PRESIDENT’S INITIAL LETTER
August 2, 2010

by Solveig Holmquist

Hello, ACDA friends,

I greet you for the first time as NWACDA President, and find myself just as tongue-tied (well, just as writer’s-blocked) as any of my predecessors or current colleagues say they’ve been in this position. Isn’t that silly? That makes as much sense as thinking you have to be profound at a family reunion, when in fact it’s simply a time to enjoy being together. You can see the parallel, of course, since this bond we share, this passion for the choral art, is what creates the ACDA family. That’s our genetic heritage, and what gives us the intriguing ability to instantly connect with ACDA colleagues we’ve never met.

A few months ago I was sitting at dinner with my father at the residential care center where he now lives, and one of the aides leaned over and said, “That man over there is quite a musician, too. He sings for the residents whenever he visits his mother.” I walked over and introduced myself, and within about 24 seconds found myself deep in choral talk with Professor Paul Smith, choral director at John Brown University in Siloam Springs, Arkansas and ACDA member, Southern Division. There weren’t even six degrees of separation!  OK, we’re alike in having parents who are wheelchair bound and unable to converse, but it felt so positive and fun to discover all the ACDA friends we had in common. With each of his visits to Oregon we chat about repertoire and other choral matters, and I share his joy in the near completion of their chapel/recital hall.  I also now understand when his mother conducts, as I play the piano for the residents!

Many years ago, as Oregon ACDA President, I wrote a column about the benefits of ACDA membership, saying that really it’s the only way for over-scheduled choir directors to have any friends. I think I should alter the phrasing now and say that it’s possible that ACDA provides our most meaningful friendships. Isn’t it true that any time we’re together, either at meetings or conferences or even chance encounters, it’s satisfying not to have to explain our lives?  Isn’t it true that we learn incalculable life lessons from each other, often through the deep communication of music? Doesn’t someone say at almost every ACDA gathering that we are incredibly lucky to be able to live this vocation that has chosen us?

Earlier this summer several I attended the National Leadership Training event in Chicago, along with NW ACDA leaders NW President-elect Gary Weidenaar, State Presidents Patrick Ryan (Montana), Sue Schreiner (Oregon), and Nicole Lamartine(Wyoming), and of course our own Karen Fulmer, National President-elect Designate. Though with 40 state presidents and many other leaders there, as well as members of the professional staff, you’d think the event would be formal and by necessity impersonal, exactly the reverse was true: I know I speak for all of the NW contingent in saying we felt the friendship of shared goals and interests instantly. The home office staff became people with faces and personal lives, instead of the disembodied voices we’d interacted with.

What became immediately obvious at the leadership event was that ACDA is changing rapidly, strengthening and looking forward in exciting ways. We all know that changes in the executive structure over the past few years have been accompanied by occasional chaos and confusion – let’s compare it to buying a new house and accomplishing the move from the old one: fun but frustrating. Now this “move” is almost finished and we can look up to see that the view is fabulous! You’ll be hearing the details of the new initiatives in the coming months.

One big change involves the Choral Journal, which is now more comprehensive in scope and incorporating practical information that the membership has been asking for. Overall, you’ll find that the ACDA leadership is committed to speaking more directly and interactively to choral directors where we do our choral work: in other words, being responsive to the mission of the organization.

Please look online and in the CJ for information about the National Conference in March, to be held in Chicago. Yes, we need and can use ACDA resources every day, but national ACDA conferences are our opportunities to go to the well in every sense. A Washington ACDA colleague told me just last week that a few years ago he was ready to leave the profession. The pressure was getting to him and it all now just seemed like hard work. Then he attended a national conference in which he  heard a women’s choir from Finland.  His life was literally changed as he realized that he was no good to himself or anybody else unless he intentionally provided beauty in his life, provided by someone else. He’s made some big changes in his daily life, but he also says he’ll never miss a national conference!

I’m honored to serve you and ACDA as your NW President. I plan to contribute a column at the beginning of every month; that way it’ll feel like more conversation than intimidating lecture, and long or short, there might be something that would spark a conversation. It’s going to be fun getting to know each other.

Musically yours,
Solveig Holmquist
NWACDA President

January, 2010

President-Elect, Solveig Holmquist INVITES and URGES you to attend the NW ACDA conference in Seattle, March 10-13, 2010

Dear ACDA friends,

Greetings from your NW ACDA President-elect, writing to invite and urge you to make your plans now to attend the NW Conference in Seattle in March. Here's a thought: in the spirit of Christmas, why not consider attending the conference as your best gift to yourself? All of the many things that make our conferences worthwhile make this a perfect fit! 

Do you give concert tickets to loved ones?
Here you go, give yourself three amazing and varied guest choirs, any one of which would be a memorable holiday gift ticket: the Crystal Children's Choir from San Francisco, and the Grammy-winning Phoenix Chorale and Soweto Gospel Choir! And how many gift concert tickets carry the bonus of meeting and learning from the director? In Seattle we'll have Karl Chang of Crystal and Charles Bruffy of the Phoenix Chorale, presenting interest sessions. 

Would you give an inspirational resource book to somebody on your gift list?
In this gift to yourself, you can go one better: attend performances by 23 of our finest NW Division choirs, and take in reading sessions geared to your programming needs. You'll come away with your creativity inspired and challenged. A book can do that, but there's really no substitute for live performance, and these will carry the bonus of discussion groups, as you walk to the next event!

