Dallas Symphony Chorus

On May 23 2023, Dallas Symphony leadership announced that Anthony Blake Clark had been selected as the next Director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Clark will assume his official duties with the Chorus at the start of the 2023-24 season.

Anthony Blake Clark enjoys a reputation as one of the freshest young voices in classical music. He is currently in his sixth season as Music Director of the nationally acclaimed and Emmy Award-winning Baltimore Choral Arts Society, has just been appointed as Artistic Director of the Bach Vespers Choir of Holy Trinity in New York City, is the Director of Choral Activities at The George Washington University in Washington DC, and had recently been named the Interim Chorus Director of the Richmond Symphony Orchestra.

Anthony Blake Clark is at home in front of orchestras and choirs alike and has worked with professional and amateur ensembles in the USA and Europe. During his tenure with the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, Anthony Blake Clark consistently received rave reviews, both for work on the podium in his subscription concerts and his preparation of choruses for performances with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, National Philharmonic, and other area orchestral partners. Winner of the 2019-2020 American Prize in choral conducting, Clark’s leadership of Baltimore Choral Arts has also been acknowledged with another nomination for the American Prize for best choral performance, as well as the reception of the prestigious Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award. Recently, he led the ensemble on an enthusiastically received tour of the United Kingdom, culminating in a collaboration on Mahler’s 8th Symphony with the City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra. He annually conducts and produces the celebrated “Christmas with Choral Arts,” televised on ABC2 which was recently nominated for an Emmy Award. The premiere choral organization in the Baltimore region, BCAS reaches more than 100,000 people each year and is an integral part of the fabric of Baltimore’s performing arts scene. His leadership of BCAS during the global Covid-19 pandemic was noted among his peers due to innovative digital concerts and a sizable output of online interactive content. In 2022 he made his Berlin conducting debut at the Philharmonie, then continued to Vienna where his choirs performed with the Vienna Radio Symphony Orchestra under Marin Alsop.

Mr. Clark is passionate about teaching and is the Director of Choral Activities in The George Washington University’s Corcoran School of Art and Design, where he conducts the University Singers and Women’s Ensemble, and mentors student conductors. With his university choirs, he has led performances at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington National Cathedral and the Music Center at Strathmore. He is proud of the three-fold expansion of the program in the past few years. Recently he was Guest Conductor/Lecturer for the Westminster Choir College Symphonic Choir.

Anthony Blake Clark has also been named as the next Artistic Director of the Bach Vespers Choir in New York City. In residence at Holy Trinity Lutheran Church in mid-town Manhattan, the Bach Choir and Players (on period instruments) are composed of some of the finest early music specialists in the nation. Their mission is to present the works of Bach as close as possible to how he and an 18th century Leipzig congregation would have heard them within the liturgical context of a Vespers service.

Appreciated for his scrupulous attention to detail, Anthony Blake Clark has prepared choruses for esteemed maestri such as Sir John Eliot Gardiner, Simon Halsey CBE, Marin Alsop, Fabio Luisi, and Mirga Gražinytė-Tyla for concerts with internationally renowned ensembles, including the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra, Berliner Philharmoniker, City of Birmingham Symphony Orchestra (UK), Dallas Symphony Orchestra, Richmond Symphony Orchestra, and Rundfunk Chor Berlin. At New York City’s Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, he was recently one of several conductors for David Lang’s 1,000-voice the public domain, working under his mentor Simon Halsey; he returned as chorusmaster for the 2018 premiere of John Luther Adams’ In the Name of the Earth. Clark is equally adept in the orchestral field and made his Baltimore Symphony debut in 2021. He has also appeared as cover conductor for the National Symphony Orchestra, assisting conductors such as Ton Koopman, Gianandrea Noseda, Christoph Eshenbach, and Manfred Honeck and has assisted Marin Alsop at the Baltimore Symphony.

In 2021 he began his graduate studies in Orchestral Conducting at the Peabody Institute where he is a student of Marin Alsop. Mr. Clark completed a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting under three-time Grammy Award winner Simon Halsey CBE at the United Kingdom’s University of Birmingham. During his time in the UK, he entrenched himself in the choral life of the university and sang in the famed City of Birmingham Symphony Chorus, singing under the batons of Sir Simon Rattle, Edward Gardiner, and Andris Nelsons as well as having opportunities to conduct the London Symphony Chorus and other area choirs. Other teachers include Simon Carrington (Yale Norfolk Summer Festival, Sarteano Conducting Workshop) and Lynne Gackle (Baylor University).

An active composer and arranger, Clark has had his music performed in the Washington, DC area, London, Oxford, Texas, and at Prague’s Dvorák National Museum Concert Hall. Most recently, his music has been premiered by the National Philharmonic Chamber Singers and the Baltimore Choral Arts Society. In 2022 his new performance edition of Mozart’s Requiem was performed and recorded by the Baltimore Choral Arts Society under Acis Records.

Jacob Augsten, a native of Griffin, Georgia, is a conductor, teacher, and singer dedicated to building community through collaborative choral artistry. He is currently in the final year of the Doctor of Musical Arts degree in Choral Conducting at the University of North Texas, where he has studied under Dr. Allen Hightower, Dr. Jessica Nápoles, Dr. Marques Garrett, and Dr. Kristina MacMullen. This year (2023) at UNT, Augsten will conduct the UNT Chorale and teach Fundamentals of Conducting. He has also taught Music Fundamentals and has served as conducting associate for UNT’s University Singers, Concert Choir, Kalandra, and Vox Aquilae, UNT’s flagship early music ensemble. Augsten also serves as Director of Music at First Presbyterian Church of Denton and will be introduced in August 2023 as the next Assistant Conductor of the Dallas Symphony Chorus.

