LOS ANGELES CHILDREN'S CHORUS ANNOUNCES APPOINTMENT OF DR. STEVEN KRONAUER AS DIRECTOR
Entertainment Desk
October 28, 2009
Choir for Boy Vocalists with Changing Voices is First of its Kind in Region and One of Only a Few in Country.
Dr. Steven Kronauer, a noted singer, conductor, educator and voice teacher, has been appointed director of Los Angeles Children's Chorus' (LACC) new Emerging Voices Choir, which was launched in September and is the first choir in the Southland and one of only a few in the nation to serve boy vocalists with changing voices. LACC Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson and Executive Director Rachel Fine announced his appointment. The new choir gives boys with maturing voices the opportunity to nurture their vocal talent and pursue choral studies at LACC, one of the nation's finest institutions for young singers. The choir will allow boys who traditionally "graduate from" treble children's choirs once their voices change to continue their vocal studies and perform with LACC throughout high school.
Dr. Kronauer currently teaches voice at California State University, Long Beach, and was the head of the voice and opera department at the University of California, Santa Barbara until 2008. His extensive performance background includes numerous international performances, including many productions with the Munich Opera. He holds a doctorate in Operatic and Choral Conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Dr. Kronauer's extensive experience in all aspects of vocal music paired with his dynamic teaching skills and keen understanding of the unique characteristics inherent to changing voices make him eminently qualified to lead this new choir," stated Anne Tomlinson, LACC Artistic Director. "I look forward to working closely with Dr. Kronauer as he shapes the new choir during its inaugural year."
"We warmly welcome Dr. Kronauer to the LACC family," said Fine. "The addition of the Emerging Voices choir has been a long time coming, and I'm confident of its success in Dr. Kronauer's capable hands."
According to Mary Blodgett, LACC Board Member and Chair of the Emerging Voices Task Force, the Emerging Voices choir is designed to "cultivate the deep passion of boys who wish to pursue singing and the choral arts as they enter high school. The Board of Directors and Task Force are so pleased by the addition of this essential choir."
A noted tenor, Dr. Kronauer began his professional career as the youngest member ever to sing in the chorus of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany. During his ten-year engagement, he studied with such leading singers as Verdi tenor Dennis O'Neill and Wagnerian baritone Donald MacIntyre. As a soloist with the Bavarian State Opera, he performed for television broadcasts, CD recordings, and live radio performances, appearing in secondary tenor roles with Renee Fleming, Kurt Moll, and many others. He also sang oratorio under such noted conductors as Karl Anton Richenbacher and Peter Schneide, appeared as a soloist with the Cologne Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic in Germany, and has sung more than 100 performances of Carmina Burana internationally. Since returning to the U.S., Dr. Kronauer has soloed with Southern California's Angeles Chorale and National Children's Chorus, among others. He completed a doctorate degree at UCLA in choral and operatic conducting under the direction of Donald Neuen and William Vendice, respectively, and served as assistant conductor with the UCLA Chorale and assistant conductor of the UCLA Opera. At University of Michigan, he completed two Masters Degrees in Vocal Performance (under Lorna Haywood and John McCollum) and Choral Conducting (under Theodore Morrison), and served as the Assistant Conductor for the University's Men's Glee Club. A gifted teacher, Dr Kronauer taught on the voice faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp and at the University of California, Irvine. He served for three years on the voice faculty, and as music director of the opera program at California State University, Los Angeles. Subsequently, he served for two years as Acting Chair of the voice department and director of opera activities of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Currently, Dr. Kronauer has a busy private voice studio and is on the faculty of California State University, Long Beach, at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, teaching voice and German diction. Many of his high-school students have gone on to study music-theater, opera and jazz at such leading schools as Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, Tisch School of the Arts in New York City and others. One of his high school students performed last summer as a soloist in Les Miserable at the Hollywood Bowl. His students have also appeared on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera, the Munich Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden and MTV as well as in rock and jazz venues around the world. His teaching method stresses proper vocal technique, healthy singing through proper breathing and a commitment to total self-expression for the singer in any music style or language.
Los Angeles Children's Chorus, founded in 1986, is noted throughout the country for its exceptional artistic quality and technical ability. Under the direction of Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, Los Angeles Children's Chorus frequently performs with such leading musical ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. LACC also assists Los Angeles Opera by providing and training children for opera productions that require children's chorus or soloists. LACC currently serves more than 400 children ages 6-18 from 60 communities across Los Angeles in six choirs (Concert, Chamber Singers, Emerging Voices, Intermediate, Apprentice and Preparatory) and a new class for young singers ages 6-7, First Experiences in Singing. The intensive training program includes weekly or twice weekly rehearsals, as well as individual vocal coaching and comprehensive musicianship classes. LACC has toured Brazil, China, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland as well as many parts of the United States and Canada. It is in the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary film, "SING!," which chronicles a year in the life of the choir and is shown periodically on PBS stations nationwide, and the award-winning 2008 short documentary "SING OPERA!" both by filmmakers Freida Mock and Jessica Sanders. LACC appears on "Amore Infinito" ("Infinite Love"), a 2009 Deutsche Grammophon CD of songs based on poems by the late Pope John Paul II and performed by Plácido Domingo,Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa Williams and Katherine Jenkins. In June 2009, the choir made its second appearance on "The Tonight Show," collaborating with the John Mayer Trio.
