The hall is quiet save a stifled cough from an onlooker in the dark audience. On this warm spring night, all eyes are focused on center stage where Mitos Andaya, conductor and associate director of choral activities in the University of Georgia’s Hugh Hodgson School of Music, cues the 77 members of the University Chorus and the pianist to begin Johannes Brahms’ Evening Song.

Andaya’s fingers are like long blades of grass swaying in a soft breeze, her body moving to the melodic sound. As the grand crescendo of voice and piano fills the hall, Andaya’s movements become more pronounced, as if each note arises from within. The sound is magnificently fluid, and the group has pulled off its last performance of the year to resounding applause.

The University Chorus, composed of men and women, is one of five singing groups upon which Mitos Andaya (pronounced Mee-TOOS An-DYE-ya) has cast her luminescent persona and awakened the choral department: She’s sent it on an international tour for the first time in 20 years.

With the help of a choir tour company, Andaya arranged for the 10-day choral extravaganza in the United Kingdom to include joint performances with European choirs at the Dornoch Choral Festival in Dornoch Cathedral, Scotland, as well as at the York Minster and Christ Church Cathedral in England. They are also fitting in performances with the Choir of Keble College, in which students in the UGA Franklin Study Abroad Program at Oxford are enrolled. The UGA Tour Choir is composed of members from other groups Andaya conducts, including the University Chorus, Women’s Glee Club, Classic City Jazz, and Collegium Musicum.

“This was a major event for the choral area, the Hodgson School of Music, and the university,” says Andaya. “UGA has much to offer students and the music community not only locally, but nationally and internationally. Some of our top students have never been out of the state of Georgia, so not only did this tour enlighten our own students culturally, but it showcased some of our best talent to the music community overseas.”

Their performances are so riveting, it’s no surprise that Andaya’s groups are in high demand. The big groups—University Chorus and Women’s Glee Club—perform twice a semester. The smaller groups, Classic City Jazz and Collegium Musicum, usually bustle between community and university performances, from “Jazz at the Chapel” to events such as the UGA Archway to Excellence campaign kickoff held in April at the World Congress Center to community dedication ceremonies.

Andaya’s students are faultlessly dedicated to her and willing to volunteer without hesitation. Even during the last week of spring semester—a busy time by all accounts for most in academia—Andaya whipped together a group of 10 willing men and women for an a capella performance for the dedication of a new wing at St. Mary’s Hospital in Athens. The impromptu group met the day before the performance, learned the music, and sang it through to Andaya’s perfect satisfaction—in 50 minutes flat.

Perfection is an innate quality that Andaya demands of herself and her students, but their respect and devotion drive them to follow her unequivocally. Just ask senior Sarah Patsios, a veteran member of the Classic City Jazz.

“Dr. Andaya has a very meticulous teaching style,” says Patsios. “She pays very close attention to those little details and is very patient with us when we don’t quite get something. She has very high expectations of her groups.”

And those high expectations do have their rewards. Former student Derek Chester, another three-year veteran of the Classic City Jazz, is one of the most noteworthy products of Andaya’s instruction, completing his first year at Yale University graduate school on a full scholarship.

“Dr. Andaya instills within her students the desire to strive towards perfection,” he says. “She really helped me learn how to work as a chamber musician and as a soloist. I learned from her that confidence and presence will always make the difference between a good singer and a great one.”

But Andaya’s true virtue goes beyond striving for perfection. She has endeared herself to students like Kelly Taft, a member of the Women’s Glee Club and Classic City Jazz, by helping them beyond the classroom.
“She expects nothing but the best from her students,” says Taft, “and in doing so, she inspires them to work for that standard. Dr. Andaya helped me work harder for my goals. She cared enough to sit down and discuss my future plans for graduate school and give me advice. She has been a huge part of my college career.”

Andaya was also very influential in opening doors for Chester. “She introduced me to her former professor, Simon Carrington,” says Chester. “Mr. Carrington told me about this new graduate program they were starting at Yale University called ‘Masters in Voice: Early Music, Song, and Chamber Ensemble’—three things that I have a great passion for. Dr. Andaya saw within me the ability to become very great in these fields and really worked with me and guided me towards a future in which my voice will most be successful. She has forever made an impact on my life, and I will never forget all those countless hours of working towards the perfection of the musical ear, improvisational skills, and various types of music from Bach to Miles Davis.”

Brad Findell, a university mathematics education instructor, has sung under more than 30 conductors along the East Coast. He and 14 other members—undergraduates, graduate students, and faculty—participate in the Collegium Musicum, an ensemble devoted to early music (Medieval, Renaissance and Baroque era music).

“Mitos is one of the best conductors I’ve worked with. She has a really good command of music and style. She also adjusts her conducting as precise or as emotive as needed. I have sung under many choral directors who were so precise but nonexpressive. Singers unconsciously respond to a conductor’s body language. If a conductor has openness, there’s warmth in their motions and bodies, and that in turn makes the choir sound warmer and less tight. Mitos is able to get out of the way when she needs to and then come back in. There are a number of internationally renowned conductors who’ve come for seminars at other schools [at which I’ve sung]; Mitos would compare to them. She’s that good.

Born in Washington state and raised by her Filipino grandmother, Andaya began singing in choruses in elementary school. Various members of her family, including her mother, two aunts, and grandmother, possessed musical and artistic talent, though none chose music professionally until recently. Some of her earliest memories are of the folk dances at the Filipino Community Center and the Bataan Corregidor Survivors Association Club (founded by her grandfather) where she was immersed in Filipino culture—food, language, and lots of music and folk dancing. There was even Hawaiian dancing, as several members of the small community were Filipino-Hawaiian.

