Hurley School of Music hosts events with Dr. Tim Seelig
SHREVEPORT, LA — Centenary’s Hurley School of Music is proud to welcome renowned conductor and educator Dr. Tim Seelig to Centenary for a residency that includes two free public events highlighting the experience of LGBTQ+ musicians. Seelig is the Conductor Laureate of the San Francisco Gay Men’s Chorus (SFGMC) and Conductor Emeritus of the Turtle Creek Chorale in Dallas, Texas. These events have been rescheduled from January 2023, when Seelig was unable to travel to Shreveport due to a winter storm in Texas.
“Dr. Seelig is known for great work in a variety of arenas, from music education to choral conducting to LGBTQ+ advocacy,” said Dr. Cory Wikan, dean of the Hurley School of Music. “We are thrilled that he will be visiting Centenary and sharing his gifts with the campus, the local community, and Hurley's students.”
On Tuesday, March 7, at 7:00 p.m., the Hurley School will host a screening of the award-winning documentary Gay Chorus Deep South, featuring a talkback with Seelig. Gay Chorus Deep South, directed by David Charles Rodrigues, chronicles the 2017 Lavender Pen Tour of the Deep South undertaken by the SFGMC and special guests from the Oakland Interfaith Gospel Choir. The group, under Seelig’s direction, made 23 appearances across Mississippi, Alabama, Tennessee, South Carolina, and North Carolina in the wake of a resurgence in anti-LGBTQ+ laws in many of these states. The documentary received an Audience Award at the 2019 Tribeca Film Festival, touching audiences with its portrayal of the power of music to transcend some of the most divisive issues in contemporary American life, including faith, politics, and sexual identity.
The Gay Chorus Deep South screening and talkback will be held in Kilpatrick Auditorium and is free and open to the public.
Seelig will also deliver a lecture entitled “The Music Within” on Thursday, March 9, at 11:00 a.m. in Anderson Auditorium. This event, which is also free and open to the public, is an exploration of how to rediscover creativity by connecting with the joy and emotion most often associated with childhood that often becomes muted or suppressed by societal expectations as we age.
Seelig holds four degrees, including a diploma from the Mozarteum in Salzburg, Austria, and a doctor of musical arts from the University of North Texas. He has published seven books and DVDs on choral technique, and his memoir, Tale of Two Tims, was published in 2020. He made his operatic debut in St. Gallen, Switzerland, and has been conducting at Carnegie Hall and Lincoln Center for 30 years.
He has commissioned major choral works for 35 years, including the first AIDS Requiem, When We No Longer Touch; Sing for the Cure for the Komen Foundation featuring Dr. Maya Angelou; “Testimony,” by Stephen Schwartz and the 2022 “Songs of the Phoenix” by Andrew Lippa, Stephen Schwartz, and Stephen Sondheim. Other commissions include Stargazing and #twitterlieder by Centenary alumnus and Hurley faculty member Dr. James Eakin. Seelig has conducted over 50 recordings which have been on Billboard Top Ten and iTunes Top Ten classical charts and his choruses have been the topic of three documentaries. The first PBS documentary was awarded the national Emmy for Best Documentary.
Seelig’s residency at Centenary is generously underwritten by the Attaway Professorships in Civic Culture Program.