Conducting & Performing

Chorus America advances the artistry of choruses by providing masterclasses for choral conductors, sessions on repertoire and performance practice, convenings of artistic directors, research on conducting careers and transitions, information on performance trends and innovations, and forums for discussion of artistic issues.

Articles

What Every Chorus Should Know About Its Singers

What Every Chorus Should Know About Its Singers

Chorus America Staff | Impact/Value, Management/Leadership, Participation, Singing, Volunteer

What do choral singers wish their chorus managers and music directors knew about them? What would make singers' experience in the chorus more enjoyable, more meaningful, more fun? Read more

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Boys to Men: Singing Through Voice Change

Boys to Men: Singing Through Voice Change

Chloe Veltman | Children/Youth, Education, Health, Participation, Schools, Singing

An influx of new programs are beginning to recognize the value of keeping boys singing—through changing voices and for a lifetime. Read more

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Keeping Singers Well: Exercise and Sleep

Keeping Singers Well: Exercise and Sleep

Matthew Sigman | Health, Singing

When your body is the instrument, it's imperative to keep it in tip-top shape with good exercise habits and the right amount of sleep. Read more

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Keeping Singers Well: Hydration

Keeping Singers Well: Hydration

Matthew Sigman | Health, Singing

While it is ultimately the responsibility of the singer to stay properly hydrated, it's not always so easy. Read more

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Why the Bach Passions Are Problematic

Why the Bach Passions Are Problematic

Tom Hall | History, Performance, Repertoire

What is our responsibility as singers and as choruses when historic choral works are offensive, even hostile, to a whole group of people? Tom Hall, music director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, discusses Bach's St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion. Read more

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Spotlight on Eric Whitacre

Spotlight on Eric Whitacre

Kelsey Menehan | Composing/Commissioning, Innovation, Profile, Repertoire, Singing

We take a look at the man behind the cluster chords: how Eric Whitacre arrived at a life in music, and the ups and downs he's encountered along the way. Read more

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Selecting Music for Diverse Audiences

Selecting Music for Diverse Audiences

An Interview with Julian Wachner

Chorus America Staff | Audiences, Conducting, Innovation, Profile, Repertoire

With so many music directors juggling multiple podiums, choosing repertoire that meets the specific needs of each chorus and the audience in that community takes on special significance. Read more

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The Rise of A Cappella

The Rise of A Cappella

An Interview with CASA Founder and Sing-Off Producer Deke Sharon

Chorus America Staff | Careers, Community Outreach

Choral music—especially a cappella choral music—is more popular than ever it seems. Chorus America sat down with Deke Sharon, founder of the Contemporary A Cappella Society of America (CASA) and a producer of NBC's The Sing-Off, to get the inside scoop behind the a cappella choral music movement and its current place in pop culture. Read more

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The Art and Science of Good Sound Design

The Art and Science of Good Sound Design

Michael Shaughnessy | Audiences, Performance, Technology

Whether your needs are as simple as amplifying announcements from the podium or as complex as balancing voices with instruments in a large space, paying attention to sound design can make or break your concert. Read more

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5 Tips for Performing Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil

5 Tips for Performing Rachmaninoff's All-Night Vigil

Alexander Ruggieri | Rehearsal, Repertoire, Singing, Technique/Tool

The All-Night Vigil doesn't last all night anymore, but doing what it takes to perform it well certainly can keep conductors and singers up nights. Here are five tips for conquering this masterpiece: Read more

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Resources

Choral-Orchestral Engagements

Choral-Orchestral Engagements

Survey Results and Best Practices

Chorus America Staff | Community Outreach, Legal/Licensing, Operations, Performance, Research/Data, Sample/Template, Symphonic, Technique/Tool

This 2004 whitepaper provides practical guidance on the unique issues choruses face in working with orchestras for concert engagements. Based on data gathered from Chorus America's symphonic chorus members, it also provides a sample contract and budget to use when negotiating your engagement. Read more

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Choral Conductors Today: A Study

Choral Conductors Today: A Study

Chorus America Staff | Careers, Conducting, Management/Leadership, Recruitment, Research/Data

Chorus America interviewed more than 700 conductors about their career paths, levels of education, salary, job satisfaction, and more in 2005. The resulting data provides a profile of the "typical" choral conductor that may be surprising. Read more

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Additional content: Ambassadors of Peace

Additional content: Ambassadors of Peace

Kelsey Menehan | Community Outreach, Impact/Value, Profile, Repertoire, Singing

Examples of concert programming that are designed on themes of peace or reconciliation. Partner piece to "How Choruses Have Become Ambassadors of Peace." Read more

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28 American Master Choral Composers

28 American Master Choral Composers

A Repertoire and Recording Listing to Support NEA's American Masterpieces

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Government/Policy, Repertoire

Celebrating America's greatest choral composers, this publication provides repertoire and recording lists for 28 composers from Billings to Whitacre. Read more

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Commissioning Timeline

Commissioning Timeline

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Operations, Sample/Template

Commissioning a new work? Follow this two-year timeline to help plot out which steps you should take when. This timeline is appropriate for a work that does not involve complicated instrumental requirements or multiple movements. Read more

