Episode 255: Uncovering the Overlooked with Hilary Apfelstadt and Alan Davis

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We often say we value diverse voices in the choral world, but programming habits don’t always reflect that. What are the biggest structural or cultural barriers still keeping women composers under-programmed?

We say we want a more inclusive choral canon—but for too long, women composers have been treated like a sidebar or a “special item to seek out for program diversity.” This week on the podcast, I sit down with Hilary Apfelstadt and Alan Davis, editors of Choral Repertoire by Women Composers, to talk about what it really means to reshape the repertoire.

This isn’t an episode about a book. It’s a challenge to the way we define “core literature,” and a call to stop letting convenience or tradition shape our programming.

If you’ve ever thought, “I’d include more women—if I just knew where to start,” this is where you start.

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Tune in, and have your thinking stimulated and challenged. Then, weigh in yourself with your related ideas and experiences on Facebook in the Choralosophers group or over on choralosophy.substack.com Also, don’t forget to grab a reading rope for your classroom wall from the shop! Music Reading Rope

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Dr. Hilary Apfelstadt is Professor Emerita of Choral Studies at the University of Toronto. She remains active as a guest conductor, clinician, masterclass presenter, and author. She has served ACDA as interim Executive Director, National President, Central Region President, NC-ACDA President, and has received leadership awards from both ACDA (NC-ACDA, Ohio-ACDA, Central Region, Midwestern Region) and also Choirs Ontario in Canada. She has taught public school, community, and church choirs and was a faculty member at the University of North Carolina-Greensboro and the Ohio State University. Her ensembles have performed at conferences of ACDA and Choral Canada, and she has guest conducted many festival choirs, including 40 all-state choirs in the U.S., and the National Youth Choir of Canada. She curates a choral series by Canadian composers for Hinshaw Music, and recently edited Choral Repertoire by Women Composers (GIA Publications, 2025), for which she also wrote several chapters.

Alan Troy Davis is a conductor, music educator, tenor, and voice teacher whose career bridges secondary and higher education, sacred and secular choral leadership, and the intersections of performance and scholarship. He is currently completing a Doctor of Musical Arts (D.M.A.) in Choral Conducting at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln, where he has served as Head Graduate Conducting Assistant. His responsibilities have included leading four university ensembles, conducting two full productions of Amahl and the Night Visitors, and teaching advanced undergraduate conducting.

With more than a decade of conducting and teaching experience, Davis has worked extensively with high school choirs in Oregon, Colorado, and California, earning consistent recognition for his ensembles’ vocal flexibility, musical expressiveness, and inclusive ethos. He has also directed church and community choirs and is regularly invited as a guest conductor, clinician, and adjudicator throughout the United States.

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Davis is extensively trained in both vocal pedagogy and choral methods, and he integrates technical vocal development with expressive artistry in every rehearsal and performance. His research interests include choral intonation, conducting pedagogy, Renaissance and Baroque performance practices, and the role of vocal technique within the choral ensemble.

A committed advocate for equity in the arts, Davis is the primary architect, associate editor, and contributing author of Choral Repertoire by Women Composers (GIA Publications, 2025), a groundbreaking resource that highlights the work of women—including transgender women—within the choral canon. At the 2025 American Choral Directors Association National Conference, he co-presented the interest session In Her Voice: Spotlighting Female Choral Composers, contributing to the national conversation on inclusive programming and representation.

His mentors include Dr. Donald Brinegar, Dr. William Belan, Dr. Christopher Gravis, and Dr. Peter Eklund—each of whom has shaped his approach to artistry, pedagogy, and leadership.

Davis also holds degrees from California State University–Los Angeles (M.M. in Choral Conducting), Portland State University (M.Ed. in Secondary Education), and Pacific Lutheran University (B.M.A.). Through his work, he strives to create musically rigorous and emotionally resonant spaces where students feel empowered to grow, explore, and connect through the choral arts.

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