Anthony Blake Clark

• Choral Tour (June 29–July 5, 2024)

Anthony Blake Clark is a leading voice among his generation of choral conductors.

He is in demand by both amateur and professional choral artists because of his “readily apparent musicality” (Baltimore Sun) and his conviction that lives can be changed by participating in classical music, whether on the stage or in the audience.

Clark has performed with some of the most important ensembles in legendary venues throughout the USA and Europe. He has prepared choral ensembles for prestigious orchestras such as the Rundfunkchor Berlin with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Chicago Symphony Orchestra, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Orchestra, Dallas Symphony Orchestra, and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra for esteemed conductors such as Marin Alsop, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Fabio Luisi, Mirga Gražinyt?-Tyla, and Simon Halsey. He and his choirs have performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus, Symphony Hall Birmingham (UK), St. Martin-in-the-Fields London, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington National Cathedral, among others.

At Baltimore Choral Arts, Clark has expanded subscription concert offerings while building a robust community outreach and education initiative. He has consistently received glowing reviews, both for work on the podium and as chorusmaster for performances with the Baltimore Symphony and other area partners. His work with BCAS has been recognized with an American Prize in Choral Conducting and a second nomination for best community ensemble, as well as the Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award. He annually conducts and produces the celebrated “Christmas with Choral Arts” television concert, first on ABC2 and now on Maryland PBS station MPT, for which the ensemble has received three regional Emmyâ nominations. Clark has secured invites to several important festivals and collaborations; after a sold-out and enthusiastically received UK tour, BCAS was in residence with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for performances of Mahler’s 8th Symphony. Recently, Clark and Baltimore Choral Arts made their Berlin Philharmonie debut with the Freie Universität Orchester. On the same tour, BCAS collaborated with the Vienna Singakademie to perform with the Vienna Radio Orchestra under Marin Alsop.

Maestro Clark has recently been appointed as the Jean. D Wilson Chair Chorus Director for the Dallas Symphony. After preparing three critically praised programs for the Dallas Symphony Chorus in 2022 and 2023, Music Director Fabio Luisi appointed Clark to become Chorus Director beginning in the 2023-2024 season. In Dallas, Clark administers the choral programs of the Dallas Symphony, preparing the 200-voice ensemble for classical and pops programs. Highlights this season include Brahms’ Ein Deutsches Requiem and Schmidt’s Das Buch mit Sieben Siegeln. The Dallas Symphony Chorus under Clark’s preparation can be seen on Medici TV (Orff Carmina Burana and Catulli Carmina) and DSO’s “Next Stage” streaming platform (Beethoven’s 9th Symphony).

Anthony Blake Clark is also the Artistic Director of Bach Vespers in New York City. In residence at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in mid-town Manhattan, the Bach Choir and Players are composed of some of the finest early music professionals in the nation, presenting works of Bach using historically informed practices within the liturgical context of a Vespers service. Anthony Blake’s passion for Baroque historical performance has been able to take flight with Bach Vespers and in the coming season they will present many cantatas celebrating the 300th anniversary of Bach’s arrival in Leipzig as Thomaskantor, culminating in a performance of the B-minor Mass. He has also served as the James Erb Choral Chair Director of Choruses for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.

Anthony Blake Clark is equally adept in the orchestral field and made his Baltimore Symphony debut in 2021 and made his Richmond Symphony debut in 2022. He has also appeared as cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, assisting conductors such as Ton Koopman, Gianandrea Noseda, Teddy Abrams, Christoph Eshenbach, and Manfred Honeck, and has assisted Marin Alsop at the Baltimore Symphony.

Maestro Clark is a passionate teacher and served as Director of Choral Activities at The George Washington University in DC. His university choirs performed at the Kennedy Center and National Cathedral and sang with the Washington Chorus, Baltimore Choral Arts, Naval Academy Glee Club, and the Baltimore and Annapolis Symphonies. Recently he was Guest Conductor/Lecturer for the Westminster Choir College Symphonic Choir. He regularly leads workshops and clinics for school and community ensembles.

Legacy and mentorship are paramount to Maestro Clark; he is a mentee of Marin Alsop’s, having worked with her extensively and studied with her at the Peabody Institute in the doctoral conducting program. Mr. Clark completed a master’s degree under three-time Grammy Award winner Simon Halsey CBE at the United Kingdom’s University of Birmingham and considers Halsey his lifelong mentor. During his time in the UK, he embedded himself in the choral life of the UK and sang under the batons of Sir Simon Rattle, Edward Gardiner, and Andris Nelsons, and had opportunities to conduct the London Symphony Chorus and the CBSO Chorus. Other teachers include Simon Carrington (Yale Norfolk Festival, Sarteano Workshop) and Lynne Gackle (Baylor University).

An active composer and arranger, Anthony Blake Clark’s music has been performed in Washington DC, London, Oxford, Texas, and at Prague’s Dvorák Museum Concert Hall. In 2022 his new performance edition of Mozart’s Requiem was recorded by Acis Records.