by Daniel Hathaway
The board of Quire Cleveland has announced that countertenor Jay White will succeed founder Ross W. Duffin as artistic director of the professional choir at the end of Quire’s tenth anniversary season in July 2018.
Duffin, who is Distinguished University Professor of Musicology at Case Western Reserve University, and Beverly Simmons, Quire’s executive director, will move on “to pursue new artistic and familial adventures in California and Washington, D.C.,” according to a December 19 press release.
White, who joined Quire Cleveland in 2012, serves as professor of voice at Kent State University, where he is also music director of Kent State Opera. He sang for eight seasons with Chanticleer, and during his more than 35-year career has performed with the Men and Boys Choir of Washington Cathedral, Grace Cathedral San Francisco, the Folger Consort, the Carmel Bach Festival, and Apollo’s Fire Singers.
He has earned baccalaureate, master’s, and doctoral degrees from Indiana University and the University of Maryland, and has served on the faculties of the University of Maryland, University of Delaware, and DePauw University.
In a written statement, Jay White said, “Ross Duffin and Beverly Simmons have established a gem in the choral world, and I am deeply honored to cherish their gift, nurture it, and help it grow beyond these first ten years. With almost thirty years spent on one side of the podium, I look forward to the myriad challenges the other side brings. I hope I speak for all members of the ensemble in saying, ‘Thank you, Bev and Ross, for Quire. You have given so much of yourselves for us. The sounds we will continue to create will always be in gratitude and honor of you.’”
Published on ClevelandClassical.com December 19, 2017.
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