2019-2020 All-State Choir Clinicians
Dr. Jerry Blackstone, Professor Emeritus, University of Michigan
Mixed Choir Conductor
GRAMMY Award winner Jerry Blackstone is a leading conductor and highly respected conducting pedagogue. Now emeritus professor of conducting, he served on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance for thirty years where as director of choirs he led the graduate program in choral conducting and oversaw the University’s eleven choirs. In February 2006, he received two GRAMMY Awards (“Best Choral Performance” and “Best Classical Album”) as chorusmaster for the critically acclaimed Naxos recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The Naxos recording of Milhaud’s monumental L’Orestie d’Eschyle, on which Blackstone served as chorusmaster, was nominated for a 2015 GRAMMY Award (“Best Opera Recording”). Opera Magazine reviewer Tim Ashley wrote: “the real stars, though, are the University of Michigan’s multiple Choirs, who are faced with what must be some of the most taxing choral writing in the entire operatic repertory. Their singing has tremendous authority and beauty, while the shouts and screams of Choéphores are unnerving in the extreme. Their diction is good too: the occasions when we don’t hear the words are Milhaud’s responsibility, rather than theirs. It’s an extraordinary achievement, and utterly mesmerizing.”
Mixed Choir Conductor
GRAMMY Award winner Jerry Blackstone is a leading conductor and highly respected conducting pedagogue. Now emeritus professor of conducting, he served on the faculty of the University of Michigan School of Music, Theatre & Dance for thirty years where as director of choirs he led the graduate program in choral conducting and oversaw the University’s eleven choirs. In February 2006, he received two GRAMMY Awards (“Best Choral Performance” and “Best Classical Album”) as chorusmaster for the critically acclaimed Naxos recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience. The Naxos recording of Milhaud’s monumental L’Orestie d’Eschyle, on which Blackstone served as chorusmaster, was nominated for a 2015 GRAMMY Award (“Best Opera Recording”). Opera Magazine reviewer Tim Ashley wrote: “the real stars, though, are the University of Michigan’s multiple Choirs, who are faced with what must be some of the most taxing choral writing in the entire operatic repertory. Their singing has tremendous authority and beauty, while the shouts and screams of Choéphores are unnerving in the extreme. Their diction is good too: the occasions when we don’t hear the words are Milhaud’s responsibility, rather than theirs. It’s an extraordinary achievement, and utterly mesmerizing.”
Dr. Julie Yu, Co-Director of Choral Studies, Kansas State University
Treble Choir Conductor
Dr. Julie Yu is Co-Director of Choral Studies at Kansas State University, where she is part of a team that oversees seven choral ensembles and teaches undergraduate and graduate choral conducting.
She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Oklahoma State University, and the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of North Texas. Before joining the Kansas State faculty, she taught at Norman North High School in Norman, Oklahoma and San José State University.
She has given presentations and her choirs have performed for conferences of the Kansas Music Educators Association, Missouri Music Educators Association, Oklahoma Choral Directors Association, the American Choral Directors Association and the European Music Educators Association. She is the Southwest American Choral Directors Association President and a 2018 ACDA-ICEP Conducting Fellow (to Kenya).
Treble Choir Conductor
Dr. Julie Yu is Co-Director of Choral Studies at Kansas State University, where she is part of a team that oversees seven choral ensembles and teaches undergraduate and graduate choral conducting.
She holds a Bachelor of Music degree in music education from the University of Central Oklahoma, Master of Music degree in choral conducting from Oklahoma State University, and the Doctorate of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of North Texas. Before joining the Kansas State faculty, she taught at Norman North High School in Norman, Oklahoma and San José State University.
She has given presentations and her choirs have performed for conferences of the Kansas Music Educators Association, Missouri Music Educators Association, Oklahoma Choral Directors Association, the American Choral Directors Association and the European Music Educators Association. She is the Southwest American Choral Directors Association President and a 2018 ACDA-ICEP Conducting Fellow (to Kenya).
Dr. Cameron LaBarr, Director of Choral Studies, Missouri State University
Tenor Bass Choir Conductor
Cameron F. LaBarr is director of choral studies at Missouri State University where he leads a comprehensive choral program including over 200 singers in five choirs. He has previously held university choral positions at Lee University (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the University of North Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University, where he studied with Dr. Guy B. Webb, and he earned a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, where he studied choral and orchestral conducting with Dr. Jerry McCoy, Dr. Richard Sparks, and Maestro David Itkin.
Dr. LaBarr has been awarded conducting fellowships at the Yale International Choral Festival, the Sarteano (Italy) Chamber Choir Workshop, and was named a Salzburg Fellow in April 2014, where he participated in the Salzburg Seminar: Conflict Transformation through Peace-Building and the Arts. Choirs under his direction have been selected for performance at the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference, Tennessee ACDA Conference, Missouri Music Educators Association Conference, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar.
Dr. LaBarr has worked as guest conductor and clinician for various institutions and international festivals across the United States, Europe, South Africa and China, including two fellowships with the International Conductors Exchange Program. Engagements this year include residencies in South Africa and Finland, serving on the jury panel for the 13th China International Chorus Festival in Beijing, conducting a festival concert at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, and a performance at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
Tenor Bass Choir Conductor
Cameron F. LaBarr is director of choral studies at Missouri State University where he leads a comprehensive choral program including over 200 singers in five choirs. He has previously held university choral positions at Lee University (Cleveland, Tennessee) and the University of North Texas. He holds a Bachelor of Music from Missouri State University, where he studied with Dr. Guy B. Webb, and he earned a Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas, where he studied choral and orchestral conducting with Dr. Jerry McCoy, Dr. Richard Sparks, and Maestro David Itkin.
Dr. LaBarr has been awarded conducting fellowships at the Yale International Choral Festival, the Sarteano (Italy) Chamber Choir Workshop, and was named a Salzburg Fellow in April 2014, where he participated in the Salzburg Seminar: Conflict Transformation through Peace-Building and the Arts. Choirs under his direction have been selected for performance at the Tennessee Music Education Association Conference, Tennessee ACDA Conference, Missouri Music Educators Association Conference, Piccolo Spoleto Festival, and the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses National Seminar.
Dr. LaBarr has worked as guest conductor and clinician for various institutions and international festivals across the United States, Europe, South Africa and China, including two fellowships with the International Conductors Exchange Program. Engagements this year include residencies in South Africa and Finland, serving on the jury panel for the 13th China International Chorus Festival in Beijing, conducting a festival concert at the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, Italy, and a performance at St. Peter’s Basilica in the Vatican.
