The Hillsdale Arts Chorale has been providing the community with beautiful music for over thirty years. You are an important part of our success: the pleasure we feel in performing the music is heightened by your enjoyment of it; the quality of our performance is enhanced by your financial support. We wish to say thank you to those who attend and support our organization.

Howard Rizner, Conductor
Kristi Gautsche, Accompanist

David Boswell, Conductor

David Boswell has been a vocal music educator since 1990, with all but three of those years in Hillsdale where he has enjoyed teaching the students at Davis Middle School and Hillsdale High School. During the summer he serves as a faculty member for the All-State Choir at the Interlochen Center for the Arts. He is proud to carry the torch as the conductor of the Hillsdale Arts Chorale beginning with the 2008-2009 season. He believes the group is a treasure to our community and a testament to the vision and talent of the founding director Howard Rizner.

David holds a Bachelor of Music Education degree from Sam Houston State University in Huntsville, Texas, and a Masters degree in Choral Conducting from Michigan State University. He is also a member of the VoiceCare Network in Minnestoa. In 2001 he was named a Fulbright Memorial Fund Scholar and studied for three weeks in Japan. In 2004 he received the Michigan School Vocal Music Association‘s Carolyn Leep Scholarship. In January of 2008, David directed the 7th-9th grade SATB State Honors Choir at the Michigan Music Conference in Grand Rapids.

His school choirs and students have enjoyed great success at District and State Festivals. Many of his students are selected to participate in the Honors Choirs program every year. Over the years, his school choirs have performed in many masterworks concerts, premiered commissioned works, and have sung in our nation‘s capital, St. Patrick‘s Cathedral in New York City, and Shea Stadium where they performed the National Anthem before a New York Mets game. The same choirs under his direction have enjoyed invitations to perform here with the Hillsdale Arts Chorale and in Jackson with the Jackson Symphony Orchestra.

Making music is a family affair for the Boswells. David‘s wife, Robin, sings in the alto section of the chorale and plays the piano. His daughter Emily is a cellist and a member of the Hillsdale High School Chorale. His son Alexander is a singer in the Davis Middle School Boys‘ choir and he is learning to play the drums.

Howard Rizner, Conductor Emeritus

Following a successful career in public school choral directing, Howard Rizner continues to develop the Hillsdale Arts Chorale into an outstanding choral ensemble. The chorale has increased in membership and in quality, evidenced by large concert attendance, recognition by choral colleagues throughout the state, and its impact on the cultural climate of the Hillsdale County community.

In addition to being music director and conductor of the chorale, he has been a regular contributor to the American Choral Directors Association Michigan Publication, Bella Voce. The articles also appear on their website. The "back-to-basics" series explains a step-by-step approach to the teaching of singing properly and to becoming knowledgeable musicians. It also deals with detailed choral analysis and application to rehearsal and performance.

Howard is a charter member of ACDA, past-president of the Michigan Chapter and has served several years as an adjudicator for the Michigan Vocal Association. He also has conducted workshops on choral techniques and analysis, and conducted summer choirs at Michigan State University, Eastern Michigan University and New England Music Camp. He has also conducted the Michigan School Honors Choir.

Honors and awards include Hillsdale City Council Recognition, Rotary Club Recognition Award, Michigan School Vocal Association Teacher of the Year Award, Emeritus Award, Hillsdale College Nu Upsilon Chapter of Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia "Orpheus Award," Michigan Delta Kappa Gamma Society (Gamma Chapter) "Friend of Education" Award, and the prestigious "Maynard Klein Award" in recognition of "artistic excellence and a lifetime of leadership in the field of choral music."

His wife, Barbara, violinist, was a member of the Adrian Symphony Orchestra. Howard and Barbara‘s son, Gary, cellist, is an elementary and middle-school string teacher in the West Ottawa School System, Holland, Michigan. Their son, Dan, violinist, teaches violin at DePauw University in Indiana and performs each summer with the Grand Teton Music Festival Orchestra in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.

Kristi Gautsche, Accompanist

Kristi Gautsche‘s dedication to musical excellence is evidenced by each performance at the keyboard, and the demand for that excellence is in evidence by Kristi‘s very active performance schedule. Kristi studied music education with her major emphasis in piano at Goshen College, Goshen, Indiana. Now she plays throughout the Hillsdale area working as accompanist for the Hillsdale Arts Chorale and the Hillsdale Community Schools.

She serves as pianist and part-time organist for the College Baptist Church and has been the musical director for several productions at the Sauk Theatre and the Hillsdale Community Children‘s Theatre.