About Heartland Voices
Heartland Voices consists of professional and professionally trained singers from the greater Northern Illinois area who are committed to excellence in choral music performance.
Formed in 1999, this critically acclaimed ensemble came together to expand their love of music, to perform challenging and diverse literature, to offer their talents as guest artists for symphonies and other organizations, and to establish a strong community service component with an emphasis on educational outreach programming. They are committed to advancing the understanding and enjoyment of choral music to the next generation of musicians, and are proud to be able to feature many young choral ensembles at their concerts. They have been regularly featured as guest artists for the Illinois Chamber Symphony and the DuPage Opera Theatre.
Heartland Voices has performed at weddings, masses, nursing homes, local junior and senior high schools, and has joined with the Community Crisis Center, Boys and Girls Clubs, Mother Goose, the Resident Police of Elgin, Sherman Health Systems and the Larkin Center for community service projects. In October 2001, Heartland Voices was honored to join an elite number of ensembles when they performed for the Illinois Chapter of the American Choral Director's association, and were honored with an invitation to perform at Carnegie Hall in April 2002.
As they begin their eleventh season, Heartland Voices continues to expand their repertoire and their love of music, while striving to set the highest standard for performance and professionalism.
About the Director
Dr. John G. Slawson
Dr. John G. Slawson, Artistic Director/Principal Conductor, founded the critically acclaimed Heartland Voices in July 1999. Dr. Slawson's work with choral ensembles is considered to be one of the finest in northern Illinois. He has worked with the Elgin Children's Chorus, the Elgin Children's Theatre, the Elgin Choral Union, Arts Chorale, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra, the Valley Civic Orchestra, and many high school choirs. Serving as music director of the Elgin Choral Union for six years, Dr. Slawson expanded the repertoire and outreach programs to new artistic heights. He conducted the Fox Valley premiere of Richard Einhorn's <b>Voices of Ligh</b>t, Alice Parker's <b>The Clearings</b>, the <b>Misa Criolla</b> and<b> Navidad Nuestra</b> of Ariel Ramirez, Beethoven's <b>Missa Solemnis</b>, and the world premiere of Kirke Mechem's <b>Earth My Song</b>. Dr. Slawson has been instrumental in bringing outstanding choral groups including Chanticleer and Cantus to Elgin.
Dr. Slawson is Professor of Choral Music/Music Department Coordinator at Elgin Community College where he directs the concert choir, the vocal jazz ensemble, and ECC's Encore Musical Theatre Productions. He holds degrees from the University of Michigan, Northern Michigan University, and earned his DMA in choral conducting from the College-Conservatory of Music of the University of Cincinnati. In addition, Dr. Slawson is the music director at the First United Methodist Church in Elgin, IL. He continues to serve as an adjudicator and choral clinician throughout the Midwest.
Dr. Slawson and his wife, Dee, live in Elgin and have two children and two grandchildren.
About the Assistant Director
Dr. Marc Alan Brunelle
Dr. Marc Alan Brunelle is Minister of Music and Liturgy at St. Marcelline Catholic Church in Schaumburg, IL, a post that boasts a talented forty-voice Sanctuary Choir and Handbell Choir known throughout the Archdiocese of Chicago for high quality liturgical music and liturgy. He also directs, trains and schedules a large Music and Liturgy program with over 300 active volunteers. In 2003, Dr. Brunelle produced and conducted a widely acclaimed CD featuring the Sanctuary Choir and Jubilation Ringers. In 2005, at a special invitation by the Vatican, the Sanctuary Choir traveled to Italy to be the principle choir at a Solemn High Mass at the Basilica of St. Peter in Vatican City, the Basilica of St. Francis in Assisi, and performed a concert to a packed house at the Church of the Gesu in the city of Rome. This was his fourth European choral tour.
Dr. Brunelle holds a BM in Organ Performance from Rhode Island College School of Music, and earned a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from King’s College, Cambridge, England, while working with renowned English conductor, Sir David Willcocks. His principle teachers have been Yuko Hayashi, Dr. William Porter, Sir David Willcocks, Dr. Edward Markward, and Joseph Flummerfelt. He also holds a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana.
A champion of English choral technique, specializing in Renaissance and Baroque vocal music, Dr. Brunelle brings a unique approach to ensemble singing, choral programming, and recruitment strategies. He is widely sought after as clinician in vocal technique, liturgical music and conducting, and has offered workshops for the American Guild of Organists, the National Association of Pastoral Musicians, the Dioceses of Chicago, Boston and Rhode Island, and parishes throughout the East Coast and Canada. This is Marc’s fourth season with Heartland Voices.
About the Accompanist
Dr. Paul Satre
Dr. Paul Satre is Professor of Music in the School of Music at Trinity International University, Deerfield, Illinois, where he conducts the Concert Choir and teaches piano and courses in music theory and conducting. A graduate of the University, he did his graduate work at the American Conservatory of Music, Chicago, where he received the Master of Music and Doctor of Musical Arts degrees in piano performance. He also did graduate work in musicology at the University of Minnesota.
The Trinity Choir tours regularly in the United States and overseas. On their 2000 tour of Europe, the choir won first place in an international choral festival in Croatia. The choir has also recorded several CDs under Dr. Satre's direction. In addition to the regular Christmas and Spring concerts, recent performances on campus with orchestra under Dr. Satre's baton include Haydn's Creation, Rutter's Gloria, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, and Mendelssohn's Elijah. A 2004 tour of Scandinavia is currently being planned for the Trinity Choir.
Before coming to Trinity, Dr. Satre taught at Judson College (IL) and Crown College (MN). He returned to his alma mater to teach in 1996. Dr. Satre has also taught courses in church music and hymnology at Trinity Evangelical Divinity School, and is on the editorial board of Creator magazine, a periodical for church musicians. He has led seminars and adjudicated at music conferences and clinics, and has performed as accompanist or soloist in the United States, Europe and Japan. He performs regularly in the Chicago area, has performed on numerous recording projects, and is principal organist of the Moody Church in Chicago. At the church, Dr. Satre has performed on piano and organ on recordings and is heard regularly on over 400 radio stations throughout the world on the Moody Church Hour. Currently, Sunday morning church services may be heard live over the internet. He has also been featured at the church as piano soloist in Beethoven's Concerto III and Gershwin's Rhapsody in Blue. Dr. Satre was also one of the soloists with the Elgin Symphony Orchestra in Mozart's Concerto for Three Pianos and Orchestra.
Dr. Satre and his wife, Joy, live in Elgin and have two children. Joy is an elementary school teacher.