Anthony J. Maglione

Conductor/Composer Anthony J. Maglione is a graduate of Westminster Choir College of Rider University, East Carolina University, and the University of California, Los Angeles. He is the Director of Choral Studies and holds the Robert H. McKee Chair of Music at William Jewell College. Under his direction, the Concert Choir was twice named Runner Up (2nd Place) for the American Prize in Choral Performance, College/University Division. In addition to his responsibilities at William Jewell College, he serves as Director of Music and Choir Master at St. Mary’s Episcopal Church in Kansas City and Conductor Emeritus of the Freelance Ensemble Artists of NJ Symphony Orchestra. From 2012 to 2018 he served as Director of the Greater Kansas City AGO Schola Cantorum.

An active composer, Anthony’s choral works are growing in popularity and are published on GIA’s “Evoking Sound” choral series. In the last several years his music has appeared at state and national-level conventions, on TV, in video games, and has been recorded on Gothic Records, Albany Records, and Centaur Records. In 2014 and 2015, Anthony was honored as a Semi-Finalist and Finalist (respectively) for the American Prize in Composition, Professional Choral Division and was recently awarded the 2016-2017 William Jewell College Spencer Family Sabbatical, a year-long fully funded sabbatical in order to compose two new large-scale works for choir, soloists and chamber orchestra. Anthony's cantata "The Wedding of Solomon" premiered at the 2018 American Guild of Organists National Convention. He is currently slated for several more premieres throughout the United States during the remainder of 2019 and 2020.

As a tenor, Anthony has appeared with Kansas City Baroque Consortium, Sunflower Baroque, and Spire Chamber Ensemble. He currently performs with Kantorei KC and performs and records with The Same Stream Choir. 

Anthony has made numerous guest conducting/clinician appearances and has prepared ensembles for such esteemed conductors as James Conlon, James Jordan, David Newman, Donald Neuen, and Alex Treger. Ensembles under his leadership have performed nationally and internationally at renowned concert venues including Disney Hall in Los Angeles and Carnegie Hall in New York City.

 - Conducting - 

"The audience responded with enthusiastic applause. Maglione had to be dragged out to take more than one bow. This was a thoroughly enjoyable evening. Haydn played with a small ensemble is always a good time, and the first half featured works completely unknown to me. Hearing the Kansas City Chamber Orchestra conducted with such gripping authority was immensely satisfying." - KC Arts Beat

"William Jewell College may be a small school in a modest-sized town but music there is big time and their choir is world-class.…This is a flat-out gorgeous program with light, zippy Pärt; a sumptuously dark "Lord, Now Lettest" by Nicholas Reeves; and pinpoint dynamic control in Albert Becker's spiritually rapt "Ich bin die Auferstehung" all hitting you right off the bat.…If you'd fancy meeting up with one of America's very best college choirs, look no further."  - American Record Guide

"I wasn’t familiar with the William Jewell College Concert Choir (based in Liberty, Missouri), but throughout the disc’s first four numbers–beginning with a superb rendering of Arvo Pärt’s oft-recorded Bogoroditse Devo–it was easy to be impressed, not only with the sound, ensemble, and responsiveness of the choir, but with the choice of music..." - classicstoday.com

- Composition - 

“The first half of the concert concluded with a newly commissioned work, ‘I Am Silent’ by Anthony Maglione. Based on a poem by Rumi, it was a lovely complement to the other works on the program. Maglione combined the unique sound of the baroque instruments with vocal writing to perfectly express Rumi’s intense mysticism. The work at times was sparse and others gently propulsive and minimalist. It was a totally unique sound that makes me look forward to hearing more of Maglione’s music.” - Patrick Neas, KC Arts Beat

“The clarinet solo explores both high and low registers of the instrument, and stands in stark relief to the choir’s rhythmic simplicity by way of virtuosic runs and elegant ornaments. The piece builds to a thrilling moment in which the clarinet and choir join in rich chains of suspensions that are indicative of Maglione’s lush and lyrical compositional style.” - Lee Nelson, Melisma

“With its recorded accompaniment of student voices and sonorous chimes, Anthony J. Maglione’s “No More!” aroused memories of Karlheinz Stockhausen’s pioneering electronic collage “Gesang der Jünglinge” from the 1950s. From Maglione’s opening sonic collage the Pro Arte Voices quickly merged into an insistent choral ostinato that used the text “no more!” to protest the ever-increasing number of deaths by gun violence. A forceful, dramatic piece, “No More!” raised its fist against the lives destroyed each year by gun violence.” - Ken Herman, San Diego Story

"First was the setting of “Ave Maris Stella” by Anthony Maglione. Mr. Maglione, who is also director of choral studies at William Jewell College, paid great attention and devotion to the original hymn by having only the male voices sing the first verse in its original form. At the second verse, the female voices sang the plainsong while the men accompanied with a drone sound. The roles were reversed for the third verse. In each case, the drone was altered slightly. By the fourth and fifth verses, Mr. Maglione added modern harmonies while hints of the original plainsong were heard. These harmonies were wonderful to hear with soft dissonances accenting the plainsong in a most remarkable way. A lovely, high descant sounded ethereal. The sixth verse returned to plainsong with drone and the seventh verse a further return to the original plainsong.

Maglione had given us a short history of harmony. The Middle Ages witnessed an era of experimentation in music, first with drones as a rudimentary harmony, then expanding into parallel fifths and finally, polyphony. Even the musical notation we use today came into being at this time. Maglione’s ingenious, reverent treatment was delightful to hear and beautifully sung." -  Paul Pattison, KC Arts Beat