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

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

Defiant Requiem: Verdi at Terezín

Thomas Sheets | History, Innovation, Performance, Profile, Repertoire, Singing

Performances of Verdi's Requiem by Jewish prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp inspire a present-day concert drama that explores the profround relationship between music and its performers. Read more

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Final Thoughts Before A Concert

Final Thoughts Before A Concert

An Interview with Craig Jessop

Chorus America Staff | Conducting, Rehearsal, Technique/Tool

Do you ever wonder what choral conductors think about after the last orchestra rehearsal before the big performance? Chorus America contributor Kelsey Menehan sat down with Craig Jessop at the Berkshire Choral Festival to find out. Read more

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Why People Who Hate Choral Music Love Carmina Burana

Why People Who Hate Choral Music Love Carmina Burana

Conductor Tom Hall on Why Its So Exciting

Chorus America Staff | Innovation, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

Since its premiere in 1937, Carl Orff's bawdy rollick through the fields and swamps of Love, Lust, and Booze has commanded the kind of following that rock bands dream of. Among the zipped up, stiffly starched giants of the choral repertoire, Carmina Burana is the bad girl who can't seem to keep her blouse buttoned. Read more

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Women in Choral Conducting: A Level Playing Field?

Women in Choral Conducting: A Level Playing Field?

Vivien Schweitzer | Careers, Children/Youth, Diversity, Governance

Men vastly outnumber women in orchestral conducting, but choruses tell a different story. What issues do women choral conductors face today? Read more

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When To Speak About Your Performance

When To Speak About Your Performance

Eric Booth | Audiences, Conducting, Performance

The goal of a concert is not to perform great music well, but to co-create personally relevant experiences together inside the music. Read more

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Marilyn Horne's Second Act

Marilyn Horne's Second Act

Kelsey Menehan | Community Outreach, Education, Profile

Marilyn Horne, one of America's most celebrated opera stars, decided to shine the spotlight on the next generation. Read more

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Choral Masterworks: Is Any One Version "The Best"?

Choral Masterworks: Is Any One Version "The Best"?

Chorus America Staff | Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

Choral conductor Tom Hall pulls back the veil on several well-loved choral works in this interview. Read more

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Singing with an Aging Voice

Singing with an Aging Voice

How Choristers and Choruses Can Address the Challenges Together

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Evaluation, Singing, Technique/Tool

As singers age, what used to be easy becomes harder—sustaining the high notes, singing through a phrase on one breath, doing a smooth crescendo and decrescendo. Here's a look at several strategies for overcoming the challenges of an aging voice. Read more

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Richard Westenburg: An Appreciation

Richard Westenburg: An Appreciation

Tom Hall | Conducting, Profile

Richard Westenburg, the founder of New York's famed chorus and orchestra, Musica Sacra, died of colon cancer on February 20, 2008. Westenburg had been an important fixture on the New York scene for more than 40 years. Read more

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David Lang on Hearing Music with Fresh Ears

David Lang on Hearing Music with Fresh Ears

David Lang | Audiences, Composing/Commissioning, Innovation, Performance, Profile

Composer David Lang tells about the creative vision of Bang on a Can: Take concerts apart and put them back together again so that music can be heard with fresh ears. 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

New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Red Bank

New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Red Bank

Red Bank, NJ

New Jersey Cham... | Performance

Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem stands among the most respected masterworks in the canon of choral repertoire.  Drawing inspiration from Gregorian chant, this requiem evokes a profound depth of human emotion that is timeless yet still speaks to the modern soul.  We invite you to surrender all that is out-of-reach and immerse yourself within the lush harmonic colors and generous textures of French romanticism.  Join us on this musical quest for healing as we explore both our human frailty and our spiritual immortality. Read more

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New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Manasquan

New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Manasquan

Manasquan, NJ

New Jersey Cham... | Performance, Repertoire

Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem stands among the most respected masterworks in the canon of choral repertoire.  Drawing inspiration from Gregorian chant, this requiem evokes a profound depth of human emotion that is timeless yet still speaks to the modern soul.  We invite you to surrender all that is out-of-reach and immerse yourself within the lush harmonic colors and generous textures of French romanticism.  Join us on this musical quest for healing as we explore both our human frailty and our spiritual immortality.  Read more

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New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Neptune

New Jersey Chamber Singers performs the Duruflé Requiem in Neptune

Neptune, NJ

New Jersey Cham... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Diversity, Families, General, Impact/Value, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire, Singing, Venue

Maurice Duruflé’s Requiem stands among the most respected masterworks in the canon of choral repertoire.  Drawing inspiration from Gregorian chant, this requiem evokes a profound depth of human emotion that is timeless yet still speaks to the modern soul.  We invite you to surrender all that is out-of-reach and immerse yourself within the lush harmonic colors and generous textures of French romanticism.  Join us on this musical quest for healing as we explore both our human frailty and our spiritual immortality. Read more

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The Washington Chorus Presents "Comin' Up Shoutin'"

The Washington Chorus Presents "Comin' Up Shoutin'"

Washington, DC

The Washington ... | Performance, Singing

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Masterworks at San Roque - Mozart and Beethoven

Masterworks at San Roque - Mozart and Beethoven

3200 Calle Cedro, Santa Barbara, CA

John A. Lynn | Audiences

  ·         JoAnne Wasserman, Conductor ·         Alexander Wasserman, Guest Artist, Piano ·         Mozart: Grand Mass in C Minor ·         Beethoven: Choral Fantasy Read more

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Time Zones ~~ Bach and Chaplin Merge!

Time Zones ~~ Bach and Chaplin Merge!

Pittsburgh, PA

BriGuySinger | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Children/Youth, Conducting, Diversity, Families, History, Impact/Value, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

The season of examining time and travel finishes with a juxtaposition of two distinct Time Zones, the first being that of our forebear and namesake, Johann Sebastian Bach, and the second being that of a writer, star and legend of the silent screen, Charlie Chaplin. In combining the musical genius of Bach with the brilliant silent narratives of Chaplin’s films, the Bach Choir bridges these two bountiful eras, creating a thought-provoking connection between artistic genres. Read more

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Mass Enlightenment

Mass Enlightenment

646 Richards Street, Vancouver, BC

Laudate Singers | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Education, History, Performance

From Palestrina to Poulenc, Dufay to Kostiainen: 500 years of the Mass celebrated by the pure voices of Laudate Singers. Read more

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Mass Enlightenment

Mass Enlightenment

1044 St Georges Avenue, North Vancouver, BC

Laudate Singers | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Diversity, Education, History, Performance, Singing

From Palestrina to Poulenc, Dufay to Kostiainen: 500 years of praise celebrated by the pure voices of Laudate Singers.   Read more

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Vox Femina Presents "Half the Sky" Choral Concert

Vox Femina Presents "Half the Sky" Choral Concert

Hollywood, CA

Green Gal | Performance

Vox Femina Los Angeles continues its 16th season with Half the Sky: Voices of Women Worldwide, a choral concert celebrating the courage and compassion of women around the globe, on Sunday, March 10, 2013 at 3:00pm at the Church of the Blessed Sacrament in Hollywood.  Read more

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SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS

SEVEN LAST WORDS FROM THE CROSS

Calgary, Alberta

Spiritus Chambe... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences

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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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