JOHN RATLEDGE

RESUME

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INTERNATIONAL GALLERY

AUSTRIA

BULGARIA

CZECH REPUBLIC

DANGJIN, KOREA

DANGJIN CULTURE CENTER

DANGJIN-GUN CHORUS

NEW FRIENDS

DANGJIN CONDUCTOR PHOTOS

FRANCE

GERMANY

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CARNEGIE HALL

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ORFF CARMINA BURANA

BACH JOHANNESPASSION

CONDUCT AT ALABAMA

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JOHANNESPASSION

from BLACKBERRY WINTER

From PASSAGES

BRNO The Red Church

GLINKA KAPELLA LIVE

DURUFLÉ REQUIEM-POLAND

LE CRYPTE FOUVRIERE-LYONS

Alto Rhapsodie

CARMINA Spivey 2007

MOMENTS IN THE LIFE

1985 to present

MY ETCHINGS

 
 
www.johnratledge.com
 



johnratledge@johnratledge.com









WORLD PREMIERE
of
i am the secret fire in all things

Composer, conductor Jon Washburn
My newest composition, i am the secret fire in all things, SSAA divisi, and two soprano soloists, will be premiered Friday, November 7, 2008 in Vancouver, Canada, by the Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn, Conductor.  The Hildegard von Bingen text, translated by Wilson Hall (retired professor of English and dear friend), is a text which fosters many opportunities to depict the mysterious nature of God, His transcendence into all the human experience, and the hope, through vulnerability, that resonates in the gravamen for individual transubstantiation through the struggles inherent in Life's Stuff.  Set for eight real parts of women's voices, this new work celebrates the transforming power of spirituality, the evolution of the human spirit when one amalgamates with "unknowing," and the ecstasy that saturates Life when one acknowledges the God Presence already within.
www.vancouverchamberchoir.com
The Vancouver Chamber Choir
i am the secret fire in all things
Hildegard von Bingen
translated by Dr. Wilson Hall

i am the secret fire in all things
and everything bears my aroma,
and as the breath of mankind
is the breath of praise,
so lives all things and will not die.
i flame out as Godly passionate life over fields of grain.
i glow in the shimmer of the fire coal.
i burn in the Sun, the Moon, and in the Stars.
in the breeze is the secret life of me
that spiritually holds all things together.
i am fire of fire.
i am life.
I AM LIFE.
Alleluia!



Media
Premiere performance, Vancouver Chamber Choir, Jon Washburn, Conductor
www.vancouverchamberchoir.com









DELAWARE ALL-STATE
February 2009


Lasso Dessus le marché d'Arras
Whitacre  Lux arumque
Dvorak Gloria
Dello Joio Song of the Open Road
Koepke Wade in de Water
Brooks Betelehemu
Ratledge  The Lord's Prayer

CHURCH MUSIC CONFERENCE
January 2009


Mendelssohn  Lobegesang


CONVERSE COLLEGE
Spartanburg, South Carolina
March 2009


Stein/Bock/Harnick  Fiddler on the Roof

SOPHIA, BULGARIA
Sophia Symphonic Choir
May 2009



















At the famous Vigadó Concert Hall in Budapest, Hungary








ABOUT
JOHN RATLEDGE


 



Currently in his fifth year as Conductor of University Singers, Area Coordinator of Graduate Choral Conducting, and Director of Choral Activities at the University of Alabama in Tuscaloosa, Dr. John Ratledge
teaches graduate and undergraduate conducting, literature and pedagogy.

Professor Charles Snead, Director of the School of Music, states "that in just a short time, the University's cho
ral program surpasses anything realized in the past. Ratledge is an accomplished scholar and artist, a consummate professional in his approach to music making. His standards are high, his teaching techniques demanding, and the results he achieves are amazing. Dr. Ratledge continues to be active as a conductor and clinician on a national and international level, consistent with his reputation as one of the most well-established choral pedagogues in the discipline today. I look forward to the future with John on the podium."


Ratledge made his European conducting debut in 1996 with the Filharmonia Sudecka of Walbryzychu, Poland, and since that time, he has conducted orchestras in France, Greece, Hungary, Romania, and Spain. Ratledge made his South Korean conducting debut in March 2008 when he conducted the Dangjin-gun Chorus at the Dangjin Culture and Art Center in Dangjin, South Korea. In addition, Ratledge gave a masterclass at Baekseok University in Cheonan, Korea.

