Distinguished Concerts International — New York named Hilary Apfelstadt to its advisory board Sept. 4. Apfelstadt, the associate director of the School of Music, has been working at Ohio State University for more than 15 years. She is also a professor of choral studies and the director of choral activities at OSU.

The appointment makes Apfelstadt the eighth member of DCINY’s advisory board, which consists of distinguished composers, performers and educators of contemporary, classical and choral music. The board’s responsibilities include recommending conductors and composers to DCINY.

DCINY is a New York based production company that focuses on choral and classical music. With her appointment, Apfelstadt became the second woman on the board.

“Being able to be a role model for younger female conductors is very meaningful,” Apfelstadt said.

Apfelstadt also wrote two chapters for the book “Wisdom, Wit and Will: Women Choral Conductors on Their Art.”

“Working on that book was like a labor of love,” Apfelstadt said. The chapters she wrote focus on leadership and balancing a personal life with work.

In addition to the appointment, Apfelstadt was invited by DCINY to be the guest conductor at Carnegie Hall in April of 2010, when the OSU chorale will perform along with several high school choirs from Columbus.

“That’s like every singer’s dream, to have the opportunity to perform at Carnegie Hall,” Apfelstadt said.

Apfelstadt last conducted at Carnegie Hall in 2006 with the OSU women’s glee club, which she directed from 1993 to 2008.

“It was phenomenal,” Apfelstadt said. “The acoustics there are just amazing.”

Many of Apfelstadt’s choirs have performed at the state and regional levels of the American Choral Director’s Association and at conferences of the National Association of Music Education. She has also guest-conducted in several countries including Canada, Cuba and the U.K.
Apfelstadt, who grew up in Nova Scotia before moving to Toronto in the tenth grade, took up choral singing at the age of five by joining her church choir. She also learned to play violin and piano, and she practices those skills to this day.

“They wouldn’t let me do the choir and the orchestra at the same time,” Apfelstadt said. “I decided to do the orchestra, but I was asked to play piano for the choir a lot.” She kept up her singing practice by joining choirs that formed in her community.

With degrees from the University of Toronto, the University of Illinois and the University of Wisconsin, Apfelstadt is now a highly respected member of the musical education community. In addition to her new position on DCINY’s advisory board, Apfelstadt is also former president of the ACDA. She also serves on the editorial boards of The International Journal of Research in Choral Singing and The Choral Scholar.