Vocal salute: Heartland Sings celebrates maestro's legacy ahead of leadership transition

courtesy of the Journal Gazette

Twenty-eight years might sound like a long run, but the work is not over yet for Robert Nance, even as he steps back as president and artistic director of Heartland Sings.

Nance founded the professional vocal group in 1997 and has shepherded the nonprofit’s growth from 16 part-time singers to a company of full-time artists that provides performances and educational programming within a 225-mile radius of the city.

A concert this weekend will celebrate the maestro’s legacy as Heartland Sings closes its 2024-25 season. “A Choral Testament” is from 4 to 6:30 p.m. Sunday at Auer Performance Hall on the Purdue University Fort Wayne campus.

Emeritus role

A graduate of DePauw University School of Music and the Peabody Conservatory, Nance moved to Fort Wayne in 1990. The 64-year-old is also the director of music at Plymouth Congregational Church of Fort Wayne and is a regular musician at Congregation Achduth Vesholom.

Nance says that about six or seven years ago, he began thinking about what would happen to Heartland Sings if he became incapacitated.

“The organization really needed to be ready for that day when either I decided I couldn’t do it anymore or I was just not capable,” he says. “I’ve spent my life building the organization. I certainly don’t want it to go away just because I either can’t do it or something comes up that prevents me from doing it.”

The more he and members of the organization thought about succession plans, Nance realized he would rather step aside now and assume an emeritus role while being part of the group’s continuation under new leadership. He will still be an active musician and part of the artistic team.

Nance will officially pass the baton in August as his current position splits into two roles. Eric Miller will become president of Heartland Sings and Natalie Young will be artistic director. Both are longtime vocalists with the nonprofit where Miller has served as vice president and general manager, and Young as associate artistic director. They have had a “practice year” under Nance’s guidance during the 2024-25 season, operating as if they were in their new roles.

Nance says they’ve all learned a lot during the rehearsal for the transition – himself included after 28 years of acting unilaterally in some decision making.

“But under this new practicing, I would very much shoot from the hip and be ready to act on something and almost forget that I have to check in with my new supervisors,” he says with a laugh. “They were extremely, extremely patient on that.”

The maestro says he feels blessed that Young and Miller are willing to take on leadership of Heartland Sings, and he believes the organization will be served well after the transition is complete.

“I want to see as much of this future as possible because we have a huge growth plan that we are working on,” Nance says. “These days most people are contracting; I think we’re thinking about growing.”

Promoting ‘mission’

Nance’s continued role with Heartland Sings will be deeply rooted in advocacy.

He acknowledges that most of the organization’s history and name recognition is tied to his tenure, which is an asset he intends to bring to bear with a community that knows him well.

“My next job will be to make sure that they know Natalie and Eric really well, and just to continue to promote our mission,” Nance says. He will also continue fighting for the vocal arts’ place in American culture.

Nance founded Heartland Sings, in part, because of his passion for vocal arts and making sure vocal artists are recognized at the same level as instrumentalists and other music artists.

“I think that the vocal arts have historically, at least in this country, taken a back seat to some other art forms,” he says. “And yet it’s the one that’s the most human, the most accessible and the most instructive to the human experience.”

There’s a lot of work to do, but Nance is hopeful that one day advocates like himself won’t need to continually defend or explain to people why singers should be payed a full-time, living wage.

“I always point out that vocal musicians had to get the same degree in school that I did as a pianist. They paid the same fees that I paid,” he says. “So why do we treat them any differently when we talk about employment or careers or things like that?”

Special program

The program for “A Choral Testament” is special to Nance. It’s intended to mirror what Heartland Sings is about, where the organization has been and where it is going.

The major work on the program, “Lux Aeterna” with music by Morten Johannes Lauridsen, pays tribute to people from Heartland Sings’s past. The idea of eternal light also gives a glimpse into the 2025-26 season, which Nance credits Young with creating around the subject of light.

In a time that can seem gloomy, Nance is excited for Young’s programs next season which will “use our art form to remind people that the light is there; it’s right within us.”

The 2025-26 season will be announced during the last concert of Heartland Sings’ summer season on Aug. 27.

Sunday’s concert also includes works that Nance himself orchestrated, such as “The Lord Is My Shepard.” He originally wrote the piece for chorus and organ, but reworked it for orchestra for the memorial service of a Heartland Sings patron. It is owned by the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, where Nance served as a guest director in 2000.

Other works in the program speak to holding onto a vision and putting talents together. In Nance’s introduction to the program, he writes that the concert “is so much more than a tribute to me. It is a tribute to ‘We.’ ‘We’ are the many people who have been a part of Heartland Sings for the past 28 years.

“Yes, it has been my honor to be the founder, visionary, facilitator, and leader of this unique arts organization, but it would have never been possible without the support of so many good people over the years.”

The concert will include about 40 vocalists, including Heartland Sings alumni. About that many instrumentalists will also be onstage, and community members will be invited to join the musicians at the end of the performance. Mayor Sharon Tucker will deliver a proclamation.

Nance hopes the community will come out to “A Choral Testament,” even if they aren’t interested in celebrating his legacy with Heartland Sings. It will be a very inspirational night, he says.

He is appreciative to the community for supporting him as a freelance musician but also for supporting his vision for Heartland Sings.

“The people that have supported Heartland have all been very generous,” Nance says.

“I have just been extremely fortunate, and I am very grateful.”