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A. Dennis Sparger
is music director and conductor of the Masterworks Chorale.
Founding the Chorale in 1974, he has led them in performances of over sixty
major choral works. In 1985 he also founded the Masterworks Children's
Chorus and was their director through 1990.
Dr. Sparger received his professional training at the University of
Illinois, where he studied with Harold Decker and, in 1981, was awarded a
Doctor of Musical Arts degree in choral conducting. He received a bachelor’s
degree in music education and a master’s degree in history and literature at
Eastern Illinois University where he studied choral music with John Maharg.
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In 1986 Dr. Sparger was appointed Music Director and Conductor of the
Bach Society of Saint Louis. He has conducted the Bach Society Chorus and
Orchestra in all the major works by Bach, as well as major works by
composers from the 18th through 20th centuries.
Throughout the St. Louis area Dr. Sparger is widely respected by
musicians, audiences and his professional colleagues. He was honored by the
Illinois chapter of the American Choral Directors Association as the 1998
recipient of the Harold A. Decker Award. In 2003 he was named "Choir
Director of the Year" by the St. Louis chapter of the American Guild of
Organists. And in 2005 he was selected as one
of the 50 Outstanding Alumni of the Graduate School of Eastern Illinois
University.
Dr. Sparger’s scholarly article on the 17th-century Polish composer
Andrzej Hakenberger appears in the latest edition of the
New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians.
He has served as a panelist for both the Illinois Arts Council and the
Missouri Arts Council. Following a career in music education, Dr. Sparger
now serves a larger constituency as associate producer and writer for JOY, a
weekly program of sacred choral music heard on KFUO-FM Classic 99 on Sunday
mornings.
A native of Chicago, he studied choral music with John Maharg at Eastern
Illinois University where he received both bachelor's and master's degrees
in music. In 1981 he was awarded a Doctor of Musical Arts degree from the
University of Illinois, where he studied with Harold Decker.
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Sparger |
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