UC Davis Department of Music
Choruses of UC Davis
Saturday, March 8, 2025
7:00pm
Jackson Hall
With guest conductor Dr. Jan Taylor, the choruses of UC Davis — the Concert Choir and the Chamber Singers — join to sing the music that Albert J. McNeil (1920–2022) loved and championed.
McNeil was a transformative force in the music department during his 21 years as a faculty member (1969–90). He greatly increased participation in the University Chorus from an occasional course to a full public performance group, and created the University Chamber Singers. He founded a music education program and was an original faculty member of the African American and African studies program. As founder and longtime director of the Albert McNeil Jubilee Singers in Los Angeles, he had a profound effect on the performance, preservation and presentation of African American spirituals.
90 minutes with one 15-minute intermission
This event does not qualify for a Mondavi Center subscription.
Program List
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Hold Out Your Light
Albert J. McNeil (arr.)
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Go Down Moses
B. E. Boykin
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In Remembrance
Jeffrey Ames
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To Sit and Dream
Rosephanye Powell
Artists
Nicolás Dosman
Conductor
Nicolás Dosman
Nicolás Dosman is Director of Choirs at UC Davis. Previously, Dosman was the Director of Choral Studies and an associate professor of music at the University of Southern Maine. He was also the artistic director of the Community Chorus at South Berwick, the Chorus Master for the Portland Symphony Orchestra’s Magic of Christmas series, and Opera Maine. He began his collegiate teaching career as the Director of Choral and Vocal Activities at Colby College and worked as an adjunct voice professor at Molloy University.
Under his leadership, his choirs have appeared in Carnegie Hall, Merrill Auditorium, Vietnam, performed for the Governor of Maine and have been invited as a feature group at the ACDA and NAfME music conferences. Additionally, his choirs have recorded for a motion picture that is currently a semi-finalist for the American Prize in Choral Performance. He frequently conducts honor choirs and All-State choirs and has been invited to guest conduct in Vienna and Salzburg in 2024. Dosman has served as a choral clinician at Latin America choral festivals. He has also presented his research at national and international conferences.
His research includes choral pedagogy, social justice and policy in music education, and the evolution of gender and male recruitment in choral programs. He is currently under contract with Rowman and Littlefield to publish a choral pedagogy text in the coming months.
A. Jan Taylor
Guest Conductor
A. Jan Taylor
A. Jan Taylor is Associate Professor of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Prairie View A&M University in Texas. She has served as adjudicator and choral clinician for choral competitions, festivals and regional honor choirs throughout the United States and abroad. She frequently lectures on the performance practices and preservation of the African American spiritual. She holds a Bachelor of Music degree from the University of Houston, a Master of Arts degree in voice from Prairie View A&M University, and a Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting from the University of Houston.