Dr. Ellefson has been a guest conductor at the Hochschule für Musik in Munich, Germany and taught at Payap University in Chiang Mai, Thailand.  He has been president of the Northwestern Division and Central Division of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) and served in leadership roles in the Music Educators National Conference (MENC) and the National Association of Teachers of Singing (NATS).  He is president-elect of the National Collegiate Choral Organization (NCCO).

While at the University of Chicago, the Rockefeller Chapel Choir recorded two compact discs for Arsis Audio of Boston entitled 20th Century German Sacred Music and Music of Lamentation and Exultation featuring works by Distler, David, Baumann, Herbolsheimer, Pinkham, Lassus, Hoffman, Ginastera, Starer, Berger, and Palestrina.  Dr. Ellefson also conducted the Rockefeller Choir at the national convention of the ACDA in New York City.

Randi Von Ellefson has conducted many all-state choirs, organized choral workshops, served as adjudicator at national choral competitions and lead choirs in national and international tours in Europe, Asia, Australia and Russia.  Reviews of choral performances and recordings have noted a particular ability to “sing from the heart” and “express significant emotion and depth of feeling” while “maintaining superb intonation and technical precision.”

 

Judith Willoughby is Artistic Director of the Canterbury Youth Choruses and the Wanda L. Bass Professor of Conducting and Choral Music Education at Oklahoma City University (OCU). Highlights of the 2008-2009 youth choral program, in addition to its main stage concerts at Oklahoma City University, include an appearance at the national convention of the American Choral Director's Association (ACDA), a performance of Carmina Burana with the Oklahoma Philharmonic and Canterbury Choral Society, concert tours of Oklahoma City's metropolitan library system and to Tulsa, and the regional choral camp program held during June 2009. At OCU, Professor Willoughby conducts University Singers, Ad Astra Women's Chorus and teaches courses in conducting and music education. Ms. Willoughby was inducted, as a National Arts Associate, into the Alpha Zeta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota, at Oklahoma City University in April 2008.

As a guest conductor, clinician and conference headliner, Willoughby has lead choruses and orchestras in the world's major concert halls in North America, Europe, the Caribbean, Australia and Asia.  Highlights of her 2008-2009 season include concerts at Avery Fisher Hall, Lincoln Center, New York City, Yale University and locally, in November 2008 for the Oklahoma Music Educators Association. She is the headliner for the inaugural 2009 Charleston (SC) International Festival of Choirs. Willoughby has been an active honor choir conductor for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), conducting honor choruses for one national, five divisional and numerous state conventions. She has been privileged to conduct forty-four all state choruses in the United States.

Willoughby served on the board of Chorus America for nine years, including two terms as secretary and was active on that organization's conducting taskforce. As a committed choral music educator, she began her career in the Philadelphia (PA) public schools. She also founded the Temple University Children's Choir, leading that ensemble to international prominence. The capstone of her work with that ensemble included performances with Helmut Rilling and the Bach Festival Orchestra and Chorus,
as well as a concert performance at the Hult Center in Eugene, Oregon.

A noted pedagogue, Judith Willoughby taught in the Summer Institute programs of  Eastman's School of Music and Westminster Choir College, Temple University and was also a member of the conducting and music education faculty at Northwestern University prior to her appointment at OCU.  Professor Willoughby is a graduate of Temple (MM) and Northwestern (BM) Universities. Her interest in public policy's intersection with arts education and performance has resulted in her continuing service on national arts panels in the public sector, national foundations in the private sector as well as regional and state arts agencies.

Willoughby edits a choral series published by Alliance Music, has contributed to articles published in ACDA's Choral Journal, wrote a chapter for The Choral Director's Cookbook published by Meredith Music, was on the editorial board for two Chorus America publications: Leading the Successful Chorus and Conductors Count: What Chorus Boards, Music Directors and Administrators Need to Know.  Most recently, she   authored a chapter in Way Over in Beulah Lan': Understanding and Performing the Negro Spiritual, by Dr. Andre Thomas, published in 2007 by Heritage Music Press.

For more information contact:

Judith  Willoughby
Wanda L. Bass School of Music

Oklahoma City University
2501 North Blackwelder
Oklahoma City, OK 73106-1493

Office: 405.208.5514
Fax: 405.208.5971
Email: jwilloughby@okcu.edu