

Kristina MacMullen, Guest Conductor

Andrea Ramsey, Composer-in-Residence

Wyant Morton, California Lutheran University

Donald Lefevre, West Texas A&M University
KRISTINA MACMULLEN, GUEST CONDUCTOR
Currently, Kristina Caswell MacMullen serves as the Mary Gibbs Jones Chair of Music and Director of Choral Activities at Baylor University. She conducts the Baylor A Cappella Choir, Chamber Singers, and leads the graduate program in choral conducting. Prior to her appointment at BU, MacMullen served on the faculties of the University of North Texas and The Ohio State University. Her interdisciplinary work earned her the Sir William Osler Award at OSU and the President’s Special Recognition Award at UNT. MacMullen has also been recognized by TCDA for her innovation in programming.
MacMullen believes that great potential lies in choral performance and creative communication. She strives to guide her students, as they desire to make an impact for good. Creative projects include interdisciplinary performances addressing human trafficking, the Kubler-Ross stages of grief, play theory, Maslow's hierarchy of needs, archetype exploration, belonging, American song, civic engagement, and the nature of tears. As an active adjudicator and clinician, MacMullen has conducted All-State and honors choirs throughout the United States. She has presented and copresented interest sessions at state, regional, national, and international conferences. Her teaching and conducting is featured on the DVD ConductingTeaching: Real World Strategies for Success published by GIA (2009). Her editions are published by Boosey & Hawkes, Musicatus Press, and MusicSpoke.
MacMullen earned both the Bachelor of Music Education and Master of Music degrees from Michigan State University. She completed the Doctor of Musical Arts degree at Texas Tech University. MacMullen has enjoyed a diverse career as a public-school teacher, interacting with students in rural, suburban, and urban settings, elementary through high school. She also sings with the professional ensemble Mirabai.
ANDREA RAMSEY, COMPOSER-IN-RESIDENCE
Dr. Andrea Ramsey enjoys an international presence as a composer, conductor, scholar, and music educator. Her teaching experiences range from work with adolescent and children’s voices to high school and collegiate voices. She enjoys regular opportunities to conduct all-state and divisional level honor choirs, festival events at Carnegie Hall, and served as a principal conductor for the Pacific International Young Women’s Choral Festival in Eugene, Oregon and conducted the National ACDA Junior High/Middle School Honor Choir in 2023. Before leaping into full time composing and guest conducting, Andrea held positions in music education and conducting at The Ohio State University and the University of Colorado, respectively.
An ASCAP Plus award-winning composer, Andrea believes strongly in the creation of new works. Her compositions are available with traditional publishers and also through MusicSpoke, a digital sheetmusic marketplace. She enjoys residency collaborations with ensembles and festival choirs, some of which have included: the University of Oregon, the Allegro Choirs of Kansas City, and the Crescent City Choral Festival in New Orleans.
As a scholar, she has presented for state, divisional, and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, the 6th Annual Symposium on Sociology in Music Education, as well as The Phenomenon Singing Symposium in St. Johns, Newfoundland, Canada. She has co-authored articles published in the Choral Journal, as well as the Journal of Research in Music Education. A native of Arkansas, she has experienced in her own life the power of music to provide a sense of community, better understanding of our humanity, and rich opportunities for self-discovery.
WYANT MORTON, CALIFORNIA LUTHERAN UNIVERSITY
Dr. Wyant Morton is Professor of Music and Chair of the music department at California Lutheran University. He is in his 33rd year as conductor of the Cal Lutheran Choral Ensembles, which includes the Cal Lutheran Choir, Cielo (treble choir), and Areté Vocal Ensemble--a chamber choir he founded in 2009 comprised of alumni, faculty and local professional level singers.
Morton has conducted concerts with Areté Vocal Ensemble in collaboration with the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s Minimalist Jukebox Festival curated by composer John Adams, and the Los Angeles Opera’s Britten 100/LA Festival, commemorating the centenary of composer Benjamin Britten. Areté also collaborated with the Los Angeles Opera in the Leonard Bernstein Centenary.
Other highlights in Morton’s career have been conducting New Music Concerts at Cal Lutheran. A memorable concert brought award winning composer and then Music Director of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, Esa-Pekka Salonen, to campus. The concert culminated with Morton conducting Salonen’s Five Images After Sappho, a performance the Los Angeles Times called “persuasive”. Morton has conducted similar concerts with Pulitzer Prize winning composers Henry Brant, Steven Stucky and David Lang. He has also collaborated with composers Libby Larsen and Morten Lauridsen; and Grammy Award winners Eric Whitacre (composer), Hila Plitmann (soprano), and Gloria Cheng (pianist).
DONALD LEFEVRE
Donald James Lefevre is in his twenty-third year as conductor of the West Texas A&M University Symphonic Band and holds the Gary T. Garner Professorship in Band. Lefevre joined the faculty in 1987 and currently serves as director of bands while teaching courses in conducting and woodwind methods. He also serves as the camp director of the WTAMU Band & Orchestra Camp, which boasts an annual enrollment of one thousand students each summer. Under his direction, the WTAMU Symphonic Band has performed six times at the Texas Music Educators Association Convention and made appearances at the Southwest Regional College Band Director’s National Association and the National Conference for the College Band Director’s National Association.
Lefevre taught saxophone at WTAMU from 1987 to 2016 and has performed as a frequent soloist with high school and university bands. He has served as the principal saxophonist with the Amarillo Symphony Orchestra for over 30 years. In 2013, Lefevre recorded his Virtuoso Saxophone album on Titanic Records and was featured in the Koch Records recording of La Creation du Monde by Milhaud and Kleine der Gerosched Musik by Weill with the Atlantic Sinfonietta Orchestra in 1991.
Among his many accolades, Lefevre has received the 2024 Faculty Teaching Excellence Award, the 2023 Texas Bandmasters Association Meritorious Achievement Award, and the 2021 Sybil B. Harrington College of Fine Arts and Humanities award for Outstanding Contributions in Professional Service. He is a member of the Texas Music Educators Association, College Band Directors National Association, Phi Beta Mu, and the Texas Bandmasters Association. An Honorary Member of Tau Beta Sigma and Phi Mu Alpha, he was recently inducted into the American Bandmaster Association.
PROGRAM
TUESDAY MARCH 13, 2025 at 8:00 PM
CARNEGIE HALL
National Masterwork Chorus
RAMSEY THE WILDERNESS OF YOU
Kristina MacMullen, Guest Conductor
FEATURED PERFORMANCES BY:
California Lutheran University Choir
Wyant Morton, Conductor
AND
West Texas A&M Symphonic Band
Donald Lefevre, Conductor