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'Music Director Transition' Tool: Sample Search Timeline

'Music Director Transition' Tool: Sample Search Timeline

Chorus America Staff | Careers, Conducting, Governance, Operations, Sample/Template, Strategic Planning

A sample timeline to help with music director search planning. Read more

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'Music Director Transition' Tool: Readiness Quiz

'Music Director Transition' Tool: Readiness Quiz

Chorus America Staff | Careers, Conducting, Governance, Operations, Strategic Planning, Technique/Tool

Is your chorus ready for a founder transition? This 9-question quiz will help you determine the answer. Read more

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Events

Figaro! (90210)

Figaro! (90210)

151 Bank St, New York, NY 10014

GBFpress | Performance

The debate over immigration reform takes center stage in this multi-cultural adaptation of Mozart’s opera “The Marriage of Figaro” set in present-day Los Angeles. Figaro! (90210) also makes the opera more accessible to contemporary audiences by distilling the action of the show to two and a half hours, including a fifteen minute intermission.   Read more

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San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Tell It!"

San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Tell It!"

Pasadena, CA 91101

San Gabriel Val... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Community Outreach, Conducting, Performance, Repertoire, Singing

The San Gabriel Valley Choral Company presents a concert entitled “Tell It!”  Complete with soloists and instrumentalists, this rousing concert features folk songs, spirituals, and American classics by Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster, and more.  Tickets are now available at the cost of $9 to $15 for two performances:  June 8 at 6:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Monrovia and June 15 at 5:00 p.m. at All Saints Church in Pasadena.  More information can be found at www.choralcompany.org or by calling 626-579-2433. Read more

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San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Tell It!"

San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Tell It!"

Monrovia, CA 91016

San Gabriel Val... | Adults/Seniors, Conducting, Families, Performance, Repertoire, Singing

The San Gabriel Valley Choral Company presents a concert entitled “Tell It!”  Complete with soloists and instrumentalists, this rousing concert features folk songs, spirituals, and American classics by Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster, and more.  Tickets are now available at the cost of $9 to $15 for two performances:  June 8 at 6:15 p.m. at First Presbyterian Church of Monrovia and June 15 at 5:00 p.m. at All Saints Church in Pasadena.  More information can be found at www.choralcompany.org or by calling 626-579-2433. Read more

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Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Dallas, TX

Greg Hobbs | Performance

Magnificat Johann Sebastian Bach Mass in D György Orbán Read more

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Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Dallas, TX

Greg Hobbs | Performance

Stabat Mater Emanuele d'Astorga The Spirit that Sets Us Free Stephen Paulus Missa in Solstitio Andrew Smith Read more

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Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Dallas, TX

Greg Hobbs | Performance

When David Heard Richard Burchard Be Not Afraid Knut Nystedt Take Him, Earth, for Cherishing Herbert Howells Ein feste Burg, ist unser Gott Johann Sebastian Bach Read more

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Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Highland Park Chorale and Orchestra

Dallas, TX

Greg Hobbs | Performance

Missa in Angustiis Franz Joseph Haydn Sunrise Mass Ola Gjeilo Read more

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A Boy Called King

A Boy Called King

100 Northern Ave., Boston, MA, 02210

Ileana Maria | Audiences, Children/Youth, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Diversity, Performance, Singing

World Premiere: "A Boy Called King" is a turbulent love story exploring many interesting themes. Daniel Roumain is the composer, and the Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston is hosting the performance. Read more

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Breath of Inspiration: An evening of Gospel, Classical, Jazz and More!

Breath of Inspiration: An evening of Gospel, Classical, Jazz and More!

111 S Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90012

iris@DCINY.org | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Children/Youth, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, General, Marketing/Public Relations, Participation, Performance, Repertoire, Schools, Singing, Symphonic, Venue

An evening of triumphant music! Members of Toronto Youth Wind Orchestra, Atlanta Youth Wind Symphony and Gwen Wyatt Chorale (CA) provide an entertaining palette of unique genre-bending sounds. From Gospel to Classical, these passionate, energetic artists perform with a supreme gusto and enthusiasm that is sure to delight and entertain audiences of all ages and tastes.   Read more

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Central City Chorus presents "Now is the Month of Maying"

Central City Chorus presents "Now is the Month of Maying"

W. 87th St., between Broadway and West End Ave., New York, NY

Central City Ch... |

New York City's Central City Chorus and Music Director Phillip Cheah proudly present Now Is the Month of Maying, an evening of madrigals and part-songs to celebrate Spring, on Saturday, June 1, 2013, 8 pm, at the Church of Saint Ignatius of Antioch, W. 87th St., between Broadway and West End Avenue, New York, NY, 10024.  The program includes works by Morley, Byrd, Wilbye, Farmer, Stanford, Grainger, Saint-Saëns, and P.D.Q. Bach (the nefarious brainchild of musical satirist Peter Schickele).   Read more

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Dialogue

Questions During Rehearsal?

Questions During Rehearsal?

Anonymous | Rehearsal, Singing

Conductors, do you let your singers ask questions during rehearsal? What are the pros and cons? Read more

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