Indiana native Vance George, Grammy award winning Director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, will come home to serve as Guest Conductor of the Heartland Chamber Chorale in this program featuring the choral contrasts of master composers William Byrd, Franz Schubert, Johannes Brahms, Claude Debussy, Eric Whitacre, Samuel Barber, and others.

A graduatae of Goshen College and Indiana University, he has taught in the United States, Canada, and India. In 1997 he was awarded an honorary doctorate of musical arts by Kent State University, and in 1999 Chorus America presented him with A Lifetime Achievement Award.

Vance George is recognized internationally as one of America's leading choral conductors. Now is his 21st season, the San Francisco Symphony and Chorus under his direction has been hailed as one of the finest symphony choruses in the world. Mr. Geoerge has accepted three Grammy awards on behalf of the Chorus and Orchestra, and they were awarded an Emmy in 2002 for Sweeney Todd in Concert. The Chorus's Carnegie Hall debut received great acclaim from critics.

The Heartland Chamber Chorale officially came into being in 1997 with the appointment of Robert Nance as Music Director. Under Maestro Nance, the Chorale has grown tremendously and is today recognized as one of the finest choral ensembles of its kind in the region.

Based in beautiful downtown Fort Wayne, Indiana, the ensemble consists of approximately 28 auditioned paid professional singers from Fort Wayne and the Northeast Indiana region. Members of the Chorale hold careers in a variety of fields, including music, culinary arts, engineering, computers, human services, therapy, jurisprudence, management, and education.

Visit the Heartland Chamber Chorale Web site.