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

Bringing Today's Choral Composers into Your Community

Bringing Today's Choral Composers into Your Community

Kelsey Menehan | Children/Youth, Composing/Commissioning, Education

How Minnesota's VocalEssence and composer Eric Whitacre helped high school students, choral directors, and community members of all ages discover the power of contemporary choral music through a festival and community sing event. Read more

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Best Little-Known Choral Recordings

Best Little-Known Choral Recordings

Helene Whitson | Repertoire, Singing

Choral music sleuth Helene Whitson has sifted through used CD bins and trolled the Internet to bring you some of the hidden gems of the choral repertoire. Read more

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Eric Whitacre Speaks Out

Eric Whitacre Speaks Out

An Interview With Choral Music's Rock Star

Kelsey Menehan | Composing/Commissioning, Education, Impact/Value, Innovation, Profile, Social Media

Eric Whitacre muses on how he gets inspired to compose, his special connection with young people, and what he thinks about the future of choral music. Read more

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What Is "Shape-Note" Singing?

What Is "Shape-Note" Singing?

Elisabeth Higgi... | History, Repertoire, Singing, Technique/Tool

In this musical tradition, singers read a variety of different note shapes—each one corresponding to a different syllable: fa, so, la, or mi. Read more

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Inside Conspirare: A Different Kind of Chorus

Inside Conspirare: A Different Kind of Chorus

Kelsey Menehan | Composing/Commissioning, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire

Choruses have a real chance to be innovators and maybe help lead the way for all the arts. Read more

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A Performance of a Lifetime

A Performance of a Lifetime

Children's Choruses Sing at Barack Obama's Inauguration

Jan-Marie Petersen | Children/Youth, History, Profile

Children's choruses from San Francisco sang for millions at the inauguration ceremony of President Barack Obama. Here's what happened on that historic day. Read more

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A Conversation with Craig Hella Johnson

A Conversation with Craig Hella Johnson

Chorus America Staff | Conducting, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire

We sat down with Conspirare founder and artistic director Craig Hella Johnson to get the inside scoop on how the group came to be and the magic behind their success. Read more

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Ligeti in Winter

Ligeti in Winter

Gregory Boals | Audiences, Impact/Value, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

Much in the same way you might stop and get to know your neighbors during a snowstorm, a difficult piece can draw singers together in solidarity amdist the flurry of notes. Read more

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Conquering the B Minor Mass

Conquering the B Minor Mass

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, History, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Technique/Tool

The Bach B Minor Mass takes Olympian fortitude to learn and perform. In this interview with conductor and historian Dennis Shrock, we take a look at the history of the work and what singers can do to make the performance experience easier on themselves. Read more

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Where You Lead, They Will Follow

Where You Lead, They Will Follow

An Interview with Sir David Willcocks

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, History, Profile, Rehearsal

Famed conductor Sir David Willcocks speaks about his special love of choral singing and of choral singers through his experience as director of music at King's College, Cambridge and of the Royal College of Music's Bach Choir. Read more

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Resources

Two Composition Lessons from Handel

Two Composition Lessons from Handel

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Education, History, Repertoire, Research/Data

Handel’s practice of borrowing from other composers allows us the opportunity to probe into the great composer’s style and creative thought processes. A number of scholars have shown without question that the majority of Handel’s borrowings transform his source materials into new creations entirely his own. But what does “entirely his own” really mean? Read more

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Choral Music from Jewish Tradition: Bibliography

Choral Music from Jewish Tradition: Bibliography

Joshua Jacobson | Composing/Commissioning, Diversity, Repertoire

A bibliography of important resources from the Jewish choral tradition prepared by Joshua Jacobson. Read more

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Choral Music from Jewish Tradition:  Music You Should Know and How to Perform it Well

Choral Music from Jewish Tradition: Music You Should Know and How to Perform it Well

Joshua Jacobson | Composing/Commissioning, Diversity, Repertoire

A comprehensive repertoire list prepared by Joshua Jacobson. Read more

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Events

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage: Beethoven; A Sea Symphony: Vaughan Williams

Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage: Beethoven; A Sea Symphony: Vaughan Williams

57th Street and 7th Avenue

New York Choral... |

Experience the power and majesty of the sea through the music of Ludwig van Beethoven and Ralph Vaughan Williams. Each turned to a great poet, Goethe and Whitman, respectively, to depict the sea as a symbol of the unity of the world’s peoples and ocean travel as a metaphor for mankind’s journey of self-discovery. Award-winning stage and screen star Kathleen Turner will introduce Ralph Vaughan Williams’s A Sea Symphony. Read more

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San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Mystic Voices"

San Gabriel Valley Choral Company Presents "Mystic Voices"

