Thursday, April 25, 2024
Longy School of Music of Bard College is excited to announce that baritone and conductor Cailin Marcel Manson is joining its faculty as chair of the Vocal Studies department.
“I very much look forward to co-creating powerful and impactful experiences with and for the community at Longy,” says Manson, “and working with the passionate and caring faculty to give the emerging artists the tools they need—both to grow in their craft and to create or claim spaces in the art that are in alignment with their lived mission.”
Cailin Marcel Manson
A Philadelphia native, Manson studied voice performance at Temple University, and opera performance and orchestral conducting at the Universität Mozarteum Salzburg in Austria.
Manson was drawn to Longy after conducting an opera production at the school. “The environment of mutual support among both the faculty and students immediately struck me. I was moved by the flexibility to see each individual’s journey, validate it, and encourage its growth, along with the willingness to interrogate the ‘what’s’ and ‘why’s’ of how the school moves, and the intentionality and openness to conversations across difference.”
Manson has toured as a soloist and master teacher at major venues across the United States, Europe, and Asia with organizations such as the Radio-Sinfonieorchester Stuttgart; SWR Sinfonieorchester; Taipei Philharmonic; Bayerische Staatsoper – Münchner Opernfestspiele; Choral Arts Society of Philadelphia; Chamber Orchestra of Philadelphia; Teatro La Fenice; Teatro San Carlo; Konservatorium Oslo; and the Conservatoire de Luxembourg.
“I hope to help Longy continually strive for excellence while cultivating deep joy.” -Cailin Marcel Manson
He has also been a guest cantor and soloist at some of the most famous churches and cathedrals in the world, including Notre Dame, Sacré-Coeur, and La Madeleine in Paris; San Marco in Venice; Santa Maria del Fiore in Florence; San Salvatore in Montalcino; Santa Maria Maggiore and San Giovanni in Laterano in Rome; Thomaskirche and Nikolaikirche in Leipzig; and Wieskirche in Steingaden.
Manson reflects, “My professional work has been very robust due to its multifaceted nature: solo performance, choral conducting, opera and symphonic conducting, pedagogy, and arts administration and advocacy. Longy is a place that embraces this wholeheartedly.”
Manson currently serves as music director of The Keene Chorale and Barn Opera/Opera Vermont; choral conductor at Walnut Hill School for the Arts; artistic consultant for MidAmerica Productions and MidAm International; and artistic director and chief executive officer of the New England Repertory Orchestra.
Previously, he held positions with the Vorarlberger Musikfest; Chamber Symphony of Atlantic City; Montgomery County Youth Orchestra; Hazleton Conservatory for the Performing Arts; The Putney School; and Bennington County Choral Society. Manson has served as a faculty member at Clark University, the Vermont Governor’s Institute on the Arts, and the Performing Arts Institute of Wyoming Seminary.
Additionally, Manson founded and directed the Germantown Institute for the Vocal Arts and the Germantown Concert Chorus, and is a frequent guest conductor, clinician, presenter, panelist, and adjudicator for conventions, conferences, competitions, and music festivals worldwide.
Now, as vocal studies chair at Longy, he aims to be a resource for the students, the faculty, and the administration, and to deepen its emphases in vocal studies on artistic agency and inclusivity. “I hope to help Longy continually strive for excellence while cultivating deep joy.”
Cailin Marcel Manson will begin teaching vocal studies courses at Longy in the Fall 2024 semester.