Judith Herrington and David Flood
Judith Herrington
Judith Herrington is the Founder and Artistic Director of the highly acclaimed Tacoma Youth Chorus, a choral education program of seven select choirs, grades 1 through 12, serving more than 240 young people in the south Puget Sound region of Washington since 1991. Noted for its collaborations, Tacoma Youth Chorus has performed with the Tacoma Symphony Orchestra, Northwest Sinfonietta, Tacoma Opera, Choral Union, Northwest Repertory Singers, the University of Puget Sound Adelphians, and BalleTacoma. Under Ms. Herrington's direction, the Chorus has performed for National Orff-Schulwerk Conventions, Northwest MENC convention and the Northwest ACDA conventions (1998, 2002, 2006, 2010). The chorus has performed internationally as well, with cathedral tours in France, England, Ireland, Wales, Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic, and Slovakia.
Tacoma Youth Chorus includes in its mission the opportunity for its members to study with outstanding directors including Jo-Michael Scheibe (USC), David Flood (Canterbury Cathedral), Rodney Eichenberger (FSU), Rollo Dilworth (Temple University), Henry Leck (Indianapolis Children’s Choir), Andre Thomas (FSU),
Paul Schultz (Northwest Repertory Singers), Geoffrey Boers, Brian Tate, as well as composers Rollo Dilworth, Donna Schultz, Brian Tate, Richard Nance and
Stephen Hatfield.
Ms. Herrington brings more than 35 years of teaching and conducting experience to her work at Tacoma Youth Chorus and Charles Wright Academy in Tacoma, Washington, where she has received the Inspirational Faculty Award and the Murray Foundation Chair for Teaching Excellence. A graduate of the University of Oregon, Ms. Herrington earned her Master of Education degree from Lewis and Clark College in Portland, Oregon. She has furthered her conducting studies through master classes with Rodney Eichenberger and Henry Leck. She has served on the Washington American Choral Directors Association Board as R&S Chair for Childrens' Choirs, President and Past-President of the Board. Ms. Herrington is the 2011 recipient of the Washington ACDA's Leadership and Service Award.
Ms. Herrington is highly regarded as a guest conductor, workshop and choral clinician. Mostly recently, Ms. Herrington has conducted all-state and regional honor choirs and festivals in Texas, Oregon, Washington, California, Hawaii, Montana, Wyoming, Pennsylvania, Alaska, Tennessee and Toyko. She will conduct the Junior All-State Honor Choir at the Washington Music Educator Association’s annual convention in 2014. A noted composer and arranger, she has published choral compositions, arrangements and co-authored choral teaching texts through Pavane Publishing,
Hal Leonard Publishing, and Colla Voce Publishing. She also edits a choral series for Pavane Publishing.
David Flood
Having begun musical studies at an early age, David held his first parish church organist post at 15 and has been deeply involved with church music ever since. He became Organ Exhibitioner of St John’s College, Oxford and spent a further postgraduate year at Clare College, Cambridge.
In 1986 he was appointed Organist and Master of the Choristers at Lincoln Cathedral and, after two enjoyable years, returned to Canterbury in 1988 as Organist and Master of the Choristers. He has been responsible for the music at all the special occasions, in particular the enthronement of Archbishop Carey, the Enthronement of Archbishop Williams in February 2003 and the 1998 Lambeth Conference.
The Cathedral choir under his direction has toured in Europe and North America; highly successful tours of USA and Canada were undertaken in 1994 and 1999 and a tour to Rome and through France in 1997 celebrated the 1400th anniversary of the arrival of St Augustine in Canterbury. All the Canterbury Choir recordings (12 in the last 15 years) have been greeted with considerable acclaim.
He was invited by the Riga Dom Boys Choir and the Latvian Ministry of Culture to direct a week of workshops and lectures on the training of boys’ voices in March 1997. Annually since August 1997 he has hosted an American Children’s Choir Festival with over 400 children. In 1999, he visited Australia and New Zealand to direct residential choir courses and give recitals and made his first appearance as conductor at the Berkshire Choral Festival in Massachusetts, USA. He is much in demand in the USA to direct choral festivals and workshops. In July 2002 he was awarded the honorary degree of Doctor of Music by the University of Kent.
The responsibility of daily sung services is naturally the most important part of his work and performing exciting music for the millions of visitors and pilgrims to the Cathedral each year is a great joy.
He lives in the shadow of Canterbury Cathedral with his wife and four children, all of whom are involved in music making of various kinds. He likes to spend what free time he has with them.
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