All State Chorus and Orchestra

The South Dakota All-State All State Chorus and Orchestra is a program of the South Dakota High School Activities Assoiciation.

Guest Conductors this year are:

Dr. Phillip Swan - Appleton, WI

Phillip A. Swan is Co-Director of Choral Studies and Musical Director for LU Musicals. Swan conducts Cantala, directs Hybrid Ensemble (jazz, early, contemporary and world music); teaches courses in conducting, musical theatre and music education; and coaches student organized a cappella groups. He is active in the Appleton community, serving as artistic director and conductor for newVoices (recipient of the 2016 Chorus America Education and Community Engagement Award), and is choir director at Appleton Alliance Church. Swan received his BA in music education from Concordia College, Moorhead, MN, MM in Choral Conducting from UT El Paso, and his DMA in Choral Conducting from the University of Miami (Florida). His doctoral essay is entitled, "In His Own Words: The Choral Music of Eric Whitacre from 1991-2004:.

Swan served as a church music and youth director, performed in El Paso Pro Musica and taught elementary general music in El Paso, Texas, before moving to Watertown, South Dakota in 1989, where he taught high school vocal music for ten years and was an active clinician and adjudicator.

Dr. Swan has been fortunate to work with several international choirs including 15 choirs in Zhongshan, Zhuhai, Donguang, and Shenzhen, China. Swan is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, currently serving as the National Women’s Choir Repertoire and Resources Chair. Other involvement has included serving as the North Central ACDA Women’s Choir R&S Chair, chairing the 2016 North Central ACDA collegiate ENGAGE event, Wisconsin Women’s Choir R&S Chair, program chair for the 2013 Wisconsin state conference, member of the state by-laws revision committee, WCDA summer Refresh! planning committee, and serving as co-director for the WCDA/National ACDA NextDirection (high school/collegiate choral leadership conference) in June 2018. Swan is also a member of the College Music Society and Chorus America.

Dr. Anthony Elliott - University of Michigan - Ann Arbor, MI

Anthony Elliott is in great demand as a conductor and as a concert cellist. Known for his fluid technique and assured interpretations, he has led numerous professional, amateur, and youth orchestras in prestigious settings around the world. Presently, he is Music Director of the Dexter Community Orchestra, and Conductor of the Michigan Youth Symphony at the University of Michigan. He has shared podium duties at the Texas Music Festival with Maxim Shostakovich and Christoph Eschenbach, and at the Blossom Music Festival with Leonard Slatkin and Jahja Ling.

Recent performances include re-engagements with the Sphinx Symphony at Orchestra Hall in Detroit, the Prince George’s Philharmonic in Washington DC, and the Icicle Creek Chamber Orchestra. On two separate occasions, he has led the Sphinx Chamber Orchestra at Carnegie Hall to great critical acclaim. Guest conducting engagements have also included the San Antonio Symphony, the Kitchener-Waterloo Symphony, the Scott Joplin Chamber Orchestra, and the Vancouver Chamber Players.

As a tireless advocate for music education, he has led the All Northwest Orchestra as well as the All State Orchestras including New York, Florida, Alaska, Minnesota, and several others. As Music Director of the Houston Youth Symphony and Ballet, he led a heralded two-week long concert tour to Holland, Germany, and Austria, and was honored by Houston Mayor Kathryn Whitmire and the Houston City Council. He has given countless free clinics and workshops at inner city schools and community centers around the country. This past season, he appeared in Detroit with students from the Cornerstone School, the Detroit School for the Arts, and the Marvin L Winan’s Fine Arts Academy.

Anthony Elliot is also a prize-winning cellist, being the first person to win the Feuermann International Cello Competition. He has appeared as a soloist with the New York Philharmonic, the Detroit Symphony, the Minnesota Orchestra, the Vancouver Symphony, and the CBC Toronto Orchestra.