Rising Stars: Meet Bingham Vick

Today we’d like to introduce you to Bingham Vick.

Hi Bingham, please kick things off for us with an introduction to yourself and your story.
I was born in Charlotte, NC and raised in a Southern Baptist Church. Always interested in music and singing, I was inspired and encouraged by our minister of music, Lloyd Landrum, to consider becoming a minister of music, and directing choirs. In my collegiate experience at Stetson University, I was a student conductor of the Concert Choir and decided to shift my life emphasis toward conducting choirs at the collegiate level. My Master’s and PhD work at Northwestern University and my work as assistant conductor of the Chicago Symphony Chorus with Margaret Hillis provided excellent learning and experience which led to my first, full-time position as Professor of Music and conductor of Furman Singers at Furman University. I conducted Furman Singers for forty years before retiring in 2010. Singers was a truly great collegiate choir. We toured annually in Eastern America, and enjoyed nineteen European concert tours, singing in many of the world’s great cathedrals. My interest in church music remained important to me as I served as the Music Director of Westminster Presbyterian Church in Greenville SC for twenty-eight years.

In 1981 I was invited to become the Artistic Director and Conductor of the Greenville Chorale – a 150-voice symphonic chorus in Greenville SC. For the past forty-plus years, I have enjoyed preparing and conducting performances with the Chorale, often joined by the Greenville Symphony Orchestra. Our repertoire has included most of the great choral-orchestral literature: Verdi REQUIEM, Handel MESSIAH, Mahler symphonies, Bach B-MINOR MASS, Beethoven MISSA SOLEMNIS, Berlioz REQUIEM, Orff CARMINA BURANA, Brahms REQUIEM and the major works by Mendelssohn, Poulenc, Stravinsky, Vaughan Williams, Britten, Bruch, Fauré, Duruflé, Haydn, Mozart, as well as 20th and 21st-century composers of great choral music.

In 1997 I formed the 24-voice Herring Chamber Ensemble (sponsored by Gordon and Sarah Herring, local philanthropists).
This ensemble of professional singers, drawn from the ranks of the Greenville Chorale, has for the past 25 years presented annual winter concerts of the great choral chamber music – Bach, Brahms, Beethoven, Haydn, Mozart, and contemporary composers.

My wife Judy and I have nurtured hundreds of “children” who were a part of the Furman Singers during our tenure. We are proud of their accomplishments and careers in music and the business world.

I have been most fortunate to have had the opportunities to make music with wonderful and talented people – as a church musician, as a collegiate choral conductor, and as conductor of the Greenville Chorale and the Herring Ensemble.

I am a firm believer in the creed espoused by Robert Shaw when he established the Collegiate Chorale:
We believe…that in a world of political, economic and personal disintegrations music is not a luxury but a necessity –not simply because it is “therapeutic,” nor because it is the “universal language,” but because it is the persistent focus of man’s intelligence, aspiration and goodwill.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
My career path has been, for the most part, uninterrupted. I have enjoyed working with my colleagues, and have enjoyed success with each of the ensembles with whom I have made music. I have appreciated and valued the constant encouragement and support my wife Judy has given me along the way.

As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
I have always thought that conducting an ensemble should be, for the performers, an enjoyable and productive PROCESS. “People management” is a most important part of that process: understanding that each singer/player is a unique individual with their own “life situations” and demands.
I am a teacher. To be a successful teacher, one must understand that people learn in different ways. To be successful in teaching music (or any subject), one must be prepared with a “big bag of tricks” -always having at hand a variety of ways to explain, demonstrate, and convey the message at hand.
For a musical conductor, everything that happens on the podium -in rehearsal and in performance -should have meaning and relate to the music:
eye contact with the performers is essential to that leadership; the pace of rehearsal should be constant and detailed; verbal instruction should be precise and brief; gestures with hands/face should be musically meaningful.

My success has been, in part, because I have tried to be sensitive to each member of the ensemble, while demanding their best effort. I try to make rehearsals enjoyable as well as productive and musically engaging.

What are your plans for the future?
I have enjoyed a wonderful musical career: 28 years conducting a great medium-size church choir in a church that appreciated the great sacred choral literature; 40 years working with college students with both choral and choral-orchestral musical performances at the highest level of excellence; 41+ years with the symphonic Greenville Chorale, performing most of the great choral-orchestral literature in the western literature.

My wife and I have enjoyed a great life together. We choose not to have children of our own. Rather, we “parented” hundreds of teenagers as college students through my work with Furman Singers.

We have enjoyed more traveling in recent years (a bit easier to travel with just two people rather than 40-60 of your “closest (collegiate) friends). We try to plan an ocean cruise every year and have enjoyed many of the splendid cities around the Mediterranean and in the Northern Europe countries.

I enjoy playing golf and have made many new friends through my efforts on the links.

I plan to continue to conduct the Greenville Chorale until it becomes obvious (to me and/or to the organization) that it is time to retire.

Contact Info:

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