FOCUS
NOVEMBER 2020
LEADING THE CHORUS Dr. Scott Wyatt named new choral director of Butler Philharmonic BY MANDY GAMBRELL
r. Scott Wyatt has been a part of the local symphony for more than a decade, and now he’s leading the chorus. He has recently been named choral director of the Butler Philharmonic Orchestra and Chorus alongside newly named orchestra director Dr. Scott Woodard. His participation with the Butler Phil, previously called the Hamilton-Fairfield Symphony Orchestra and Chorus, began in the early 2000s after he met the symphony’s former maestro Paul Stanbery. “I was the choral director of the Florida College Chorus and we were touring through the Midwest and stopped in Cincinnati to give a concert. It just so happened that Paul had a niece performing in my choir. I had composed an A cappella arrangement of Puccini’s ‘Nessun Dorma’ from the opera ‘Turandot.’ The chorus was backing me up on beautiful ‘oohs’ and aahs’ while I sang the famous aria. Paul came up to me afterward
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and asked if I would consider coming and singing with him and his orchestra at that time,” Wyatt said. In 2008, he was granted a full scholarship and teaching assistantship at the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. He joined up with the Butler Phil at that time. When Stanbery fell ill last year and had to step away from conducting the BPO Chorus’ annual Open Door Pantry Choral Concert, he asked Wyatt to step in — with one day’s notice. “It went extremely well. Paul decided it was time to retire and he and the BPO board of directors asked me if I would step in as interim director for a time, to which I agreed. After several rehearsals together and considering some other choral directors in the area, they asked me if I would be willing to be their new conductor,” he said. His history with music dates back to the 7th grade when taking a Spanish class elective wasn’t going
