Image
The Board of Directors of the Empire City Men’s Chorus, under the leadership of Board President Jeremy Davidson, announces that Matthew D. Oltman has accepted the position of Artistic Director. Matthew has become the fourth Artistic Director in the chorus’s twenty year history.
About Mr. Oltman:
Matthew Oltman is Music Director Emeritus of the Grammy award winning male vocal ensemble, Chanticleer and the current Artistic Director of the Empire City Men’s Chorus in New York City. He is also on the staff of Distinguished Concerts International New York (DCINY) in Program Development where he helps to create educational/performance residencies for choirs from around the globe which take place at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. During his tenure as Music Director, Mr. Oltman led the ensemble through three critically acclaimed seasons which included over 300 concerts in more than a dozen countries. He helped launch the Chanticleer Live in Concert or "CLIC" recording label, which released some of the best of Chanticleer's vast trove of archival recordings to the public, and was the editor of the Chanticleer Choral Series, published by Hinshaw Music. He conducted over 450 high school choral and orchestral students from across the country in Chanticleer's first National Youth Choral Festival, The Singing Life, on the stage of Davies Symphony Hall and led numerous day-long Youth Choral Festivals in communities in several states. Mr. Oltman facilitated the commissioning of composers such as Stephen Paulus, Mason Bates, Steven Sametz, Jan Sandström, Peter Michaelides, Roxanna Panufnik and Ilyas Iliya as well as Vince Peterson who arranged the choral/indie pop sensation, Cells Planets. Mr. Oltman continues to be active as a choral clinician and guest conductor and will make his Carnegie Hall conducting debut on the DCINY concert series in January, 2014.
About the Empire City Men’s Chorus:
Founded in 1993, the Empire City Men’s Chorus celebrates its 20th season of performances in New York City. ECMC was initially formed by members of the gay community who were interested in creating a male chorus featuring an eclectic multilingual repertoire of predominately classical music. For the past twenty years, the ECMC has consistently presented concerts which boast a wide variety of well-known composers and newly commissioned works with a classical sensibility.
To help welcome our new Artistic Director, Matthew Oltman, additional audition opportunities have been added. Interested singers are welcome to join an upcoming rehearsal for a very limited time. For those attending a rehearsal as a guest, you will be welcome to audition for the chorus. For information on the audition process please visit www.empirecitymenschorus.org, and then contact us at [email protected] for more information.