Anthony Trecek-King, guest conductor
Dr. Anthony Trecek-King
Dr. Anthony Trecek-King (b. 1975) is a highly acclaimed choral conductor, scholar, pedagogue, and media personality with a career spanning over 20 years. He serves as a Resident Conductor (chorus) with the Handel and Haydn Society and the Artistic Director of the Berkshire Choral International. Dr. Trecek-King is recognized for his ability to create moving performances that exhibit a surprising range of dynamics and depth of expression. He excels at cultivating vocal and instrumental musicians at all levels employing a collaborative rehearsal style that bridges the gap between high art and humanity, captivating audiences while maintaining exceptional sonic quality.
Throughout his career, Dr. Trecek-King has collaborated with a variety of artists and ensembles, including Leslie Odom Jr., Melinda Doolittle, the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, The Houston Chamber Choir, Seraphic Fire, Boarder Crossing, the Minnesota Chorale, Keith Lockhart, John Williams, Gil Rose, Simon Halsey, Yo Yo Ma, and Roomful of Teeth. Ensembles under his direction were integral to projects that have won a Pulitzer Prize (Madam White Snake, Zhou Long), received a Grammy (Fantastic Mr. Fox, Boston Modern Orchestra Project), and earned the National Arts and Humanities Youth Program Award from the Presidential Committee on the Arts (Boston Children’s Chorus).
Dr. Trecek-King has led performances in prestigious venues including Boston Symphony Hall, the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., Carnegie Hall in New York City, Royal Albert Hall in London, and the Sydney Opera House. In addition to his conducting work, he has served as the host for the classical radio show “The Silent Canon” airing on KNVO 90.7, and, has appeared on-air and online on the Emmy award-winning WGBH television series Sing That Thing, as well as two TEDx Boston talks.
He holds a B.M. in Cello Performance from the University of Nebraska at Omaha, an M.M. in Orchestral Conducting from Florida State University, and a D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from Boston University. Currently residing in the Boston area, he lives with his partner Melanie (of Thinking is Power) and their cat.
Amanda Quist, guest conductor
Dr. Amanda Quist
The New York Times, Philadelphia Inquirer, and New York Classical Review have described American conductor Amanda Quist’s work as “transformative,” “beautifully prepared, gripping,” “bridging the vocal and instrumental textures with perfect intonation,” and “leaving the audience breathless.” A frequent collaborator with internationally recognized professional ensembles, Dr. Quist has partnered in choral preparations with the Philadelphia Orchestra, New York Philharmonic, New World Symphony, Dresden Staatskapelle, Seraphic Fire, and the Spoleto Festival. Quist’s early music ensemble Westminster Kantorei earned first place in the 2018 American Prize for Choral Performance. Under her direction, Kantorei was invited to perform at the American Choral Directors Association’s Eastern Division Conference, the Boston Early Music Festival, the American Handel Festival, and Interkultur. In 2017, the ensemble released its first commercial recording, Lumina, distributed by Naxos.
Quist frequently serves as a guest conductor and is regularly invited to headline conferences and to serve as a lecturer throughout the United States and abroad. She has been invited to travel to South Africa to conduct as part of the ACDA International Exchange Program, and to serve as a clinician and adjudicator for both the Penabur International Choral Festival in Indonesia and for Interkultur, the largest choral competition in the world. A professional member of the GRAMMY recording academy, Quist recently served on the Choral GRAMMY Screening Committee for the 64th awards ceremony.
Quist is the Director of Choral Studies for the Frost School of Music at the University of Miami where she is conductor of the award-winning Frost Chorale. The Chorale has been invited to perform with the New World Symphony, the Cleveland Orchestra, and in the Martha Mary Concert Series, and has been featured on WWFM, The Classical Network. In 2022, she led the choir on an international tour to perform in the historic cathedrals and abbeys of England and France. According to the French newspaper L’écho Républicain, “under the direction of Amanda Quist, the interpretations were remarkable in cohesion with a joie de vivre as obvious as it was communicative.” Dr. Quist was previously Chair of the Conducting, Organ, and Sacred Music Department at Westminster Choir College, Director of the Westminster Vocal Institute, and Director of Choral Activities at San José State University. Dr. Quist’s current and former students have won multiple honors, awards, and grants, and have become music leaders in their communities as well as in the professional and academic spheres within the United States and across the globe.
Dr. Quist is the recipient of Westminster Choir College’s Distinguished Teaching Award, the Mazzotti Award for Women’s Leadership, and the Carol F. Spinelli Conducting Fellowship. Her other honors include the Audrey Davidson Early Music Award and the ACDA James Mulholland National Choral Award. Dr. Quist is a widely recognized expert on the intersection of voice science and choral pedagogy with recent publications in the Choral Journal and in books published by Hal Leonard, Lexington Books, and GIA Publications. She has published editions of works by Henry Purcell and John Dunstable, and her compositions are published by Walton Music. Dr. Quist cultivates the Amanda Quist Choral Series, published by Walton Music and Gentry Publications.
