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The American choral conductor and composer, Anthony Blake Clark, attended Baylor University School of Music in Waco, Texas, where he studied composition and obtained his Bachelor of Music degree in Music Composition (2010-2014). While still an undergraduate, he began his professional conducting activity by co-founding The Texas Baroque Ensemble, presenting repertoire from the Baroque and Classical eras. He completed his Master of Arts degree in Choral Conducting under three-time Grammy Award winner Simon Halsey CBE at the UK’s University of Birmingham (2015). He also has extensive training in festivals and workshops under master tutors. He was also Summer Composition Student at Czech-American Summer Music Institute (2012). He was granted a Fellowship to conduct in the Yale School of Music's Norfolk Chamber Music Festival, led by Simon Carrington, with whom and with and Brian O'Connell he also worked in the Sarteano Chamber Choir Workshop (2013). In London, he participated in an orchestral conducting program with Achim Holub (2013) that culminated in a performance of W.A. Mozart's Symphony No. 41 with the London Classical Soloists. In 2021, he began his graduate studies in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Conservatory/Institute of Johns Hopkins University, where he is a student of Marin Alsop and Joseph Young and assists them in the administration and performances of the several prestigious orchestral ensembles.
While a graduate student, Anthony Blake Clark helped administer the choral ensembles on campus, conducted the University Camerata and was a member of the famed City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, singing under the batons of Sir Simon Rattle, Edward Gardner, Andris Nelsons and Gianandrea Noseda. His time in England also included employment by the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra to conduct its Arts Champion Community Choir as part of an initiative to create a community Chorus network across the city, conducting the London Symphony Chorus “Come and Sing Day,” took rehearsals for the CBSO Chorus and led the Barber Festival Sinfonia in its annual summer festival performance.
Anthony Blake Clark has been Music Director of the nationally acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning Baltimore Choral Arts Society since March 2017. He enjoys a reputation as one of the freshest young voices in classical music. He is at home in front of orchestras and choirs alike and has worked with professional and amateur ensembles in the USA and Europe. During his tenure with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, he has consistently received rave reviews, both for work on the podium in his subscription concerts and his preparation of choruses for performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Annapolis Symphony Orchestra, Maryland Symphony Orchestra, and the Peabody Preparatory Orchestra. Winner of the 2019-2020 American Prize in choral conducting, his leadership of Baltimore Choral Arts has also been acknowledged with another nomination for the American Prize for best choral performance, as well as the reception of the prestigious 2020 Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award. Recently, he led the ensemble on an enthusiastically received tour of the UK, culminating in a collaboration on Gustav Mahler’s Symphony No. 8 with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He annually conducts and produces the celebrated “Christmas with Choral Arts,” televised on ABC2 which was recently nominated for an Emmy Award. The premiere choral organization in the Baltimore region, BCAS reaches more than 100,000 people each year and is an integral part of the fabric of Baltimore’s performing arts scene. His leadership of BCAS during the global Covid-19 pandemic has been noted among his peers due to innovative digital concerts and a sizeable output of online interactive content.
Anthony Blake Clark is passionate about teaching and was the Director of Choral Activities in The George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Art and Design (August 2017-October 2022), where he conducted the University Singers and Women’s Ensemble, and mentored student conductors. With his university choirs, he has led performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington National Cathedral and the Music Center at Strathmore. Recently he was Guest Conductor/Lecturer for the Westminster Choiur College Symphonic Choir.
Appreciated for his scrupulous attention to detail, Anthony Blake Clark has prepared choruses for esteemed maestri Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Simon Halsey CBE, Marin Alsop, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla for concerts with internationally renowned ensembles, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK) and Rundfunkchor Berlin. At New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, he was recently one of several conductors for David Lang’s 1,000-voice the public domain, working under his mentor Simon Halsey; he returned as chorus-master for the 2018 premiere of John Luther Adams’ In the Name of the Earth. He is equally adept in the orchestral field and frequently appears as cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, assisting conductors such as Ton Koopman, Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eschenbach, and Manfred Honeck. He is a frequent clinician and has led sessions for Historic Christchurch Alexandria, the Deer Creek Chorale and high school choirs in Maryland, New York and Texas. Since September 2022, he is also Artistic Director Bach Vespers at Holy Trinity Cantata Series in New York City, succeeding Diane Meredith Belcher.
An active composer and arranger, Anthony Blake Clark has had his scores performed in the Washington, DC area, London, Oxford, Texas, and at Prague’s Dvorák National Museum Concert Hall. Most recently, his music has been premiered by Maryland’s Baltimore Choral Arts Society and National Philharmonic Chamber Singers. In 2022 his new performance edition of Mozart’s Requiem will be performed recorded by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society and Carter Legacy Singers by Acis Records. |