In addition to teaching choir in the public schools of the Metro Atlanta area for three years, Augsten was the assistant conductor of the Perimeter College Chorale in 2019 and 2020, and he has conducted performances with the Georgia State University Symphony Orchestra, Orpheus Men’s Ensemble, the choir and orchestra at First Presbyterian Church of Atlanta, and the Atlanta Chamber Choir.

An active professional singer, Augsten regularly appears with DFW-based ensembles such as Orpheus Chamber Singers, Incarnatus, and Highland Park Chorale, and has previously appeared with Georgia-based ensembles Atlanta Master Chorale and Atlanta Opera Chorus. Augsten has recently performed the solos in Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem, Bach cantatas 36 and 49, Saint-Saëns’ Oratorio de Noël, Schubert’s Mass No. 5, Handel’s Messiah and Utrecht Te Deum, and Michael John Trotta’s Seven Last Words, and he has recently performed roles in Bach’s Matthäus-Passion in Dallas and Jake Heggie’s Dead Man Walking with Atlanta Opera.

Augsten holds the Master of Music degree in Choral Conducting from Georgia State University, where he studied conducting under Dr. Deanna Joseph and Dr. Jennifer Sengin, and the Bachelor of Music degree in Music Education from Clayton State University, where he was the winner of the Cheryl Boyd-Waddel Award, the Robert O. Allen Music Prize, and the Alma Lily Farfan-Northway Music Scholarship.

Anastasia Markina is only the third individual to serve as Chorus Pianist for the Dallas Symphony Chorus, officially taking the position in May 2019.

Dallas Symphony pianist Anastasia Markina started playing piano at the age of four in Saint Petersburg, Russia, and gave her first public performance at the age of 10, when she won her first piano competition. Her talent has been recognized at numerous international piano competitions, and she has received top prizes in Europe, Russia, and the United States, including 1st prize at the 1st Maria Yudina International Piano Competition, 1st prize in both solo and chamber music at the "Beach of Hope" International Music Competition in Dobrich-Albena, Bulgaria, 1st prize at the International Peter the Great Music Festival in Groningen, the Netherlands, 1st prize at the San Angelo Sorantin International Music Competition, 1st prize at the 1st Boesendorfer International Piano Competition, 1st and Grand prize at the Young Texas Artist Music Competition, 2nd prize at the 1st, 2nd and 4th Jose Iturbi Music Competitions.

Ms. Markina has performed with the Jalisco Philharmonic under Joolz Gale in Guadalajara, Mexico; the San Angelo Symphony under Lawrence Golan. She has performed solo, orchestral, as well as chamber music works in the United States, Canada, Mexico, the Netherlands, Germany, Spain and Russia, including performances in the Barge Music Series, Weill Carnegie Hall and Summit Music Festival in New York City, NY; ISB Convention in Rochester, NY; Sitka Festival in Anchorage, AL; concerts in Los Angeles and San Diego, CA; Conservatorium van Amsterdam; and Vetta Chamber Music Series in Canada. Other collaborations include, among others, recitals with Paul Rosenthal, Mark Peskanov, James Galway, Alexander Kerr, Emmanuel Borok, Bonita Boyd, Toby Oft and Joseph Alessi. In collaboration with the cellist Eugene Osadchy she recorded two CDs - "Russian Romances" and "Nacht und Traume".

Anastasia received her Bachelor’s, Master’s and Artist Certificate Degrees in Piano Performance at University of North Texas, studying with Vladimir Viardo, as well as Bachelor’s Degree from Saint-Petersburg Rimsky-Korsakov College of Music, where she studied with Mary Guseva. Her other teachers include Alexander Mndoyantz, Maria Mekler, and Tatiana Shrago.

Michael Lysinger currently serves as Chorus Administrator for the Dallas Symphony Chorus and as Artist Liaison for the Santa Fe Desert Chorale. Prior to these positions, he taught choral music in Texas public schools for 30 years. For 14 years, he was Head Choral Director at Richardson (TX) J.J. Pearce High School, and for five years directed the Youth Choir at First United Methodist Church - Richardson, Texas. Michael also taught at Plano East Senior High School, Jersey Village High School (Houston), North Shore High School (Houston) and Bradley Middle School (San Antonio). For six seasons, he was the Artistic Director of the Houston Boychoir.

Choirs under Michael's direction have appeared at the 2008 and 1996 Texas Music Educators Convention, the 2001 American Choral Directors Convention and at the 2010 Southwest Convention of the American Choral Directors. He has prepared his choruses for performances with the Houston Symphony, the University of Houston Choruses and the UH Opera. His choirs have toured throughout the USA and abroad to Austria, Hungary, France, The Netherlands, Italy and Mexico. In competition, Michael’s choirs earn consistently high ratings and awards for their performances. As a member of TMEA, he has served as Region Chair, Area Chair, Region Choir Organizer and as a section leader for the All-State Choir.

In 2012, Michael was selected as STARS Teacher of the Year for Richardson (TX) Pearce High School. He received his Bachelor of Music Education from Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas, and is a member of ACDA, TMEA, TCDA and TMAA. Michael has two children, Abby and Zach.

Melanie Gilmore has been a volunteer member of the Dallas Symphony Chorus since 1995 and took on the part-time role of choral librarian for the Dallas Symphony in 2007. She is a graduate of Baylor University where she was a member of the Golden Wave marching band and concert bands playing French horn. She has also directed and performed in numerous handbell ensembles and served as music librarian for several groups. 

Melanie's career was spent mostly in the corporate world in marketing and event planning. She is married to Norbert and loves working part-time so she can spend time as a community volunteer, and with her family – husband, Norbert, and son, Ryan.