Dallas Symphony Orchestra Announces Anthony Blake Clark Dallas Symphony Chorus Director, Jean D. Wilson Chair
Appointment Begins in the 2023/24 Concert Season
Dallas, Texas (May 23, 2023) – The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Ross Perot President & CEO Kim Noltemy
and Music Director Fabio Luisi (Louise W. & Edmund J. Kahn Music Directorship) announce the
appointment of Anthony Blake Clark to the position of Dallas Symphony Chorus Director (Jean D. Wilson
Chair). Clark will begin the post at the start of the 2023/24 concert season where he will prepare the
Dallas Symphony Chorus for their appearance on Liszt’s A Faust Symphony on September 28 and October
1 under the direction of Luisi. Throughout the season, the DSC under Clark’s direction will appear on a
number of different programs, including Brahms’s Requiem, Franz Schmidt’s Das Buch mit sieben Siegeln,
Dallas Symphony Christmas Pops and Danny Elfman’s Music from the Films of Tim Burton.
During the audition process, Anthony Blake Clark prepared the Dallas Symphony Chorus in performances
of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 during the 2021/22 season, as part of the 2022 DSO Gala and in the
recent concerts of Orff’s Catulli Carmina and Carmina Burana. The Dallas Morning News raved of the
Beethoven Symphony No. 9 appearance, “ I don’t think I’ve ever heard the finale — soloists, chorus and
orchestra — so viscerally thrilling…the Dallas Symphony Chorus, prepared by guest director Anthony
Blake Clark, sang thrillingly, but with great subtlety when called for.” For Catulli Carmina, the singing was
praised for being “impressively secure and nimble, and sometimes hair-raising.”
“It was so very important to find just the right artistic leader for the Dallas Symphony Chorus,” said Luisi.
“We have programmed very large and impressive symphonic choral works in the next season alone.
Blake has been a wonderful partner in his work with us this past year, and I know he will excel in bringing
these impressive works to the Meyerson stage.”
“I am thrilled to join the Dallas Symphony Chorus as its Director and to collaborate with Maestro Luisi,”
said Clark. “This all-volunteer chorus is an incredible group of singers who work diligently every week to
make music together at the highest level. I am excited to return to my Texas roots, and I look forward to
building upon the DSC’s history of choral music excellence to make the ensemble and the Meyerson the
center of choral music making in our state and region.”
“The Dallas Symphony Chorus is delighted to welcome Blake as our Director,” said Jenn Weaver,
President of the DSC and member of the search committee. “We have been impressed with his musical
ideas and preparation styles, and he has been a terrific colleague during his weeks with us.”
Anthony Blake Clark is a leading voice among his generation of choral conductors. He is in demand by
both amateur and professional choral artists because of his “readily apparent musicality” (Baltimore Sun)
and his conviction that lives can be changed by participating in classical music, whether on the stage or
in the audience.
Clark has performed with some of the most important ensembles in legendary venues throughout the
United States and Europe. He has prepared choral ensembles for prestigious orchestras such as the
Rundfunkchor Berlin with the Berliner Philharmoniker, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, City of
Birmingham Symphony Orchestra, Vienna Radio Orchestra and the Richmond Symphony Orchestra for
esteemed conductors such as Marin Alsop, Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Fabio Luisi, Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla and
Simon Halsey. He and his choirs have performed at the Berlin Philharmonie, the Vienna Konzerthaus,
Symphony Hall Birmingham (UK), St. Martin-in-the-Fields London, The Kennedy Center and the
Washington National Cathedral, among others.
As Music Director of Baltimore Choral Arts, Clark has expanded subscription concert offerings while
building a robust community outreach and education initiative. He has consistently received glowing
reviews, both for work on the podium and as chorusmaster for performances with the Baltimore
Symphony and other area partners. His work with BCAS has been recognized with an American Prize in
Choral Conducting and a second nomination for best community ensemble, as well as the Chorus
America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award. He annually conducts and produces the celebrated “Christmas with
Choral Arts” television concert, first on ABC2 and now on Maryland PBS station MPT, for which the
ensemble has received three regional Emmy® nominations. Clark has secured invites to several
important festivals and collaborations; after a sold-out and enthusiastically received UK tour, BCAS was in
residence with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra and Chorus for performances of Mahler’s
Eighth Symphony. Recently, Clark and Baltimore Choral Arts made their Berlin Philharmonie debut with
the Freie Universität Orchester. On the same tour, BCAS collaborated with the Vienna Singakademie to
perform with the Vienna Radio Orchestra in the Konzerthaus Wien under Marin Alsop.
