Born: January 20, 1919
Died: June 15, 1998 - Hastings, Adams County, Nebraska, USA |
The American tenor and choral conductor and music pedagogue, Millard H. Cates, studied at the Hastings College in Hastings, Nebraska, graduating in 1941..
Millard Cates taught at Gothenburg, and was Professor of Voice at the University of Michigan School of Music. (1950’s and early 1960’s). Later he was Head of Music Department at Hastings College. He was soloist in Hastings College’s annual performances of George Frideric Handel’s Messiah in 1947, 1948 and 1952 directed by Hayes M. Fuhr, and he himself directed the performance of this oratorio in 1954, 1968, 1970, 1972 and 1981. He also sang this oratorio in December 1969 with Madison College Oratorio Chorus & Orchestra under the direction of Gordon L. Ohlsohn. Cates was inducted into the Nebraska Music Educators Association Hall of Fame in 1985. Millard Cates and “Jimmy King” created and co-chaired the Evergreen Pines Music Camp.
Millard Cates published Guide for Young Singers (Ann Arbor, Michigan: University Music Press, 1959), planned specifically for the students enrolled in class voice at the University of Michigan. He also published The Feelings of Singing (Innovative Singing Studies, 1982).
The 1999 production of Messiah at Hastings College, dedicated to the memory of Dr. Millard Cates, was performed by "his former students, friends, and colleagues as soloists, conductors, and choristers" from across the nation. |