During his tenure at Shorter College, the Shorter Chorale distinguished itself nationally and internationally. The Chorale gave the premiere of the full orchestral version of the Duruflé Requiem in Poland, Hungary, Romania, and Greece, the organ version premiere of same in Bulgaria, the Bernstein Chichester Psalms premiere in Poland, and the St. Petersburg, Russia's premiere of Handel's Messiah. Ratledge has conducted two solo choral concerts at Carnegie Hall and has sold-out Atlanta's Spivey Hall nine times. University Singers made their Spivey Hall debut in 2006, and the ensemble will return for their third performance at Spivey on 20 April 2008, Ratledge's thirteenth performance at the prestigious venue.

Dr. Ratledge has conducted over 250 clinics throughout the United States, in addition to conducting All State and Region Choruses in Alabama, Delaware, Georgia, Texas, Louisiana, New Hampshire, New York, Oklahoma, and Tennessee. He will conduct the Delaware All-State in 2009. Ratledge has been a convention headliner at the Texas, Georgia, and Alabama Music Educators Association, as well as the Georgia and Tennessee American Choral Directors Assoca
tion.

Named to Who's Who Among America's Educators in 1996, 1998, and 2005-2006, Who's Who in America in 2006-2008, Ratledge holds membership in the National Collegiate Choral Association, is a Life Member of American Choral Directors Association; Alabama Music Educators Association; Alabama Vocal Association; Texas Choral Directors Association; Music Educators National Conference; Pi Kappa Lambda, national music honor fraternity; Kappa Delta Pi, education honor society; Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia, music fraternity; and has been named Outstanding Young Man of America in 1978, 1982, 1985, 1987-1990. Most recently, he was named Distinguished Alumnus at Carson-Newman College in Jefferson City, Tennessee.

Ratledge's compositions are published by Alliance Music, Southern Music, and Cambiata Press. Recent commissioned works include: I am the secret fire in all things, SSAA divisi and two soprano soli, a cappella; Blackberry Winter, SATB divisi, soprano solo which was premiered by the Midland Lee High School Chorale, Paula Edwards, Conductor, at the Texas Music Educators Association on February 13, 2004, and I Am (text by Rilke) SATB divisi, Mezzo-Soprano and Baritone solos, premiered on April 30, 2004 by the New Hampshire Master Chorale, Dr. Dan Perkins, Conductor. On 9 October 2006, The Lord's Prayer was premiered by the Concert Choir of Darlington Upper School (Rome, Georgia), Dan Bishop, Conductor.





















Conducting in Dangjin, South Korea










Budapest 2002










Conducting in Dangjin, South Korea








Created by Jim Schaeffer, Music Education Major and after a sermon on Braveheart: WILL YOU FOLLOW?









Beyond the door of our knowing






 
 









Edinborough, Scotland

















Media
University Singers performing BLACKBERRY WINTER (Poetry and music by John Ratledge) Joy Miller Rotz, Soprano
I'm thinking of a Harvest Moon,
rusted and round,
hung low in blackened space.
Yet coming without warning
with berries wrapped
in frosted ribbon
and in gray gloom,
cold.....
I find myself melancholy
wondering about wasted love.
Longing,
loneliness,
Knowing that frost's first showing
in latter days of October
comes quickly,
I wrap myself
in Nature's confusion,
as Indian Summer
enshrouds me
in lazy days
of barefoot innocence,
perched high
on branches
of favorite trees
in fields of dancing grass,
and simple thoughts
blow at the will of the wind.
Blackberry Winter–
with crisp, biting chill
and thorn-pierced heart
sears blood-red berry,
and only burned blossoms
remind me of you.
–John Ratledge




University Singers will release it's first
compact disc,
Blackberry Winter,
in Spring 2009










No.12 CARMINA THE SWAN SONG–this swan lives at the lake at Spivey Hall









 








Orchestral Conducting
2006-2008

Schoenberg Kammersymphonie, Op. 9
Schoenberg Lied der Waldtaube
aus den "Gurreliedern"
Brahms Ein Deutches Requiem
Berio Circles
Davidovsky Synchronisms No. 2






















University Singers performing at Spivey Hall on 21 January 2006









 
 








I took a picture of this door in Prague 2001








 
Just for fun.....
 
 
















Dr. Ratledge is available for clinics, workshops, guest conducting, and commissions. Please contact him at JRatledge2@aol.com or Ratledge@bama.ua.edu
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The Official Website of Dr. John Ratledge, Conductor

Conductor, Educator, Clinician, Composer