Music Director

Nancy Menk, Music Director, holds the Mary Lou and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She also serves as Music Director of the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus. She holds the B.S. and the M.A. degrees in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the M.M. and the D.M.A. degrees in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Her teachers have included Earl Rivers, Elmer Thomas, Helmuth Rilling, and Teri Murai.

At Saint Mary's College, Dr. Menk serves as Music Department Chair, conducts the Women's Choir, the Collegiate Choir, teaches Conducting, and prepares the Madrigal Singers for the annual Christmas Madrigal Dinners. Under her direction, the Women's Choir performed at the American Choral Directors Association national convention in Los Angeles in February 2005, and has recorded four critically acclaimed compact discs on the ProOrgano label: Ave, Ave!, recorded in 1997, Amazing Day!, recorded in 2002, Anima mea!, recorded in 2004, and Across the Bar..., recorded in 2007.

Dr. Menk has been a conducting participant in the National Conductor's Symposium with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Oregon Bach Festival. She is Editor of the Saint Mary's College Choral Series, a distinctive series of select music for women's voices published by earthsongs of Corvallis, Oregon. Along with Dr. James Laster of Shenandoah Conservatory, she has prepared an annotated bibliography of women's choir resources, which has been published by the American Choral Foundation. Dr. Menk serves regularly as a guest conductor and choral adjudicator throughout the United States, and has spent two summers teaching and conducting in Hong Kong. She has conducted All-State Choirs in Delaware, Indiana, Kentucky, North Dakota, and Pennsylvania. In February, 2013 she will make her sixth appearance at Carnegie Hall, conducting Carol Barnett’s The World Beloved: A Bluegrass Mass with Monroe Crossing.

The South Bend Chamber Singers gratefully acknowledge support from Saint Mary’s College