Will you be giving a carefully chosen exercise, language, or educational DVD to someone?
For yourself, choose the incomparable opportunity and benefit of seeing and learning from not one but 12 interest session presenters in person, all of whom would be worth buying on a DVD. When you check out the conference offerings, you'll see that you're getting a huge array of intriguing subjects, from movement to vocal technique to world music performance practice to building a blog -- and much more. We're bringing the real people to you, so that you can ask them questions right away. Sure beats having to go to a website listed on a DVD. 

How about gifts to your favorite charity during the holidays?
By attending the conference you can give yourself the pleasure of supporting music education. You can honor the wonderful young singers chosen for the four honor choirs: attend their rehearsals, applaud their concerts, engage them in conversation. Two of the groups will be be rehearsing right there at the Sheraton, and the others will be just a short walk away. But there's more! Student choral conductors will be learning from National President-elect Jo-Michael Scheibe and from Grammy-award winner Charles Bruffy in conducting master classes, and will be all over the place as volunteers. As these students help us with so many nuts and bolts of the conference, they are beginning to form lifelong connections in the choral world. 

Is personal relaxation time through a renewing getaway one of the prime gifts you give to others?
Treat yourself, this time. These are stressful, exhausting times, and it's probably never been more important for you to surround yourself with like-minded friends. Renew old acquaintances and make new ones. Imagine yourself at Jazz Night in the 35th-floor Cirrus Room, under the stars!  

I read a quote the other day that spoke to our society's current obsession with computer "connections" at the expense of personal contact: "Life is what is happening behind your back while you're glued to a screen."  How refreshing to be in Seattle, surrounded with music and conversation! What a gift -- and it can be purchased now, by filling out your conference registration. And remember: you deserve it.

See you in Seattle.

Solveig Holmquist of Western Oregon University named president-elect of the northwestern division, ACDA

President Scott Peterson sent  this note to members of the NW board (dated February 28, 2008)

"I have just been notified by Hilary Apfelstadt, National President, that the National Executive Board has approved Solveig Holmquist as the new President-Elect-Designate of the Northwestern Division.  She will take office on July 1st as President-Elect when Richard Nance assumes the Presidency."

"Congratulations to Solveig!  She will be a great leader in our Division and I offer her my congratulations." (Scott Peterson)

NW ACDA once again had the good fortune of presenting two well-qualified candidates for this office in Scott Anderson of Idaho, and Solveig Holmquist. Although the voting in the past has often been very close, for the first time in our history we had a tie vote. ACDA national officials recommended both candidates be contacted to see if they would agree to another vote of the membership. Scott Anderson declined. The national board, in a recent meeting, simply approved the election of Solveig Holmquist.

Solveig's response:

One of the reasons we love living in the Northwest is that we cherish our individualism, stubbornly refusing to fit into boxes. We shouldn't be surprised, then, that we in the NW Division have managed to achieved a "first" in ACDA history:  an absolute tie in the voting for NW President-Elect Designate! Who knew such a thing could happen? Well, we might have predicted SOMETHING out of the ordinary in this most interesting General Election year.

As you know, the tie between Scott Anderson and me has now been broken, and I am honored and humbled to have this opportunity to serve you and ACDA.

And her official bio:

Professor of Music Solveig Holmquist, in her twelfth year as Director of Choral Activities at Western Oregon University. Her teaching duties include conducting the Concert Choir and Chamber Singers, providing musical direction for the yearly musicals in collaboration with the department of Theater/Dance, and teaching Conducting, Choral Methods, and Choral Literature. As a certified adjudicator, Holmquist is in demand at numerous clinics, festivals, and contests throughout the Northwest; guest conducting appearances include the Spokane Festival of the Arts, the Colorado Western Region Honor Choir, and the Anchorage High Schools Choral Festival. She made her fourth appearance conducting on the Carnegie Hall stage in February 2007, with WOU Chamber Singers as the core ensemble.
           
Dr. Holmquist is the founder and Artistic Director of the Festival Chorale Oregon, a civic choir in its 28th season which has developed a reputation for musical excellence in Oregon and in the international community.  Festival Chorale Oregon has enjoyed performing tours through Germany, France, Scandinavia, Austria, Switzerland, the Czech Republic and Spain. At home, FCO regularly performs major choral/orchestral works for Willamette Valley audiences.    
           
Dr. Holmquist received her musical training at St. Olaf College in Northfield, Minnesota, where she sang with the renowned St. Olaf Choir; at Western Oregon State College; and at the University of Oregon.  Her professional affiliations include the American Choral Directors Association, serving as President of the Oregon chapter from 2003-2005 and also as a Repertoire & Standards Chair on the Northwest Board. She was President of Oregon Music Educators National Conference from 1992-1994, and has filled appointments on many committees for both state and national organizations. 

Since 1985, Holmquist has been an auditioned member of the Oregon Bach Festival Chorus, Helmuth Rilling, conductor, and in 1991 was selected to the festival’s conducting master class.  The Oregon Bach Festival Choir won the 2000 Grammy for Best Choral Performance for its premiere recording of “Credo” by Polish composer Krzystof Penderecki; the OBF Choir was subsequently invited to perform the work at the World Symposium of Choral Music in the summer of 2002. In the summer of 2006, the OBF choir and orchestra began a 3-year project which will conclude in 2009, recording the late Haydn masses for Hanssler-Verlag. 

Holmquist was involved in church music for thirty-seven years, most recently serving for fifteen years as Music Director at First Methodist Church in Salem, where she was organist and led a sequential music program that included nine choirs, a summer music camp, youth musicals, a concert series, and a weekly music column.  An accomplished organist, she has been called upon to play dedicatory recitals on several organ installations in the area.

Dr. Holmquist and her husband Jon live in Salem. They have six grown children and ten grandchildren.