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[The Requiem for My Mother]’s fiery heart belongs to conductor Candace Wicke who guided the 160 voice choral group and 50-piece orchestra from beginning to end. Formidable, cantankerous, and so impassioned you can’t help but love her, Wicke rocks - a true Maestro.
ST. ANTHONY'S MESSENGER
From the 2019 Festival of the Aegean to the Festival Pro Musica e Arte Sacra and sharing programs with the likes of the Vienna Philharmonic, Christoph Eschenbach, and other world renowned musicians of note, conductor Candace Wicke made her Carnegie Hall debut in 2002. Founder, President, and Executive Director of The Continuo Arts Foundation, Wicke conducted its inaugural concert at the prestigious Festival Internazionale pro Musica e Arte Sacre Series in Vatican City and Rome, Italy with the Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus and Orchestra and the City of Prague Philharmonic in 2008, an international concert event featuring a world premiere televised production which became the subject of a full-length documentary film broadcast nation-wide on PBS annually over Mother's Day weekend.
It was breathtaking, seeing this sort of multi-generational choir produce the sounds it produces,” Holm said, “The way Dr. Wicke conducts and holds the group together is amazing. […] You come out knowing much more than you did coming in.
INDEPENDENT PRESS
Wicke conducted and produced Continuo Arts' Christmas Time in the City and the Lee Kjelson Memorial Sounds of Music Series in Carnegie Hall and, in 2011, the first Festival Internazionale di Arte per Giovani Musicisti in Rome, Italy. She was the principal conductor for the 2012 inaugural season of the Minuetto Music Festival and returned to conduct the second Giovani Musicisti Festival in Rome, Vatican City, Assisi, and Prague. Making history in February of 2014, Dr. Wicke conducted the first concert inside the Sistine Chapel by an American organization. Wicke served as Chorus Master for the world premiere of Disney's The Hunchback of Notre Dame at the Paper Mill Playhouse and has a prolific conducting career in Carnegie Hall over the past three decades.
[The Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus] sound[s] marvelous, too: One of the signal pleasures of the show is the rich choral singing. (Candace Wicke, Chorus Master)
THE NEW YORK TIMES
[The Continuo Arts Symphonic Chorus] sound[s] marvelous, too: One of the signal pleasures of the show is the rich choral singing. (Candace Wicke, Chorus Master)
THE NEW YORK TIMES
As a champion of new music, Wicke has premiered many compositions in Carnegie Hall, Rome, Vatican City, Prague, Ireland, Australia, and other locations around the world. Her international experience also includes conducting the United States representative Wind Ensemble at the Taipei Presidential Inauguration, the City of Prague Philharmonic in the Czech Republic, and the Waratah Girls Choir in Australia. Ensembles under her baton have received national and international acclaim performing with Andre Rieu and the Johann Strauss Orchestra in Atlantic City's Boardwalk Hall, the Turksoy Orchestra in Lincoln Center and the Music Center at Strathmore, the Global International Women's Summit, Musica Mundi International, Legatus International, and the Miami Civic Association's Young Artist Debut. She is a popular guest conductor, adjudicator, and master class clinician across the United States.
Dr. Wicke conducts and manages the Continuo Arts Intergenerational Choral Programs, Music Conservatory, Community Outreach Programs, and the Minuetto Music Festival. She is the recipient of the Distinguished Alumni of the Year award for Evangel University, New Jersey's Women of Excellence in Arts & Humanities Award winner for Union County, and has received a Congressional Recognition Award for Dedication and Excellence in Arts & Humanities.
Wicke is a graduate of the University of Miami and Evangel University, majoring in vocal and instrumental performance, music education, and conducting.
CONTACT CANDACE WICKE
Phone: (908) 264-5324
E-mail: info@continuoarts.org