“Filipino dancing, as well as Hawaiian, requires extremely graceful and expressive hands,” she explains, “and I greatly admired these qualities in the dancers. I’m not sure I was that graceful when I learned these dances beginning at age six, but perhaps I picked up a thing or two and use them in my conducting.”

All through elementary school in rural Bothell, Wash., Andaya stood out from her classmates not only because of her name and skin color, but also because of her drive to excel both musically and academically. From an inner need to rise above the brunt of kids’ jokes came the drive to excel and stand out in other ways—musically and academically.

In junior high, Andaya became more serious about music and joined the swing choir. By the time she reached high school, vocal jazz had become a large influence in her life, as her school had a strong choral/vocal jazz program. According to Andaya, this type of music was big in the Northwest at that time.

“I had no idea I was going into music [as a career] until the summer before my senior year when I attended the Frank DeMiero Jazz Camp at Edmonds Community College in Lynnwood, Wash. Frank DeMiero is considered the grandfather of vocal jazz and founder of the group Soundstation at Edmonds. That group had such an impact on vocal jazz.”

And so at 17 years old, with the full support of her family, Andaya made a pivotal decision.

“There were a lot of teachers in that camp, and I was so touched by different people from all over coming together for one week, it made me realize I wanted to teach music and conduct.”

She went on to graduate summa cum laude with a degree in music education from the University of Northern Colorado where she directed the award-winning female jazz quartet SUS4. After teaching middle and high school music in Colorado for a year, Andaya decided to teach at the college level, so she began her master of music degree at Northern Arizona University (NAU).

Perhaps one of the most incredible credits on Andaya’s vitae is her two-year experience in post-apartheid South Africa after only a semester at NAU. Her husband at that time had been offered a job in South Africa, and Andaya took the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity, leaving her studies and giving up her teaching assistant position, to teach there as well.
“I taught vocal jazz at three schools, the University of Natal, Technikon Natal, and the University of Durban-Westville, from 1995 to 1997. South African jazz has its own feel and rhythm, so vocal jazz was new, something I was fortunate to start at those institutions. And it was also the first opportunity for those students to be taught side by side with persons of another race. Teaching in post-apartheid South Africa was exciting, sometimes dangerous. Angry people weren’t ready to be friends, however the students were more accepting, and I never ran into any opposition.

“There was a diverse mix of students—Indian, Black South Africans from various tribes [Zulu, Xhosa, Sotho, Swazi], and people of British descent—teaching and knowing what to say was often difficult. There are 11 officially recognized languages in South Africa, but luckily there were university courses taught in English. To have a chance to make music together and put differences aside was inspiring. It was wonderful to be there at that time.”

From South Africa, Andaya continued her globe trotting, teaching for a year and a half at the Elder Conservatorium at the University of Adelaide, Australia; however, her desire to finish graduate school became overwhelming, so in 1998 she applied to the University of Kansas (KU) graduate school of music, which had a strong jazz studies program. It was at the University of Kansas where her love for early music was fostered, under the tutelage of the King’s Singers co-founder and performer Simon Carrington.

[See accompanying story.]

“I was ready to receive that music,” she recalls. “Simon was an excellent teacher in revealing independent lines and harmony, as well as interpreting. I’m so incredibly lucky to have studied with someone who had a love for early music.”

Andaya received her master’s and doctorate degrees with honors from KU, where she directed the Women’s Chorale and Jazz Singers, in addition to conducting camps and workshops throughout the United States.

Now beginnning her fifth year of teaching in Athens, Andaya is grateful for her position at UGA.

“I had offers from other schools, but I chose to come to UGA because I was impressed with the people here and their collegiality. I’m very lucky to have colleagues like Greg Broughton [conductor of the African-American Choral Ensemble] and Allen Crowell [director of choral activities and conductor of the Concert Choir and the Men’s Glee Club].”

And the feeling is mutual.

“Dr. Andaya has brought new energy and vision to the choral activities of the Hodgson School of Music,” says Crowell. “Her artistry and sensitive conducting are on display at every one of her performances, but the general public doesn’t get to see the staggering amount of preparation—score study, editing, and research—that she pours into all her work. Initially tasked to teach conducting and choral literature and to conduct the University Chorus and the Women’s Glee Club, she has [also] established the amazingly successful vocal jazz ensemble, Classic City Jazz, and has assumed leadership of Collegium Musicum. Just saying those two names in the same breath displays her versatility and wide-ranging musical interests.”

“She came to UGA directly from her doctoral studies at the University of Kansas. When we showed interest in her, her major professor [Carrington], whom I’ve known for a long time, called to tell me that Mitos was the most outstanding graduate student he had ever taught at Kansas. We are so fortunate to have her.”

Donald R. Lowe, director of UGA’s music school agrees.

“Professor Andaya was selected as associate director of choral activities based on a national search conducted four years ago,” he says. “She emerged as a top candidate at that time and has continued to reaffirm that she was the right choice. Her contributions to the Hugh Hodgson School of Music are many and she has emerged as a strong leader in choral music nationally.”

Andaya was selected by audition for the prestigious Eric Ericson Master Class at the 3rd International Choral Biennale held this summer in Holland. She and only six other participants from the United States, Germany, Netherlands, Argentina, and Switzerland earned the opportunity to work with the highest level of professional conductors in the world to practice and improve their skills for 12 intense days.

No matter what honors are bestowed upon her, Andaya continues to be motivated by bringing people together in diverse environments.
“It’s what music is—should be about. That no matter what differences individuals have, whether ethnic, cultural, or political, a group can work together to make something beautiful.”