101 Foothill Blvd., Monrovia, CA 91016

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

"Our 'Mystic Voices' concert explores themes of mysticism and spirituality in three parts,” said SGVCC’s Artistic Director Zanaida Robles. “Part one serves as an invocation, featuring music of various composers that invite listeners to be still, to be open, and to be transported. Part two features 'Five Mystical Songs' by Ralph Vaughan Williams - the main course in this feast of music and mysticism.  Part three is an affirmation of the spirit in a mix of African American spirituals and gospel music." Read more

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Feel the Spirit: Spirituals from African-American and other traditions

Feel the Spirit: Spirituals from African-American and other traditions

2121 Harrison St Oakland, CA

Dale Engle | Performance, Singing

Performance of African-American Spirituals has become a cornerstone of PME’s identity. Reflecting the full range of spiritual music, this concert will be full of contemplation, stillness, and shouting for joy! Read more

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Feel the Spirit: Spirituals from African-American and other traditions

Feel the Spirit: Spirituals from African-American and other traditions

401 Van Ness Avenue, San Francisco, CA

Dale Engle | Performance, Singing

Performance of African-American Spirituals has become a cornerstone of PME’s identity. Reflecting the full range of spiritual music, this concert will be full of contemplation, stillness, and shouting for joy! Read more

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Coro Allegro ... in time of war

Coro Allegro ... in time of war

Cambridge, MA

Coro Allegro |

Coro Allegro, a chorus for members and friends of the LGBT communities, affirms, strengthens, and enriches the lives of its members and the broader community through the presentation of outstanding performances of classical choral music. Read more

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ProMusica Arizona presents "A Night with Stradivarius"

ProMusica Arizona presents "A Night with Stradivarius"

Phoenix, Arizona

yvonne dolby | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Children/Youth, Families, General

ProMusica Arizona Chorale & Orchestra(PMAZ) is partnering with celebrated violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn to present “A Night with Stradivarius.”  The signature artist performs in partnership with one of the world’s most legendary instruments, the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius of 1720, said to have inspired the Academy Award-winning film “The Red Violin.” The event is a milestone for PMAZ—the group’s first concert in Phoenix’s beautiful and historic Orpheum Theatre, as well as its first collaboration with an artist whose performance credits include the great concert halls of the world. The concert is also the first appearance by the artist in Arizona.            Read more

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ProMusica Arizona presents "A Night with Stradivarius"

ProMusica Arizona presents "A Night with Stradivarius"

Phoenix, Arizona

yvonne dolby | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Children/Youth, Families, General

ProMusica Arizona Chorale & Orchestra(PMAZ) is partnering with celebrated violinist Elizabeth Pitcairn to present “A Night with Stradivarius.”  The signature artist performs in partnership with one of the world’s most legendary instruments, the Red Mendelssohn Stradivarius of 1720, said to have inspired the Academy Award-winning film “The Red Violin.” The event is a milestone for PMAZ—the group’s first concert in Phoenix’s beautiful and historic Orpheum Theatre, as well as its first collaboration with an artist whose performance credits include the great concert halls of the world. The concert is also the first appearance by the artist in Arizona.            Read more

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Community Show Choir "Hitmakers" Performance, June 15

Community Show Choir "Hitmakers" Performance, June 15

2707 Buffalo Speedway, Houston, TX 77098

Houston Choral ... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Civic Engagement, General, Participation, Performance, Repertoire, Singing, Venue, Volunteer

  The Houston Choral Showcase "Hitmakers" Spring Show will be June 15, featuring choral arrangements of hits from the 1950s to the present day and including some hot-off-the-press 2013 Oscar winners. Read more

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An American Tapestry

An American Tapestry

400 Squaw Creek Rd., Olympic Valley, 96146

Truckee Tahoe C... | Performance

The Truckee Tahoe Community Chorus is celebrating the rich history music plays in the fabric of America with their spring concert series titled “An American Tapestry.”  The concert will feature folk, dance, music theatre, and spiritual music depicting the diversity of music in American culture, both past and present.  www.singttcc.org Read more

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An American Tapestry

An American Tapestry

400 Squaw Creek Rd., Olympic Valley, 96146

Truckee Tahoe C... | Performance

The Truckee Tahoe Community Chorus is celebrating the rich history music plays in the fabric of America with their spring concert series titled “An American Tapestry.”  The concert will feature folk, dance, music theatre, and spiritual music depicting the diversity of music in American culture, both past and present.  www.singttcc.org   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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King FM Choral Music Channel

Enjoy Seattle’s First Online Choral Music Channel

In celebration of Chorus America’s Annual Conference coming to the Pacific Northwest, Classical KING FM has launched Seattle’s first all-choral music channel online at www.king.org. Listen 24 hours a day, 7 days a week for music from top choral groups, including winners of Chorus America’s Margaret Hillis Award for Choral Excellence.

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