Pearl shangkuan biography
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Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a highly sought-after conductor, lecturer and clinician who has led performances and workshops across six continents. Director of Choral Activities and Professor of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, she fryst vatten also chorus director of the Grand Rapids Symphony, a Grammy-nominated professional orchestra.
Recently appointed as the Editor of Hinshaw Music, she also has a signature choral series with earthsongs and fryst vatten the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship Choral series published bygd GIA. Very active in the national choral leadership, she fryst vatten the ACDA National President elect and most recently served on the Board of Directors of Chorus America. In 2014, she made her conducting debut at Carnegie Hall and was an invited guest lecturer at the World Symposium for Choral Music held in Seoul, South Korea. Dr. Shangkuan has served on the jury of several international choral competitions in Europe and Asia and has led conducting mästare
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A sought after conductor and clinician all across the United States and internationally, Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a professor of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she directs choirs and teaches choral conducting and choral literature. She is also the chorus master (endowed Covenant Chair) of the Grammy-nominated Grand Rapids Symphony. Her performances and preparation of choruses consistently receive outstanding reviews for their combination of precision, artistry and passion. In addition to herMosaic: the Pearl Shangkuan choral seriesfor earthsongs, she serves as the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship choral series, published by GIA.
Her choirs have performed at national, division and state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and other professional music conferences in the United States. Recent conducting engagements took her to Austria, South Africa, Hong Kong, and all across the United States. She has conducted
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What can GRSMA say about Pearl Shangkuan? For starters, she has consistently prepared the Grand Rapids Symphony Chorus for twenty seasons, which has led to many memorable musical moments. GRSMA was fortunate to sit down with Pearl to ask about her background, her favorite places in west Michigan, and who she would invite to dinner!
GRSMA: What are your first memories of classical music?
Pearl Shangkuan: I was about eight years old singing in our church children’s choir in a Christmas service. After the kids were dismissed following our songs, I snuck back into the sanctuary balcony to hear the adult choir sing the “Hallelujah Chorus” from Handel’s "Messiah." At such a young age, I was blown away by the music, though I didn’t have the understanding and vocabulary to express its impact. It planted the seed of great choral music, and in the context of worship. That such great music can be heard in concert halls and can also serv