Building Connection & Community Through Music

Description: Since 1974, the Colorado Children’s Chorale has brought its artistry and charm to audiences throughout the world. With a diverse repertoire ranging from fully-staged opera and musical theater to standard choral compositions in classical, folk, and popular traditions, the Chorale performs with an innovative stage presentation and a unique theatrical spirit. The Colorado Children’s Chorale annually trains more than 400 members between the ages of 7 and 14 from all ethnicities and socio-economic backgrounds, representing more than 180 schools in the Denver metro area and beyond. This session will explore the Chorale’s pedagogy to develop brave, vibrant, and flexible singers while honoring each young member’s unique spirit and gifts.

About The Presenter:

EMILY CRILE, Artistic Director, exhibits her passion and enthusiasm for choral music through developing and conducting singers of all ages. She currently directs Tour Choir, a premier treble ensemble. In her 25th season with the Chorale, she has worked with all choir levels, established Legacy, prepared children for appearances with the Colorado Symphony, Central City Opera, Opera Colorado, and Colorado Ballet, toured throughout Australia, China, Costa Rica, Europe, New Zealand, South Africa, and the United States, and led the Chorale’s highly acclaimed debut in Carnegie Hall. With a commitment to equitable access for high quality music education, she crafted, led, and administered School Partnership and Community Choir programs across the Denver Metro area and earned a certification in Facilitating Effective DEI Discussions from Dena Samuels Consulting.

Emily is the Past President of the Colorado American Choral Directors Association and is an active choral clinician and presenter throughout the United States. She was extremely honored to serve as a Clinician for this year’s Colorado Middle All-State Choir. Prior to joining the Chorale in 2000, she served as an Assistant Conductor with the Northern Iowa Children’s Choir. She holds a Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from the University of Colorado Boulder.

Description: Outreach from arts and science organizations is essential to the expansion of their mission. How will people gain interest in a genre or subject they have never been exposed to? Our mission is not to create art experts or lovers, but to touch on the sensibility and curiosity of those we reach out to. It also presents a great developmental opportunity for those local artists who are growing their careers and for whatever reason have not followed standard or traditional performing arts paths, or who hold alternate professions. When does a college student have the opportunity to reprise a role 60 times? Touring helps artists gain many skills and develop confidence in a performance setting where they feel freer to experiment and grow.

About The Presenter: Ecuadorian Soprano Daniela Guzmán-Égüez: A Versatile and Dynamic Artist Known for her “bright and attractive” voice and “expressive, clean sound,” Daniela has established herself as a sought-after talent in both opera and concert repertoires. Daniela’s passion for music in Spanish is a cornerstone of her artistry. Specializing in Zarzuela and Latin American art song. Some recent operatic performances include  La Vida Breve, Cinderella, La púrpura de la rosa. Previous productions include Suor Angelica, and principal roles in the Mozart-DaPonte trilogy. Daniela serves as Director of Education and Community Engagement and Lead Teaching and Touring Artist at Central City Opera, as well as Faculty at Regis University. She is an alumnus of Ecuador’s prestigious Teatro Nacional Sucre’s Young Artist Program, holds a Master of Music from Texas Christian University, and has both a Bachelor of Music and Artist Diploma from the University of Denver.

Description: Community partnerships with professional ensembles are powerful tools to promote equity and excellence in your classroom or program. El Sistema Colorado’s proven partnership framework will help educators and administrators enrich their programming with high-impact, sustainable artist collaborations.

About The Presenters: Executive Director Dr. Ingrid Larragoity and  Program Director Johnny Szumski have been serving and shaping the mission of El Sistema Colorado since the summer of 2022. Their combined 40 years of music education, community impact, and leadership experience have driven exponential growth in enrollment, engagement, and excellence at ESC.

Description: In Building Community and Connection in the Music Studio, we’ll share practical ways to bring people together through music. From students and families to teachers and staff, we’ll discuss how shared music experiences can cultivate relationships and strengthen your studio and community. Whether you’re a studio owner or a teacher, you’ll leave with ideas and inspiration to create a welcoming space and a sense of belonging for your students.

About The Presenters: Susie and Amy have been working together since 2017. Together they run Altitunes music with locations in Wheat Ridge and Lakewood CO. Altitunes offers early childhood music classes, group and private lessons in the Denver/Boulder area. Susie has an undergraduate degree in vocal performance and a masters in music therapy. Amy has her undergraduate degree in piano performance and a masters in music therapy.

Description: Beauty is all around us, especially in the world of music, but it’s easy to miss the deeper beauty often hidden beneath the surface, because the surface is so beautiful, that it’s easy to fall into the trap of believing that that’s all there is.  This session will explore musical masterpieces by going beneath the surface of their notes and back into their history, seeking to more fully appreciate their beauty.

About The Presenter:  Scott O’Neil is a conductor, orchestrator, and educator.  He is the Music Director of the Denver Philharmonic Orchestra, the Associate Conductor of The Music Paradigm, and a guest presenter with the George N Parks Drum Major Academy.  He has arranged and orchestrated for various artists, including Bela Fleck, Ingrid Michaelson, the Wu Tang Clan, Weird Al Yankovic, Jack Black and Tenacious D, Eileen Ivers.  He is also currently serving as the sabbatical replacement at the University of Denver orchestral conducting program.

Description: Music Atlas is a system of modern curricular resources that are used by teachers and learners to facilitate easily accessible creativity and theory learning with color-coded iconic notation. We will demo and explore applications of Music Atlas’ new online software and the Piano Atlas, our original hard copy resource.

About The Presenters:

Peter Stoltzman, who comes from a lineage of world class musicians (father Richard Stoltzman is a multi-Grammy-winning clarinetist), began his career producing Hip Hop and R&B for Warner Brothers and touring the world with diverse music acts. Peter has collaborated with many all-time music legends such as Steve Gadd and Eddie Gomez, while also cultivating a deep knowledge and skill set as an educator during his master’s studies at New England Conservatory and doctoral studies at UT Austin.

Aaron Marfizo is a multi-instrumentalist and audio engineer. Aaron has run live sound at venues and festivals throughout Colorado and played keyboard, guitar, and bass for many of Denver’s emerging bands and artists. Together, they founded Music Bridge and Music Atlas.