About the Department |
About the Director |
Located just outside of the Nations Capital, the McLean High School Choral department has been fortunate to participate in many unique concerts and venues around Washington. They have sung at the National Building Museum, the Historic Falls Church (the first Anglican and later Episcopal church in Virginia) for the judges of the Supreme and Federal Court, the All Souls Memorial Church workshop on Liturgical Music, as well as for many local churches and organizations. They have sung with the National Chamber Singers, Masterworks Chorus and Orchestra, Choralis of Alexandria and Echos. They have participated in residencies with the Strings of Lafayette and are famous for their thirteenth century garbed, award winning Madrigal group. The Madrigals, in existence for fifty years have been recognized in many newspapers in the area for their unique Boars Head Feast - done entirely in medieval food, fare, and language. In the past five years the department has participated in many choral competitions placing second and first in Eastern United States divisions, first in three National Competitions, and second in the International Choral Competition held in Quebec city 2000. Their repertoire includes Madrigals and Sacred songs from the tenth to the sixteenth centuries, as well as opera choruses, Faure’s Requiem, the Rutter Gloria, Benjamin Britten’s Ceremony of Carols and Rejoice in the Lamb, Handels’ Messiah, and Carmina Burana by Carl Orff, Belshazzar’s Feast by William Walton, and Requiem by Maurice Durufle. Recent tours have included New York, Virginia, California, Philadelphia, and Boston. The McLean Choral Department has received a national ranking of tenth of schools in the United States by the Society for Choral Performance. They will be defending and hopefully advancing their rating in Orlando Florida at the end of March. The Department is currently comprised of one hundred students aged thirteen to eighteen, the Madrigal and Armonia Choir are the most select of the five performing ensembles at McLean High School and have been recognized by the Program of Studies as two of three Artist level choirs in the state of Virginia. McLean also has a Bass Camerata, a Treble Camerata, and a Chorale. The Choral department collaborates in sponsoring and leading the School musical, McLean Idol, and a Musical review in the spring. The Department is greatly aided by the McLean Choral Society who sponsors and supports the department.
|
Ms. Linda Jacobson-Martin has been the Director of Choral Studies at McLean High School for 23 years. Ms. Martin holds a degree in Orchestral conducting and in Music education and is currently seeking her Doctorate. She has studied conducting with Robert Shaw, Rodney Eichenberger and Stanley Engebretson. Ms. Martin was the 1996 winner of the International Conductors Festival in Austria and is the youngest person and the only female to be awarded this honor in the 75 years since the contests inception. She is a prolific composer, and has filled commissions for orchestral and choral works. She has published pieces for both orchestra and choir. Ms. Martin is also a published author, her music reviews have been published twice in the Living Church and her scholarly article, Brain Theory in the Music classroom was published in the online version of American Choral Director. She has served as a guest professor at the Universities of Trier Germany and at the University of Austria in Salzburg. She has also spoken at the Music Educators National Convention, Virginia Chapter, American Choral Directors National Conference Anaheim California, and the Musical Theatre International Summer Convention She is a member of the American Choral Directors Association and the Music Educators’ National Conference. Ms Martin has been a featured classical soloist at many venues in the Washington DC Metropolitan area and can also be seen performing in the Cabaret club circuit in the Mid Atlantic region. Her first love, however, is being a High School Choral teacher. Ms. Martin resides in Fairfax VA with her husband and twin daughters.
|