Connie Drosakis will be inducted into the Florida Vocal Association Hall of Fame on Friday, July 27, during the FVA Summer Conference. She is a product of Palm Beach County Schools where she received her original inspiration for choral singing while watching a performance of Harold Bradley’s Dimension 20 from Forest Hill High School of which she became a member a few years later. Her decision to become a choral director came after participating in the 1981 Florida All-State Choir under the direction of Dr. Robert Summer.

Connie earned both her Bachelor and Master of Music Education/Choral Conducting degrees from Florida State University where she was the recipient of the Irving Cooper Memorial Scholarship in Choral Music Education. Connie credits Andre Thomas, Judy Bowers, Kevin Fenton and Clifford Madsen for nurturing her teaching and philosophy as a music educator. Connie taught for fourteen years at Christa McAuliffe Middle School from its inception in 1986, and is beginning her nineteenth year as choral director at Bak Middle School of the Arts. Connie is Co-Founder and a Director for Young Singers of the Palm Beaches, a community youth choir with 350 members in 7 choirs, which just completed its fifteenth season.

Choirs under her direction have been invited to perform at ACDA Southern Division Conferences in Charlotte (2002) and Nashville (2004), and National Conferences in New York (2003), Miami (2007), Chicago (2011) and Minneapolis (2017). Connie served as Florida ACDA President (2011-2013), and as Membership Chair for ten years. She assisted for many years as the Co-Coordinator of the Male Honor Choir at the State Conference as well.In November of 2008, Connie received the Wayne Hugoboom Distinguished ServiceAward from the Florida Chapter of the American Choral Director’s Association for “dedicated service, leadership and constant examples of excellence in Choral Music in Florida.“

Connie is an active adjudicator and clinician for district and state evaluation festivals and county honor choirs, and has conducted All-State Choirs in Georgia, Alabama, North Carolina, Missouri and Mississippi.  In 2015, 34 years after participating in the Florida All-State Choir as a student, Connie was honored to conduct the Florida All-State Women’s Chorus. She has held leadership positions in the Florida Vocal Association as District 14 Chair and Treasurer, and as the State Middle School Chair, assuming primary responsibility for the organization of the Middle School Treble and Mixed All-State Choirs.

Choirs under her leadership have been invited to perform with the Florida Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of James Judd, and in festival choruses under the direction of Doreen Rao, Henry Leck, Jeffrey Benson, Sigrid Johnson and Anton Armstrong.  Her choirs have also performed at Lincoln Center and Carnegie Hall in New York City, the Knight Concert Hall in Miami, as well as Orchestra Hall in Chicago and Minneapolis.  Connie is especially honored that, in 2019, the Bak MSOA Girls’ Chorus will perform in the final Tallahassee Community Chorus Unity Concert under the baton of her mentor, Dr. Andre Thomas.

Under her direction, all of the choral groups from Bak have received straight superior ratings for 18 consecutive years at FVA Music Performance Assessments, with 4 choirs recognized as Middle School Choirs of Distinction.  In addition, theyhave received high praise and several awards at middle and high school festivals and competitions both nationally and internationally, including wins for 17 of the past 18 years at Heritage Festivals and Festivals of Gold throughout the United States.

Connie has requested that “Sure on this Shining Night” (Morten Lauridsen) be sung in her honor at the FVA Awards Ceremony on Friday, July 27. The piece will be conducted by longtime friend and FSU classmate, Bruce Yost (H.B. Plant High School).