This isn’t a dictatorship, it’s a dictocracy!

“I didn’t expect you guys to come out of six hours of vocal auditions with so much energy.” said Erinn Sensenig, my girlfriend and Soprano in Verdigris. It was true. After listening to over twenty singers in the span of six hours, I along with a committee of Verdigris singers, felt inspired, energized, and excited for our 2018–19 season. I certainly wasn’t surprised that I was feeling this way because Verdigris is my baby, my vision, my passion. But when I thanked our choir committee for the time they donated and their commitment to the ensemble, I expected them to say something along the lines of “you’re welcome” and then walk out the door feeling exhausted and ready to do something else. Instead, their response was “No, thank you. As singers in professional ensembles, no one ever asks for our input and we appreciate that you are allowing us to have a voice in this organization.” These singers had built such a strong community that they were willing to volunteer their time to help in ways that were more than singing in the ensemble.

We are experiencing a significant change in the personality of what a conductor’s role is within an ensemble. A New York Times reporter followed brand new Met Opera conductor, Yannick Nezet-Seguin, for a day and noted that the generational shift in incoming conductors is astounding — they are breaking the culture of ‘you cannot voice…