Nationally-renowned composer/conductor to lead 1,000 student vocalists in Niskayuna Central School District’s triennial choral festival

On Wednesday, March 21, special guest director Dr. David Dickau, a nationally-recognized conductor and widely-published composer, will lead the school district’s approximately 1,000 student vocalists during Niskayuna Music Department’s triennial choral festival at the high school at 7 p.m.
Dr. Dickau has consulted with the music department’s vocal staff to select much of the repertoire that will be performed during the festival.
Choral students from grades 4-12 will sing a varied program including two pieces, “One Voice” and “I Dream A World,” that they will sing collectively. Students will also perform several of Dr. Dickau’s original compositions including “Stars I Shall Find,” “Heart, We Will Forget Him,” and “O, My Love’s Like a Red, Red Rose.”
Dr. Dickau holds advanced degrees in choral music from Northwestern University in Evanston, Illinois and the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Since 1991, he has served as Director of Choral Activities at Minnesota State University, Mankato, where he conducts the Concert Choir and teaches conducting and composition. Dr. Dickau has also led community and church choirs, and composes numerous commissioned pieces each year. His compositions are commonly performed throughout the United States and are published by numerous publishers. Recent major commissions have included Dresden Canticles which was premiered in Leipzig, Dresden, and Prague in 1998 and View from the Air composed for the Anne Morrow and Charles H. Lindbergh Foundation in commemoration of Charles Lindbergh’s historic transatlantic flight.

(March 2007)