By DAVID DUPONT
BG Independent News
Joshua Dufford doesn’t know where he’ll be next year. Next weekend he’ll graduate with a masters in choral conducting. For the past year, in addition to his studies and duties as a chorale assistant on campus, he’s served as choir director at First Presbyterian Church.
Come September he’d love to be back in the classroom, and that means there’s a good chance he won’t be at the Bowling Green church.
Before he departs, though, Dufford wants to make one more musical memory for the congregation and choir. On Sunday, May 12, at 5 p.m., Dufford will conduct an ensemble of more than 50 singers and instrumentalists in a performance of John Rutter’s Requiem. The free performance, which will be about 45 minutes long, will be in the church at 126 South Church St.
“I tend to create projects just for fun,” Dufford said. “I enjoy organizing them because I know there’s a desire for community members to sing.”
The requiem fits the bill. “Rutter’s Requiem is both beautiful and accessible, so it’s within reach of a community chorus. It can be put together more easily than others because a lot of people have sung the Requiem. It’s well known and well liked, and cherished.”
The popular British composer completed it in 1985, and dedicated it to his father who had died the previous year.
Not quite half of the singers have performed the piece before, Dufford said. This is his first time performing the Requiem either as a singer or a conductor.
He has done other Rutter works and the First Presbyterian Choir has sung one section of the Requiem, the setting of “The Lord Is My Shepherd.” Dufford said the Requiem has been done at the church in the past.
Dufford felt he could do it with the choir at First Presbyterian including the handful of choral scholars from the university who sing with them, but he wanted to reach out to others to join. That fits with the church’s mission of engaging the community.
He recruited additional voices from the ranks of the Toledo Choral Society, where he is assistant conductor, the University Choral Society at BGSU, and from his fellow musicians on campus.
The soprano soloist is Leah Tracy, a sophomore music major. The 50-voice chorus will be accompanied by a chamber ensemble of flute, oboe, cello, harp, organ, and timpani.
The conductor counts this as the first major choral work he’ll direct, though it is on a “smaller scale.”
Dufford started his musical life as a trumpet player in the Pickerington school system. He loved trumpet and band music. But after performing in a school musical he was persuaded to try out for the high school’s top vocal ensemble.
“Once I started singing in choirs, I got sucked in,” Dufford said.
He attended Otterbein College as a music major. At first he was a trumpet major, but after one semester switched to voice. After graduating in 2016, he spent one year teaching, before deciding to pursue a master’s degree.
He applied late to BGSU, and didn’t think he had much chance.
Then Mark Munson, the director of choral activities, reached out to him, and let him know there were choral assistantships available.
After that, Dufford said, “I didn’t have a choice.”
He came, auditioned, and enrolled. He said he “geled” with the faculty.
In his first year here, he continued to travel for a church job in the Columbus area. He wanted something closer to campus. He heard about the First Presbyterian position from Josh Wang, who was leaving the post to pursue graduate studies at Notre Dame. They knew each other from the Toledo Choral Society for which Wang was the accompanist.
Though Dufford may have to leave the Bowling Green church soon, he said, “it’s been really wonderful.”