Dr. Steven Kronauer, a noted singer, conductor, educator and voice teacher, has been appointed director of Los Angeles Children's Chorus' (LACC) new Emerging Voices Choir, which was launched in September and is the first choir in the Southland and one of only a few in the nation to serve boy vocalists with changing voices. LACC Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson and Executive Director Rachel Fine announced his appointment. The new choir gives boys with maturing voices the opportunity to nurture their vocal talent and pursue choral studies at LACC, one of the nation's finest institutions for young singers. The choir will allow boys who traditionally "graduate from" treble children's choirs once their voices change to continue their vocal studies and perform with LACC throughout high school.
Dr. Kronauer currently teaches voice at California State University, Long Beach, and was the head of the voice and opera department at the University of California, Santa Barbara until 2008. His extensive performance background includes numerous international performances, including many productions with the Munich Opera. He holds a doctorate in Operatic and Choral Conducting from the University of California, Los Angeles.
"Dr. Kronauer's extensive experience in all aspects of vocal music paired with his dynamic teaching skills and keen understanding of the unique characteristics inherent to changing voices make him eminently qualified to lead this new choir," stated Anne Tomlinson, LACC Artistic Director. "I look forward to working closely with Dr. Kronauer as he shapes the new choir during its inaugural year."
"We warmly welcome Dr. Kronauer to the LACC family," said Fine. "The addition of the Emerging Voices choir has been a long time coming, and I'm confident of its success in Dr. Kronauer's capable hands."
According to Mary Blodgett, LACC Board Member and Chair of the Emerging Voices Task Force, the Emerging Voices choir is designed to "cultivate the deep passion of boys who wish to pursue singing and the choral arts as they enter high school. The Board of Directors and Task Force are so pleased by the addition of this essential choir."
A noted tenor, Dr. Kronauer began his professional career as the youngest member ever to sing in the chorus of the Bavarian State Opera in Munich, Germany. During his ten-year engagement, he studied with such leading singers as Verdi tenor Dennis O'Neill and Wagnerian baritone Donald MacIntyre. As a soloist with the Bavarian State Opera, he performed for television broadcasts, CD recordings, and live radio performances, appearing in secondary tenor roles with Renee Fleming, Kurt Moll, and many others. He also sang oratorio under such noted conductors as Karl Anton Richenbacher and Peter Schneide, appeared as a soloist with the Cologne Philharmonic and the Munich Philharmonic in Germany, and has sung more than 100 performances of Carmina Burana internationally. Since returning to the U.S., Dr. Kronauer has soloed with Southern California's Angeles Chorale and National Children's Chorus, among others. He completed a doctorate degree at UCLA in choral and operatic conducting under the direction of Donald Neuen and William Vendice, respectively, and served as assistant conductor with the UCLA Chorale and assistant conductor of the UCLA Opera. At University of Michigan, he completed two Masters Degrees in Vocal Performance (under Lorna Haywood and John McCollum) and Choral Conducting (under Theodore Morrison), and served as the Assistant Conductor for the University's Men's Glee Club. A gifted teacher, Dr Kronauer taught on the voice faculty of the Interlochen Arts Camp and at the University of California, Irvine. He served for three years on the voice faculty, and as music director of the opera program at California State University, Los Angeles. Subsequently, he served for two years as Acting Chair of the voice department and director of opera activities of the University of California, Santa Barbara. Currently, Dr. Kronauer has a busy private voice studio and is on the faculty of California State University, Long Beach, at the Bob Cole Conservatory of Music, teaching voice and German diction. Many of his high-school students have gone on to study music-theater, opera and jazz at such leading schools as Juilliard, Manhattan School of Music, University of Michigan, Tisch School of the Arts in New York City and others. One of his high school students performed last summer as a soloist in Les Miserable at the Hollywood Bowl. His students have also appeared on Broadway, at the Metropolitan Opera, the Munich Opera, La Scala, Covent Garden and MTV as well as in rock and jazz venues around the world. His teaching method stresses proper vocal technique, healthy singing through proper breathing and a commitment to total self-expression for the singer in any music style or language.
Los Angeles Children's Chorus, founded in 1986, is noted throughout the country for its exceptional artistic quality and technical ability. Under the direction of Artistic Director Anne Tomlinson, Los Angeles Children's Chorus frequently performs with such leading musical ensembles as the Los Angeles Philharmonic, the Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. LACC also assists Los Angeles Opera by providing and training children for opera productions that require children's chorus or soloists. LACC currently serves more than 400 children ages 6-18 from 60 communities across Los Angeles in six choirs (Concert, Chamber Singers, Emerging Voices, Intermediate, Apprentice and Preparatory) and a new class for young singers ages 6-7, First Experiences in Singing. The intensive training program includes weekly or twice weekly rehearsals, as well as individual vocal coaching and comprehensive musicianship classes. LACC has toured Brazil, China, Great Britain, Italy, Australia, Germany, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic and Poland as well as many parts of the United States and Canada. It is in the subject of the Academy Award-nominated documentary film, "SING!," which chronicles a year in the life of the choir and is shown periodically on PBS stations nationwide, and the award-winning 2008 short documentary "SING OPERA!" both by filmmakers Freida Mock and Jessica Sanders. LACC appears on "Amore Infinito" ("Infinite Love"), a 2009 Deutsche Grammophon CD of songs based on poems by the late Pope John Paul II and performed by Plácido Domingo,Andrea Bocelli, Vanessa Williams and Katherine Jenkins. In June 2009, the choir made its second appearance on "The Tonight Show," collaborating with the John Mayer Trio.