 ALL-STATE
CHORUS GUEST CONDUCTOR
Dr. Timothy Seelig
Dallas, TX
Educator, speaker, leader, singer, conductor, motivator,
writer, guide, friend, parent.
As an educator, Dr. Seelig holds four degrees, including
Doctor of Musical Arts from the University of North Texas
and the Diploma in Lieder and Oratorio from the Mozarteum in
Salzurg, Austria. He was the Artistic Director for the
world-renowned Turtle Creek Chorale for 20 years and on the
adjunct music faculty at the Meadows School for the Arts at
Southern Methodist University since 1996.
Dr. Seelig’s early training was as a singer. He made his
European operatic debut at the Staatsoper in St. Gallen,
Switzerland and his solo recital debut at Carnegie Hall in
1991. He has two solo recordings, EVERYTHING POSSIBLE and
TWO WORLDS. He is a published arranger, lyricist and writer.
His best-selling book, The Perfect Blend, was followed by an
instructional DVD, both published by Shawnee Press. The
sequel, The Perfect Rehearsal, was released in the spring of
2007.
Upon stepping down from the Turtle Creek Chorale, Dr. Seelig
began as the Director of Art for Peace & Justice, a program
of the national non-profit Hope for Peace & Justice. In this
capacity, he will continue the work he started with the
Turtle Creek Chorale of using the arts to raise awareness
and further social issues and causes. He continues his
teaching at SMU.
Dr. Seelig continues a busy guest conducting schedule with
workshop appearances throughout the U.S. and Europe. As a
clinician, appearances include state conventions of the
American Choral Directors Association in Indiana, New
Mexico, Iowa, and Kansas; the 2006 national MENC convention
as well as state conventions; and all-state choirs including
South Dakota, Connecticut, Michigan and Oregon. He serves as
the Chairman of the Choral Advisory Committee for Dallas
Independent School District. He has been a recent guest
lecturer at such prestigious universities as Michigan State
University, Kansas University, Texas State University,
Stetson University and Vandercook College.
During his tenure with the chorale, it grew from a
membership of 40 to 350, performing in six separate
ensembles. The budget of $69,000 grew to $1.7 million
annually. Under his direction, the Turtle Creek Chorale has
recorded 36 Compact discs, reaching top 10 on the Billboard
classical charts. The chorale has been the topic of two PBS
documentaries, the first of which was awarded the Emmy in
1994. The chorale has been invited to eight national,
regional and state ACDA conventions and performed for the
Eastern Regional MENC convention. The chorale has performed
across the U.S. including Carnegie Hall and in Barcelona,
Prague and Berlin.
Dr. Seelig has been honored on many occasions. A few of
these include University of North Texas Distinguished
Alumnus, The Dallas Historical Society designation of
“history maker of today”, and the Dallas Theater Center’s
“pillar of the Dallas artistic community” as well as
carrying the Olympic torch as a community hero. Most
recently, Dr. Seelig was awarded the Hero of Hope award for
his 20 years of service with the TCC.
He is the proud father of two incredible, and thankfully
grown, children.
 ALL-STATE
ORCHESTRA GUEST CONDUCTOR
Robert Culver
University of Michigan; Ann Arbor, MI
Professor Culver is a strings specialist who has been a key
figure in the development of school orchestra programs
throughout the United States. As one of the most
sought-after consultants, clinicians and conductors in the
field of music education, he has been invited to 47 states
and nin countries. In 1982, with grants from the Australian
String Teachers Association and the Ministry of Education,
he began directing a series of far-reaching programs to
upgrade instrumental music teaching from elementary to
university levels throughout Australia. He has given
sessions at international workshops in Graz, Lausanne, Lyon
and Honolulu. His video and manual, The Master Teacher
Profile, are widely used in school districts and teacher
training institutes. As a conductor he has been active in 36
all-state orchestra festivals and in many more regional
activities.
He served on the faculties of the National String Workshop
in Madison from 1984 to 1990 and the International String
Workshop since 1980. He is a former violist with the
Rochester Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony and the Hughes
Quartet of Ohio State University. Prior to joining the
faculty, Mr. Culver was string specialist in the Corvallis
(Oregon) public schools, orchestra director in the
Springfield and Salem (Oregon) public schools, member of the
Ohio State University faculty and conductor of youth
orchestras in conjunction with the Columbus Symphony.
Mr. Culver is past president of the American String Teachers
Association, Artistic Director of the Banff Festivals of
Youth Orchestras and founder-director of the American String
Workshops.
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©2008 South Dakota Public Broadcasting