Music Director
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Trente Morant has been a Bay Area resident for over twenty years and has become very much in demand as a conductor, arranger, accompanist and performer. A graduate of Westminster Choir College in Princeton New Jersey, he had the opportunity to work as chorister with Eugene Ormandy, William Steinberg, Leonard Bernstein, Zubin Mehta, Robert Shaw, Roger Wagner and Joseph Flummerfelt, while studying voice and conducting. Bay Area audiences have seen Morant conduct at the Monterey and San Francisco Jazz Festivals, singing the part of the "leading player" in Pippin with the Alameda Civic Light Opera, in Carmina Burana with the Oakland Ballet and in performances of Porgy and Bess, Follies, Bernstein's Mass and The Messiah with the Oakland East Bay Symphony conducted by Maestro Michael Morgan.
For many years Trente Morant toured the country as performer/lecturer specializing in the music from the Harlem Renaissance. He also served as Musical Director for many theaters in the New York Tri-City area for productions of West Side Story, Candide, Barnum, Pirates of Penzance, The Music Man, Shenandoah, Pippin, Chicago, Hair, Funny Girl, Trial by Jury, Sugar, and The Robber Bridegroom. |
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For nineteen years Trente Morant worked with the Oakland Youth Chorus. During those years he conducted the chorus in performances or workshops with luminaries Bobby McFerrin, Charlie Haden, Nancy Wilson, Ed Kelly, Keith Terry, Dance Brigade, Linda Tillery, Jon Hendricks, Pete Seeger, and Voicestra. During one of the Christmas holidays the Oakland Youth Chorus, under Mr. Morant's direction, traveled to the East Coast and was featured on CBS' This Morning. That trip also took the chorus to the White House for a special performance.
Other credits include participating in the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts and concert performances of La Triviata, Julius Caesar, The Magic Flute, Dido,and Aeneas and Iolanthe. Trente Morant served as musical director for the Douglas Morrison Theater for twelve years, where he conducted productions of Annie, A Chorus Line, Something's A-Foot, Grease, West Side Story, and A Little Night Music, along with over 40 Pops concerts with the seventy-five voice community chorus. Mr. Morant has also written commissioned pieces for the Los Angeles, Seattle and New York Gay Men's Choruses.
Trente Morant served as vocal director at Woodminster Theater for productions of Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, King and I, West Side Story, and Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, and Finian's Rainbow.
During the school year Trente always returns to his first love which is teaching music to young children.
Other credits include participating in the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy, Live from Lincoln Center broadcasts and concert performances of La Triviata, Julius Caesar, The Magic Flute, Dido,and Aeneas and Iolanthe. Trente Morant served as musical director for the Douglas Morrison Theater for twelve years, where he conducted productions of Annie, A Chorus Line, Something's A-Foot, Grease, West Side Story, and A Little Night Music, along with over 40 Pops concerts with the seventy-five voice community chorus. Mr. Morant has also written commissioned pieces for the Los Angeles, Seattle and New York Gay Men's Choruses.
Trente Morant served as vocal director at Woodminster Theater for productions of Oklahoma, Hello Dolly, Jesus Christ Superstar, Ragtime, King and I, West Side Story, and Beauty and the Beast, Fiddler on the Roof, and Finian's Rainbow.
During the school year Trente always returns to his first love which is teaching music to young children.
Previous Music Director
Long-time Music Director Ellen Hoffman stepped down in 2012 after 14 years at the helm of Berkeley Broadway Singers. Ellen is also a jazz pianist, choral director, songwriter and recording artist, classical composer, and vocal coach.