Master Chorale Fills New Post of Executive Director

George Dickey has been appointed to the newly created post of executive director of the Master Chorale of Orange County.

Dickey, 53, will be responsible for operations for the 150-member Costa Mesa-based group.

“I think this is an exciting situation,” Dickey said Friday. “The arts in Orange County are expanding greatly, certainly with the new (Performing) Arts Center. The Chorale’s mandate is to continue to grow, as it has grown in the past, and I hope to help them do this.”

Dickey’s previous experience includes serving as associate director of New York City’s Town Hall, administrative staff member of the Juilliard School of Music in New York, advertising manager of Musical America Magazine and the Musical America International Directory of the Performing Arts and record advertising manager of High Fidelity Magazine and the Schwann Record and Tape Guide.

For the past 4 1/2 years, Dickey has devoted his time to Gothic Records Inc., the California-based record company he founded that specializes in choral and organ music.

Dickey holds a B.A. degree from North Texas State University and both a bachelor’s and a master’s degree from the Juilliard School of Music.

Dickey essentially replaces Richard L. Tollefson Jr., who served as the Master Chorale’s administrative director until he left in June to join the Los Angeles administrative staff of the Joffrey Ballet.

The Master Chorale will open its second season at the Orange County Performing Arts Center in Costa Mesa on Oct. 10 with a program including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Requiem and selections from Webber’s “Evita,” “Cats,” “Jesus Christ Superstar,” “Phantom of the Opera” and other selections from the composer’s rock operas and musicals.