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

Events

The Philadelphia Singers Presents Philadelphia Premiere of “Tchaikovsky and Schnittke”

The Philadelphia Singers Presents Philadelphia Premiere of “Tchaikovsky and Schnittke”

18th and Benjamin Franklin Parkway

Theodora W. Ashmead | Performance

Spanning 100 years of Russian choral music, this concert presents two different worlds of sacred composition, one composed by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, his Liturgy of St. John Chrysostom and the other a century later by Alfred Schnittke, his Choir Concerto. One an insider, the other an outcast, one composer commissioned by the Tsar, and the other composed under communist rule, while struggling to achieve artistic freedom. Hear why these pieces are so similar yet so uniquely different. This is the first time the works have been presented together in Philadelphia and it is also The Philadelphia Singers inaugural performance at the Cathedral Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul, a beautiful example of Roman-Corinthian architecture. Read more

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A Britten Centennial Celebration

A Britten Centennial Celebration

Fullerton, CA

Ryan McSweeney | Performance

Pacific Chorale and the John Alexander Singers pay tribute to the centenary of English composer Benjamin Britten (1913–1976), performing diverse selections from his choral output. Read more

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Toronto Mendelssohn Choir - Beethoven Missa Solemnis

Toronto Mendelssohn Choir - Beethoven Missa Solemnis

Toronto, Ontario

Toronto Mendels... | Audiences, General, Marketing/Public Relations, Performance, Professional, Symphonic

Immerse yourself in this grand symphonic work, an artistic testament to Beethoven’s spirituality. Read more

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Heritage Presents: 13th Annual Concert Sing On!

Heritage Presents: 13th Annual Concert Sing On!

4101 Nebraska Avenue, NW, Washington, DC 20016

Miriam Dixon | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Children/Youth, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, Fundraising, General, Impact/Value, Innovation, Management/Leadership, Marketing/Public Relations, Networking, Participation, Performance, Professional, Recruitment, Schools, Singing, Social Media, Symphonic, Venue, Volunteer

We Preserve the Past. We Inspire the Community. We Sing On. Join Heritage Signature Chorale for our annual concert which promises to stir your soul. Tickets may be purchased at www.heritagesignaturechorale.org or by phone (202) 808-0583. Read more

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The Son of Man

The Son of Man

Santa Clara and San Francisco, CA

Susan Rooke | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Innovation, Performance, Repertoire

The Peninsula Women's Chorus and The Golden Gate Men's Chorus collaborate in a West Coast premiere. Read more

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New and Ancient Voices - Interpreting Nature in China and the US

New and Ancient Voices - Interpreting Nature in China and the US

251 Main St., Great Barrington, MA. 01230

Kathi | Performance

Crescendo’s first two commissioned works written by New England composers Read more

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Amens and Alleluias

Amens and Alleluias

10000 Candelaria Rd. NE, Albuquerque, New Mexico

PatriciaAFairchild | Performance

Soli Musica Celebrates Spiritual and Gospel Music Read more

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“Made in America!”

“Made in America!”

1501 W. Ingomar Road Pittsburgh, PA 1237

PCCsing | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Performance, Professional, Singing

  An exciting concert saluting America and celebrating American composers! Music by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Morten Lauridsen and a new commissioned work by Dale Warland, plus spirituals, patriotic songs, folk songs and more! Read more

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 “Made in America!”

“Made in America!”

384 Fox Chapel Road, Pittsburgh, PA 15238

PCCsing | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Performance, Singing

An exciting concert saluting America and celebrating American composers! Music by Aaron Copland, Samuel Barber, Morten Lauridsen and a new commissioned work by Dale Warland, plus spirituals, patriotic songs, folk songs and more! Read more

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NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY   performs with  OPERA ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK   I LOMBARDI on APRIL 8 at 7:30

NEW YORK CHORAL SOCIETY performs with OPERA ORCHESTRA OF NEW YORK I LOMBARDI on APRIL 8 at 7:30

New York, NY

amandascoleman | General, Performance, Professional, Singing

  New York Choral Society (NYCS) will perform with Opera Orchestra of New York in Verdi’s I Lombardi, on Monday, April 8th in Avery Fisher Hall at Lincoln Center at 7:30pm. In an evening led by Eve Queler, NYCS will perform Verdi’s I Lombardi. The performance showcases some of today’s fast-rising operatic talent, including the dynamic tenor Michael Fabiano as “Oronte.”  and the glorious soprano Angela Meade as his paramour “Giselda.” Kevin Short will be singing the role of “Pagano”.  Cast also includes Brandon Cedel, Adam Bonanni, Courtney Johnson, Noah Baetge, Tom McNichols, and Elizabeth Baldwin.   The opera tells a tale of sibling rivalry in the ruling class, along with the epic story of conflict during the First Crusade. Verdi’s atmospheric score features some of his most powerful and exquisite choral writing.   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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