2019 TMEA All-State Program

TENNESSEE ALL-STATE SATB CHOIR
Michael John Trotta, Conductor | Tyler Merideth, Piano | Amanda Short, Ensemble Coordinator
Program to be selected from the following:
Sicut locutus est from Magnificat BWV 243............................................................................................Johann Sebastian Bach
The Heavens are Telling from The Creation...............................................................................................Franz Joseph Haydn
Zigeunerleben, Op. 29, No. 3.............................................................................................................................Robert Schumann
Psalm 150....................................................................................................................................................... Michael John Trotta
Three American Folksongs....................................................................................................................... arr. Michael John Trotta
Irish Blessing................................................................................................................................................... Michael John Trotta
True Light................................................................................................................................................................Keith Hampton
Michael John Trotta, Conductor
Michael John Trotta is a composer, conductor, and clinician who draws on his
experience as an educator to create engaging and artistic music for thousands of
singers each year. His award-winning commissions are designed to provide conductors
solutions to problems they face on the podium every day, empowering choirs to get
the sound they have always wanted. He lives with his wife Rachel in Bay Head, NJ,
where he works as a full-time composer.
For fifteen years, Trotta served as a full-time choir director in settings ranging
from the elementary classroom, middle school and high school choir director,
and university director of choral activities, in addition to his work as a church
music director.
As a full-time composer, he works with over a thousand singers each year, and
has learned that many directors and conductors struggle with similar challenges.
Whether writing a major work for a Carnegie Hall premiere or a unison melody for a treble choir, Trotta crafts
music that balances the spirit of the text, the age and ability of the singers, the vision of the director, and the
ear of the audience
In the past few years, Dr. Trotta has conducted choirs in premieres of commissioned major works at Carnegie Hall,
and in Rome as well as had world premieres at TMEA, ACDA, and other conventions.
Tyler Merideth, Piano
Tyler Merideth has performed as an accompanist for Tennessee All-State choirs and the
Middle Tennessee Suzuki Association since 2005. Some other notable performances include
the International Church Music Festival in England, recitals with cellist Wesley Baldwin, tenor
Brad Diamond, masterclass with violin pedagogue Brian Lewis, and a musical theatre clinic
with the late Marvin Hamlisch.
Merideth holds both a B.M. in Church Music-Piano Performance (cum laude) and a M.M.
in Music Education-Conducting from Belmont University. Merideth has participated in the
Summer Dalcroze Institute at Carnegie Mellon, the Kodály Summer Program at Belmont
University and performed as a violist in a string quartet at the Virginia Suzuki Institute. He is
currently a member of MTSBOA, ASTA, and an alumni member of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia.
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2019 TENNESSEE All-State Ensembles