Jennifer Rodgers’ experienced leadership has helped Ames Chamber Artists almost triple its membership in just a few years.
Rodgers stepped into the official role of artistic director of ACA last season after spending the 2022-23 season as interim director.
Under her direction, the choir’s membership rose from 24 to 70.
Rodgers’ connections led to a unique opportunity for the Ames Chamber Artists last year. Some local singers joined her as she conducted a large choir at Carnegie Hall.
The choir has many other things to celebrate as it prepares to hold a gala on May 18 for its 35th anniversary.
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A unique experience at Carnegie Hall
Many of Rodgers’ professional cohorts from years past joined her at Carnegie Hall, blending her time on the East and West Coast and now the Midwest. Her long career has allowed her to come in contact with many talented individuals.
“It’s my first time in the middle of the country. I moved here for a faculty job at Iowa State,” Rodgers said. “My path to collegiate work is a little unusual.”
With both a bachelor’s and a master’s in vocal performance, Rodgers has taught vocal performance and conducting for more than 20 years.
“I’ve always been interested in a large variety of experiences and a large variety of ways of making sound and genres of singing,” Rodgers said.
She was raised in a college family in northwest Pennsylvania, picking up pointers from her parents and two sisters, who are lifelong choir members.
Jennifer is the only member of the Rodgers family, however, to turn her musical passion into a professional career.
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Doctoral degree took Rodgers to Washington state
Rodgers’ education consists of an array of musical tastes and experiences.
She moved to Seattle after living and working in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., for 30 years to pursue her doctoral degree at the University of Washington.
She started in opera and classical music, which she still teaches today. By the time she arrived on the West Coast, Rodgers had expanded her expertise to jazz, cabaret and musical theater.
She customized her doctorate to encompass choral directing, voice pedagogy and relevance-based modern subjects.
“I’ve always been much more interested in what’s happening right now and how do we teach it,” Rodgers said.
Her love for diverse genres makes her a great fit for the Ames Chamber Artists, who perform various musical styles.
The choir includes members of a wide range, from college students to founding group members.
“Adult community choir has been a bread and butter experience for me. I love conducting voices. I love all the different paths of life that they bring to it and they’re always there because they really have a passion for it,” Rodgers said.
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As a vocalist, Rodgers must stay close to her audience
Rodgers stayed busy during college. She sang with the Washington Opera Chorus at the Kennedy Center while she worked on her degree in opera theater.
She also conducted choirs, sang in a piano bar, and performed with a jazz trio. The jazz experience stuck with her when she moved to Ames, where she is lead vocalist for the Indigo Monks, a genre-bending jazz group.
“I started to realize that while my voice could do opera and I liked things about the music, it wasn’t a good fit for me, for my personality. It was too formal,” she said.
As a musician, Rodgers found opera too distant from the type of communication she desired. She preferred to perform where there were no footlights between her and the audience.
“You would watch them have a memory, or you would cheer them up or you would take them someplace,” Rodgers said. “Whatever it was, I wanted much more of that.”
ACA to perform with symphony May 4
To celebrate its 35th season, Ames Chamber Artists will perform with the Central Iowa Symphony at 7:30 p.m. May 4 at Ames City Auditorium.
The program “Earth and Sky” is $20, with students and children admitted for free. Admission will be available at the door.
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Gala will include announcement by Michael Londra
The gala is a ticketed event, which will be held at 7 p.m., May 18 at the CPMI Event Center.
Michael Londra, the internationally renowned Irish tenor and host of PBS’s “Ireland with Michael,” will also make an announcement.
Rodgers said the event will include many small groups of performers as well as the whole choir. A sumptuous selection of desserts will also be served.
Tickets are $50 and must be purchased in advance from ACA’s website, ameschamberartists.org.
Ronna Faaborg covers business and the arts for the Ames Tribune. Reach her at rfaaborg@gannett.com.
