Kurt-Alexander Zeller began performing in opera, musical theatre, and oratorio in his native Pacific Northwest at age eight. Since then, he has performed throughout the United States, Spain, and Austria, and has appeared on German television, winning acclaim for his memorable characterizations as a singing actor. Among his favorite roles are Don Anchise il Podestà in La finta giardiniera and Monostatos in The Magic Flute by Mozart, Eumete in Monteverdi’s Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria, Filippo in Haydn’s L’infedeltà delusa, The Minstrel in Once Upon a Mattress, Tschang-Ling in the American premiere of Alexander Zemlinsky’s opera Der Kreidekreis in Cincinnati, and many roles in the operettas of Gilbert and Sullivan, Johann Strauss, and Franz Lehár. His other performance activities have included a tour of Austria in a revue of the music of Kurt Weill, performing weekly “operatic soap operas” on the streets of Portland, Oregon, under a National Endowment for the Arts grant, and two seasons in the company of the Tony® Award-winning Oregon Shakespeare Festival. Dr. Zeller is in demand as an oratorio soloist and recitalist and has appeared as a concert soloist for the Atlanta Baroque Orchestra, New Trinity Baroque, the Terra Nova Consort, the Portland and Salem (OR) Chamber Orchestras, the Southern Crescent Symphony, and many other symphonies and concert series.
Choral Invitational
About CSU’s Choral Invitational
Directed by Dr. Sean Vogt, CSU’s Choral Invitational is a one-day opportunity to build friendships, make great music, and gain valuable, practical ensemble skills. The day is largely comprised of rehearsals, workshops, break-out group vocal sessions, and concludes with a concert at 3pm (free and open to the public) in CSU’s world-renowned “Spivey Hall,” which has been called the Carnegie Hall of the South for its superb acoustics.
The Choral Invitational is the first Thursday in October from 8:30 a.m. - 3:30 p.m.
| Year | Date of Event |
|---|---|
| 2024 | October 3 |
| 2025 | October 2 |
| 2026 | October 1 |
| 2027 | October 7 |
For Teachers
We know school budgets are tight and often leave us in dire need. One of the main benefits of our invitational is helping you build your choral library. You get to keep all of the scores for each student who attends. Our repertoire is such that it can be learned the day of our event, giving you immediate repertoire to help build your future concert(s). We would also encourage you to “attend” so you get an extra score and have the joy of observing someone else lead while you sing. Bonus: your students experience you modeling life-long learning by singing. We also appreciate needing a day to sit back and observe. That is, of course, welcome too.
Schedule
| Time | Event |
|---|---|
| 9:00 a.m. | Rehearsal |
| 9:45 a.m. | Sectionals |
| 10:45 a.m. | Vocal Masterclass |
| 11:30 a.m. | Rehearsal |
| 12:00 p.m. | Lunch |
| 1:00 p.m. | Sectionals |
| 1:45 p.m. | Q&A with Clayton State Students |
| 2:15 p.m. | Dress Rehearsal |
| 3:30 p.m. | Concert |
Repertoire
D.V. Montoya, African Processional (Jambo rafiki yangu)
Z. Randall Stroope, The Pasture
arr. Mac Huff, A Million Dreams (from “The Greatest Showman”)
Fees
Cost includes lunch, t-shirt, and scores (teacher collects at the end of the day). Teachers and chaperones eat for free. Teacher receives a t-shirt at no additional cost.
Cost to Register
- $30 per student
- $0 for teacher & chaperones
Proceed to Payment
Checks or cash can be brought with you the day of the event.
Checks Payable to: CSU Foundation *with “music” in the memo section
Faculty
Dr. Sean Vogt
Dr. Sean Vogt is Clayton State University’s Director of Choral Activities and Conductor of the Spivey Hall Masterworks Chorus (Morrow, Georgia). He also serves as Director of Music at Holy Innocents’ Episcopal Church (Sandy Springs), the result of an international search. He holds a DMA in choral conducting from Michigan State University and an MM in choral conducting from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University.
Prior to CSU, he served as Choirmaster at the Cathedral of Saint Paul, Mother church for the Archdiocese of Saint Paul & Minneapolis, overseeing a program that sang the highest caliber of sacred music. With twenty years of orchestral conducting experience, he also served as Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the Minnetonka Symphony Orchestra.
Prior to his appointments in Minnesota, Dr. Vogt was Director of Choral Activities (tenured) and Department Chair at Mount Marty College. Here the choral program grew from 7% to 20% campus-wide, received multiple orchestral invitations, and was a national semi-finalist for the American Prize in Music.
Dr. Kurt-Alexander Zeller
He also has served as stage director of Rogue Opera’s productions of La Cenerentola, The Barber of Seville, and Don Pasquale and recently staged a program of sacred opera scenes for the Sacred in Opera Initiative of the National Opera Association at its 2013 national conference in Portland, Oregon. His 2009 staging of Britten’s Noye’s Fludde at Clayton State University, in partnership with schools in the Clayton County Public Schools, was profiled by Opera America’s Education Talk as an example of excellence in opera education and community outreach. He has previously directed Cosi fan tuttè and The Elixir of Love for Peach State Opera.
Dr. Zeller is Director of Opera and Vocal Studies and Coordinator of the Division of Music at Clayton State University in Morrow, Georgia, and is active throughout the country as a vocal adjudicator and clinician. Dr. Zeller trained at the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas. His graduate studies were at the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati, where he was awarded the MM in Voice Performance and a DMA in Voice Performance with cognate studies in Opera Directing and Musicology.
Dr. Francisca Maxwell
Soprano Francisca Maxwell studied at the Royal Conservatorium in Brussels, department of the Erasmus Homeschool, where she obtained a Bachelor’s and a Master’s Degree in Vocal Arts and a certificate in Vocal Pedagogy. In 1997, she was granted a Fulbright Scholarship and continued her education at the University of Texas at Austin where she graduated with a DMA in Voice Performance in 2002. A Belgian native, Francisca worked as a free-lance singer in Belgium, The Netherlands and Germany. She was staged in many operas and operettas, with lead roles in L’Incorronazione di Poppea, Dido and Aeneas, Rinaldo, Alcina, Le Nozze di Figaro, Die Fledermaus, Eine Nacht in Venedig and Paganini. She equally portrays herself in oratorio, recitals and chamber music. Francisca immigrated to Atlanta in 2009 and held a position as artist affiliate at Agnes Scott College before joining the faculty at Clayton State University in the fall of 2018.
Registration
Register by Thursday, September 12, 2024 (needed to place food and t-shirt orders).