Randi Ravitts Woodworth Young Conductors Awardee archive
2022 - Madeleine Woodworth
The Handel Week family is delighted to announce Madeleine Woodworth as the inaugural Mark and Randi Ravitts Woodworth Young Conductors awardee for the 2022 Festival Season! Here is a little about her:
Madeleine developed her love of choir, conducting, sacred music, organ, and collaborative music while participating in the music program at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park, under the tutelage of Dr. Dennis Northway. She began studying piano with Dr. Sally Sloane at age 6, and organ with Dr. Northway at age 13, and she graduated from the Chicago Academy for the Arts, with a double major in piano and organ. Madeleine earned her Bachelor of Music in Organ Performance, studying with Nathan J. Laube at the Eastman School of Music in Rochester, NY, where she also studied conducting with Dr. William Winert and church music with Stephen Kennedy.
At the Yale School of Music and Yale Institute of Sacred Music, Madeleine sang in the Yale Schola Cantorum and studied with Marguerite Brooks, Dr. Jeffrey Douma, and David Hill to earn her Master of Music in Choral Conducting. During her second year at Yale, Madeleine served as Choir Director of the Marquand Chapel Choir, the experimental service laboratory for the Yale Divinity School students, where she emphasized programming of living and diverse composers. She has participated in master classes and workshops with conducting mentors including Masaaki Suzuki, Simon Carrington, Dr. Jerry Blackstone, Dr. Joe Miller, Diane Witry, and Sarah Ioannaides. Upon graduating from Yale, Madeleine was awarded the Robert Shaw Prize for excellence in conducting and the Richard Paul DeLong Prize in church music.
Currently, Madeleine serves as the Director of Music at Grace Episcopal Church in Oak Park and sings alto with La Caccina, a nine-voice professional treble vocal ensemble in Chicago. She is on the National Marketing Committee of the AGO and served as a Member at Large for the Chicago Chapter of the AGO in 2018-2021. She is a member of the Association of Anglican Musicians and is active in the Oak Park Alumnae Chapter of the music fraternity, Sigma Alpha Iota. In her free time, Madeleine enjoys exploring cities, trying new restaurants, playing video games, and spending time with friends and her cat, Tigger. Applicants for the Mark and Randi Ravitts Woodworth Award for Young Conductors should have completed a Baccalaureate and Masters-level degree from an accredited musical institution of higher learning and should be, at least, in the process of gaining further experience in applied choral or orchestral conducting. The application form for this is found later on this website and should be sent to Dr. Dennis E. Northway, Artistic Director of the Handel Week Festival by May 31st of the year prior to the concert season in which the candidate wishes to perform at [email protected]. A stipend of no less than $1,000 will be attached to this award as well as publicity in regional news outlets, press releases and programs.
