A rousing success – that’s how Jo Ann Miller, University Distinguished Professor of Music, describes the Choral Symposium 2013: Music of Americas, held at NDSU May 3-5.

The three-day event brought together guest conductors and presenters from Canada, Venezuela, Latin America, Mexico, Cuba, Argentina, Jamaica and the U.S. to share their talents and knowledge of the many choral music forms of the Americas. It featured teaching sessions, academic presentations, panel discussions and concerts. As a result, numerous collaborations formed between presenters, conductors, composers and participants.

“Participants report being invigorated, challenged and refreshed,” Miller said.

One participant wrote on an evaluation, “It was a musical and cultural exchange at its full splendor.”

The American Spiritual Ensemble, whose repertoire ranges from opera to spirituals to Broadway, performed on May 4. “The American Spiritual Ensemble gave a brilliant performance that added to the depth of the symposium,” Miller said.

The opening and closing concerts included area high school and community choirs and NDSU choirs. Dale Warland, Maria Guinand, Jorge Cozatl, Brainerd Blyden-Taylor and Imant Raminsh served as guest conductors.

Presentations will be made available online in June. Visit ndsu.edu/finearts/cmota for details.

The symposium was funded in part with a gift from the Fossum Foundation and the SU Impact Fund Grant Program, both administered by the NDSU Development Foundation.

NDSU is recognized as one of the nation's top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.