieres of works by Jake Heggie, John Musto, Robert Maggio, Robert Convery, Neely Bruce, Sharon Hershey, David Shapiro, William Brooks, Howard Yermish, and Benjamin C.S. Boyle.
Nally was educated at the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music (BM, music education), Westminster Choir College (MM, choral conducting), and the University of Illinois (DMA, choral conducting).
[edit] Bibliography
"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).
[edit] Discography
Choral Music of Longing and Lament, The Bridge Ensemble (Bridge Ensemble, 1997)
