Brenau Music Department Chair and Assistant Professor Ashley Conway, DMA, has a busy spring ahead, with several professional performances in addition to Brenau concert performances.
In January, Conway and her professional choir, Lux, performed at the Georgia Music Educators Association Conference in Athens, Georgia. The treble choir will perform again in March at the American Choral Directors Association Southern Region Conference in Memphis, Tennessee.
“We’re the last choir to perform, and the only professional choir selected,” Conway said.
Lux is a professional treble choir founded by Conway and Emily Allison. Allison is the choir director at Cherokee Bluff Middle School in Flowery Branch, Georgia.
Conway and co-conductor Allison also presented at the GMEA conference.
“It’s called ‘Musical Mayhem: Missteps, Mistakes and Meaningful Fixes,’” Conway said. “It’s about things we’ve done in our careers, how we fixed issues, and how it could help other music teachers.”
Conway will also be an adjudicator for District 5 for the GEMA performance evaluation event March 18-19, hosting the Hall County Large Group Performance Evaluation on the Brenau campus, and will serve as a clinician for the Forsyth County Elementary Honor Chorus.
At Brenau, the Music Department will host several concerts featuring student performers. On Feb. 10 at 7 p.m. in Banks Recital Hall, music students will perform the annual BRAHMS concert – Brenau Recital of Advanced Harmonious Music Students – which often features selections from composer Johannes Brahms.
The Vocal Chamber Ensemble, alongside Cherokee Bluff Middle School singers, will perform a specially themed concert, The Luck of the Choir at 7 p.m. on St. Patrick’s Day in Hosch Theater. This concert is unusual as audience members will have the opportunity to select the order of songs sung for the concert.
Also in March, an opera workshop will take place at 7 p.m. on March 7 in Pearce Auditorium. This will follow a week of work by students setting up and performing in scenes from various operas.
In April, VCE and Spectrum Singers will perform a concert on April 13, and Spectrum Instrument Ensemble will perform their inaugural instrumental concert earlier in the month.
Earlier this academic year, Conway also became the chair of the Music Department, taking over for Barbara Steinhaus, DMA, who remains on the faculty.
