Masterwork Series

A sought after conductor and clinician all across the United States and internationally, Dr. Pearl Shangkuan is a professor of Music at Calvin University in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where she directs choirs and teaches choral conducting and choral literature. She is also the chorus master (endowed Covenant Chair) of the Grammy-nominated Grand Rapids Symphony. Her performances and preparation of choruses consistently receive outstanding reviews for their combination of precision, artistry and passion. In addition to her Mosaic: the Pearl Shangkuan choral series for earthsongs, she serves as the music editor of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship choral series, published by GIA.

Her choirs have performed at national, division and state conferences of the American Choral Directors Association and other professional music conferences in the United States. Recent conducting engagements took her to Austria, South Africa, Hong Kong, and all across the United States. She has conducted honor choirs for several ACDA divisions and has been a headliner for various ACDA state conferences. She has led performances and given workshops all across the US and in Asia (China, Korea, Japan, Singapore, Taiwan, Malaysia, Indonesia, Hong Kong and the Philippines), as well as in Austria, Australia, and Canada.

Dr. Shangkuan has served as guest faculty in prominent professional programs in the US including the Chorus America national conference conducting masterclass and its A Capella Conducting Masterclass, the University of Michigan Choral Conducting Symposium, the Westminster Choir College Summer Session among many others. She has conducted all-state, honor choirs and festivals in numerous states.

She has served on the National Board of the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA) as the president of the Central Division (2007-09), and as Michigan ACDA state president (2003-05). Prior to her appointment at Calvin College, Dr. Shangkuan taught at Rutgers University and at the Westminster Conservatory of Music of Rider University in New Jersey.

Recipient of the Grand Rapids YWCA’s Tribute! Award for outstanding professional women, she is also a past recipient of its Woman of Achievement award. Dr. Shangkuan has also served on the national board of the Choristers Guild and the board of the New Jersey Music Teachers Association and the New Jersey ACDA. She is a member of the ACDA (American Choral Directors Association), Chorus America, IFCM (International Federation for Choral Music), and is a member of the Phi Kappa Lambda and Mu Phi Epsilon Music Honor Societies.

A student of pre-eminent American choral conductor and New York Philharmonic chorusmaster Dr. Joseph Flummerfelt, she received a Bachelor of Music in Church Music summa cum laude and Master of Music in Choral Conducting with distinction from Westminster Choir College in Princeton, New Jersey, and a DMA in Choral Conducting from Rutgers, the State University of New Jersey.

BA, Music Education, St. Olaf College
MS, Choral Music Education, University of Illinois
DMA, Choral and Orchestral Conducting, Eastman School of Music
Additional study, Business, Pace University
Current residence: Point Pleasant, NJ

Celebrated conductor and entrepreneur Craig Arnold is the Founder, Artistic Director, and President of Manhattan Concert Productions and conductor of Manhattan Chorale and Chamber Orchestra.  He has music ministry and teaching experience at all levels, including Professor and  Director of Choral Activities positions at Luther College (2008 Emmy Award), Western Michigan University, and Capital University.  Arnold has served as guest conductor of concert performances, music festivals, and all-state choirs in most of the United States and a dozen countries abroad.  He also has been featured guest lecturer on topics of music, business, and leadership on college campuses, conferences, and seminars.  Arnold is from Brainerd, MN where he was recently inducted into the Distinguished Alumni Hall of Fame. He is the father of two, grandfather of two, husband of one.  Not so guilty pleasure:  he is a water nut.

PET: Cooper (third Sheltie).

Dr. Anton Armstrong, Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College and conductor of the St. Olaf Choir since 1990, is a nationally and internationally active guest conductor and lecturer. Dr. Armstrong is also a graduate of St. Olaf College and earned advanced degrees at the University of Illinois and Michigan State University, and currently serves as a member of the Board of Trustees of the American Boychoir School and the Board of Chorus America.

In the summer of 2001, Dr. Armstrong conducted the World Youth Choir with concerts in Venezuela and the United States, and in June 2003 he served as the first Peter Godfrey Visiting Professor of Choral Music at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. Other recent international engagements include serving as a guest conductor at the 2010 Zimriya-The World Assembly of Choirs and in March 2011, and returning to guest conduct the Formosa Singers of Taipei, Taiwan. In the summer of 2011 he was a guest conductor of the Prague Proms International Music Festival sponsored by the Czech National Symphony Orchestra and led a conducting master class at the Ninth World Symposium of Choral Music in Puerto Madryn, Argentina (2011). He also served as the Co-Chair of the Artistic Committee for the 10th World Symposium of Choral Music in Seoul, Korea (2014).

Dr. Derrick Fox is the Associate Dean of Graduate Studies and Creative Endeavors and a Professor of Choral Conducting at Michigan State University. Prior to MSU, he was the Director of Choral Activities and Distinguished Professor of Music at the University of Nebraska-Omaha and Assistant Professor of Choral Music at Ithaca College. Dr. Fox has taught at the middle school, high school and collegiate levels. His conducting experiences have included singers from upper elementary choirs through collegiate and community choirs. He was awarded the 2021 Bryan R. Johnson Service Award by the Nebraska Music Educators Association and the 2022 University of Nebraska Omaha Award for Distinguished Research/Creative Activity.

Dr. Fox has conducted all state and regional choirs across the United States, led international, national and regional choral concerts/residencies and presented professional development workshops across the United States and internationally. His professional workshops focus on assessment in the choral classroom, building classroom community, rehearsal strategies, choral conducting techniques and shape note singing in the African American community. Dr. Fox has held teaching residencies at the Latvian Academy of Music and Syracuse University and led performance tours through Lithuania and Estonia. Dr. Fox conducted the 2019 National ACDA Middle School/Junior High Mixed Honor Choir and traveled to South Africa as a 2019 ACDA International Conductor Exchange Fellow where he led choral workshops and rehearsals in Johannesburg, Pretoria and Potchefstroom.

Conductor-teacher Kristina Caswell MacMullen has devoted her career to sharing music and inspiration with students and audiences. Her collaborations with fellow musicians continue to confirm her abiding hope for the future and an unflagging belief in the power of choral music.

Currently, MacMullen serves as the Mary Gibbs Jones Chair of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Baylor University. She conducts the Baylor A Cappella Choir, Chamber Singers, and leads the graduate program in choral conducting. Prior to her appointment at BU, MacMullen served on the faculties of the University of North Texas and The Ohio State University. Her interdisciplinary work earned her the Sir William Osler Award at OSU and the President’s Special Recognition Award at UNT. MacMullen has also been recognized by TCDA for her innovation in programming.

MacMullen believes that great potential lies in choral performance and creative communication. She strives to guide her students, as they desire to make an impact for good. Creative projects include interdisciplinary performances addressing human trafficking, the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, play theory, Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, archetype exploration, belonging, American song, civic engagement, and the nature of tears.

As an active adjudicator and clinician, MacMullen has conducted All-State and honors choirs throughout the United States. She has presented and co-presented interest sessions at state, regional, national and international conferences. Her teaching and conducting is featured on the DVD Conducting-Teaching: Real World Strategies for Success published by GIA (2009). Her editions are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Musicatus Press, and MusicSpoke.

MacMullen earned both the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Michigan State University. She completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Texas Tech University. MacMullen has enjoyed a diverse career as a public-school teacher, interacting with students in rural, suburban, and urban settings, elementary through high school. She also sings with the professional ensemble Mirabai.