Anthony Blake Clark is also the Artistic Director of Bach Vespers in New York City. In residence at Holy
Trinity Lutheran Church in mid-town Manhattan, the Bach Choir and Players are composed of some of
the finest early music professionals in the nation, presenting works of Bach using historically informed
practices within the liturgical context of a Vespers service. Clark’s passion for Baroque historical
performance has been able to take flight with Bach Vespers and in the coming season they will present
many cantatas celebrating the 300th anniversary of Bach’s arrival in Leipzig as Thomaskantor, culminating
in a performance of the composer’s B-Minor Mass. He has also served as the James Erb Choral Chair
Director of Choruses for the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.
Anthony Blake Clark is equally adept in the orchestral field and made his Baltimore Symphony debut in
2021 and made his Richmond Symphony debut in 2022. He has also appeared as cover conductor for
the National Symphony Orchestra, assisting conductors such as Ton Koopman, Gianandrea Noseda,
Teddy Abrams, Christoph Eshenbach and Manfred Honeck, and has assisted Marin Alsop at the Baltimore
Symphony.
Clark is a passionate teacher and served as Director of Choral Activities at The George Washington
University in DC. His university choirs performed at the Kennedy Center and National Cathedral and sang
with the Washington Chorus, Baltimore Choral Arts, Naval Academy Glee Club and the Baltimore and
Annapolis Symphonies. Recently he was Guest Conductor/Lecturer for the Westminster Choir College
Symphonic Choir. He regularly leads workshops and clinics for school and community ensembles.
Legacy and mentorship are paramount to Clark; he is proud to be undertaking doctoral studies in
orchestral conducting at the Peabody Institute where he is a student of Marin Alsop. Mr. Clark
completed a master’s degree under three-time GRAMMY® Award-winner Simon Halsey CBE at the
United Kingdom’s University of Birmingham. During his time in the UK, he embedded himself in the
choral life of the UK and sang under the batons of Sir Simon Rattle, Edward Gardiner and Andris Nelsons,
and had opportunities to conduct the London Symphony Chorus and the CBSO Chorus. Other teachers
include Simon Carrington (Yale Norfolk Festival, Sarteano Workshop) and Lynne Gackle (Baylor
University).
An active composer and arranger, Anthony Blake Clark’s music has been performed in Washington DC,
London, Oxford, Texas, and at Prague’s Dvorák Museum Concert Hall. In 2022 his new performance
edition of Mozart’s Requiem was recorded by Acis Records.
ABOUT THE DALLAS SYMPHONY ORCHESTRA
The Dallas Symphony Orchestra, under the leadership of Music Director Fabio Luisi, presents more than
150 orchestra concerts at the Morton H. Meyerson Symphony Center, one of the world’s top-rated
concert halls. As the largest performing arts organization in the Southwest, the DSO is committed to
inspiring the broadest possible audience with distinctive classical programs, inventive pops concerts and
innovative multimedia presentations. As part of its commitment to the community, the orchestra
reaches hundreds of thousands of adults and children annually through performances, educational
programs and community outreach initiatives. The orchestra offers more than 200 outdoor chamber
concerts in neighborhoods throughout Dallas each year, as well as continuing music lessons to more than
700 students as part of its Young Strings and Young Musicians programs.
The Dallas Symphony has used digital and broadcast media to share music beyond its geographic
boundaries and has become a leader among American orchestras in digital distribution. The DSO also
captures and streams concert performances for distribution online through its Next Stage Digital Concert
Series, Presented by PNC Bank. Programs are available on the DSO’s website at
watch.dallassymphony.org.
The DSO has a tradition dating back to 1900 and is a cornerstone of the unique, 118-acre Arts District in
Downtown Dallas that is home to multiple performing arts venues, museums and parks – the largest
district of its kind in the nation. The DSO is supported, in part, by funds from the Office of Arts & Culture,
City of Dallas.
Media Contact:
Denise McGovern | Vice President of Communications & Media
d.mcgovern@dalsym.com | 214.718.7094