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MSI
Founder and Artistic Director....J.D.
Goddard
Dr.
J.D. Goddard, founder and artistic director of the Master
Singers Inc. Chorale of Northeast Ohio, made his conducting
debut at the age of 9. In addition to being the
Founder and Artistic Director of the Master Singers, Inc.
Chorale, Dr. Goddard also serves as the Artistic Director of
the
Chagrin Valley Choral Union, Artistic Director and
Conductor of the
Euclid
Symphony Orchestra and contributing writer and
reviewer for the Cleveland Classical Music website
www.clevelandclassical.com. .
By the age of 16, he was a
professional clarinetist and assistant conductor of the San
Gabriel Valley Honors Youth Orchestra in Southern
California. At the age of 17, he accepted his first
church choral conducting position at the First Presbyterian
Church in "beautiful downtown Burbank,"
California.
Since that time, he has conducted and served as a
clinician
for choral and orchestral groups both amateur and
professional in California, Texas, Colorado, Oklahoma and
Ohio. Dr. Goddard has directed many varied types of
musical organizations including symphony orchestras, opera
orchestras, master choruses, opera choruses, a cappella
choirs, women's glee clubs, men's glee clubs, jazz show
choirs, chamber singers, madrigal singers and numerous youth
choirs.
He developed his baritone/tenor vocal training
with Jess Walters, lead baritone with the Covent Garden
Opera in England. This led to Dr. Goddard's
recognition as a performing artist with the Los Angeles
Co-Opera Company, San Francisco Opera Company, Santa Fe
Opera Company, and Kenley Players (Actors Equity). He also has
performed as a guest artist with the Amarillo Symphony, the
San Gabriel Valley Symphony, the DePauw University Orchestra
and the Akron Symphony. Dr. Goddard was twice a
southwest regional finalist for the Metropolitan Opera Auditions, and
has performed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Germany,
Austria and Italy.
He received his formal training and two choral
conducting degrees under
the internationally acclaimed choral conductor/teacher Dr.
Howard Swan. Further choral training included studies with
Dr. Charles White (USC), Robert Shaw and Roger Wagner. While
an undergraduate student at Occidental College, he was awarded first prize in the Southern California Collegiate
Choral Conducting Competition. At the University of
Texas, Dr. Goddard conducted the nationally acclaimed UT
Men's Glee Clubs, while earning further degrees in operatic
performance, and chora/orchestral conducting. Dr. Goddard became a graduate assistant to Dr.
Walter Ducloux, director of opera at The University of
Texas. Dr. Goddard served as head of the voice and
opera departments at Amarillo College, attaining
tenure and full professorship. He also was director of
opera and teacher of voice at The University of Akron, where
he implemented and founded the University's first totally
student run full-time opera program. In his second and
third years at The University of Akron, (in addition to the
full time opera program) he was also director of four choral
organizations. He has also held the title of
conductor/director of opera (1 year interim) at Kent State
University.
MSI chorus members are united in their praise of Dr.
Goddard's extraordinary ability to teach, prepare and
empower singers, in a limited amount of rehearsal time, to
present profound and exciting choral and instrumental
performances of outstanding quality. His sincere
interest in the singers, as individuals, is what makes MSI a
very unique and special organization.
REVIEWS:
He....."resonant of bass, towering both
vocally and physically." Also, Dr. Goddard's
conducting has been reviewed as "clear and
adroit," "blissfully antic," and
"splendidly imaginative, while maintaining smooth
control over the proceedings."
.....Donald
Rosenberg, Akron Beacon Journal
"Your conception of the (Dvorak)
Mass (in D) was brilliant, and your conducting was a model of
clarity."
.....Daniel Hathaway, Founder and Editor in Chief of
clevelandclassical.com.
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