Kent Nagano knew just what he wanted…
Andrew Megill has occupied the position of Chorus Master of the Orchestre symphonique de Montréal since 2011, shortly after Kent Nagano had requisitioned him from California to rehearse the OSM Chorus for a performance of Handel’s Messiah. His arrival in Montreal drew much attention, and his work was immediately assessed as exceptional! In addition to his duties at the OSM, Megill is Director of Choral Activities at the University of Illinois and divides his time between Canada and the United States. His involvement in special projects also takes him around the world.
Andrew Megill has built a real symphonic chorus that meets international standards.
– Le Devoir
A singer, composer and choir director
A tenor by training, Andrew Megill can boast an impressive track record. Advanced studies in choral conducting, music theory, and composition were factors in building his international reputation. His earliest musical recollection is of singing with his brothers around the piano his mother played. A church organist, it was she who gave the future choir conductor his first experience of the artistic world.
Devoted to multilingualism
Andrew Megill is a staunch defender of good pronunciation, which of course rests on a text’s language, but also on the era in which it was written. For a choir director, the words a composer chooses are as important as the notes to which they are set, and their pronunciation requires sustained work. The sound of words fosters expressivity in ways one could not have imagined! Megill also directs diction workshops. What are his linguistic specializations? Latin, English, German, French, Italian, and Czech… that’s all!
Guided by the subconscious
For Andrew Magill, directing music is rooted in the subconscious, which during performance is ideally disposed to react to the different sounds that come to a conductor’s ears. Everything depends on the natural reaction of the body in relation to the music, and according to him, “… there is no better feeling in the world.” On March 24, Andrew Megill will conduct the OSM Chorus in Brahms’ German Requiem, a work he presented with the OSM for the first time in 2013.
For me, [music is] a way to explore what it means to be human, what it means to be alive, and to share that with other people.
– Andrew Megill
Andrew Megill will conduct Brahms’ German Requiem
Megill conducts and comments on Bach’s Mass:
Megill on Handel’s Messiah:
