Ep. 66 - Building Connections Through Music Education - Hilary Apfelstadt

“I really thought I wanted to be a high school teacher, but the first job I got was in elementary. That turned out to be the best ‘teaching-me’ experience I could have had, because I learned that if one could get music across to people without much background, you can get it across to anybody.”
Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt is Professor Emerita of Choral Studies at the University of Toronto where she held the Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting and received the inaugural Teaching Excellence Award in 2013. Previously she taught at the Ohio State University and the University of North Carolina at Greensboro, after receiving her doctorate from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She also holds degrees from the University of Toronto and the University of Illinois at Champaign-Urbana. Her teaching experiences range from teaching public school to directing community ensembles and church choirs. From 2013 – 2018, she was Artistic Director of Exultate Chamber Singers in Toronto.

A native Canadian, she has performed with her university choirs at conferences of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA), and at Podium, the national conference of Choral Canada. She has conducted honors choruses throughout Canada and the U.S., including almost 40 all-state high school choirs. She has directed choral festivals at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and throughout Europe.

Dr. Apfelstadt has published numerous articles and book chapters, including contributions to Wisdom, Wit and Will: Women Choral Conductors on their Art (GIA Publications, 2009) and Conducting Successful Women’s Choirs (GIA, 2012). She is co-editor of Teaching Music through Performance in Choir, v. 5, published by GIA (2019), and a contributing author to Volume 4 of the same series. Her book on the life and work of Canadian composer Ruth Watson Henderson, I Didn’t Want It To be Boring (Toronto: Prism Publishers) won Choral Canada’s award for the Outstanding Choral Publication in 2018. She is Feature Articles Editor for Anacrusis (Choral Canada) and an Editorial Mentor for The Choral Scholar (NCCO). She also serves on the Board of Chorus America.

A Life Member of ACDA, Dr. Apfelstadt served as National President from 2007 – 2009 and as Interim Executive Director from 2020 – 2021. She has received leadership awards from NC-ACDA, Ohio CDA, ACDA Central Region, ACDA Midwestern Region, and Choirs Ontario.
To get in touch with Hilary, you can email her at [email protected] or find her on Facebook (@HilaryJApfelstadt).
Choir Fam wants to hear from you! Check out the Minisode Intro Part 2 episode from May 22, 2023, to hear how to share your story with us.
Email [email protected] to contact our hosts.
Podcast music from Podcast.co
Photo in episode artwork by Trace Hudson