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

Your Desert Island Discs

Your Desert Island Discs

Chorus America Staff | Impact/Value, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic

If you were stranded on a desert island, what choral music recording would you take with you? When we asked this of some 600 choral singers, many of them thought the question was—how to put this delicately?—ill-advised. Read more

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Alice Parker: Finding the Music in the Text

Alice Parker: Finding the Music in the Text

Alice Parker | Composing/Commissioning, Profile

Which comes first—the melody or the lyrics? Composer Alice Parker explains her creative process. Read more

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Singing Seniors

Singing Seniors

Good for the Body, Good for the Soul

Kelsey Menehan | Adults/Seniors, Community Outreach, Health, Impact/Value, Participation, Singing

Senior choruses are springing up all over, and singers are reaping the benefits of meaningful community involvement, increased social interaction, and better health. Read more

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Brazeal Dennard Celebrates 60 Years

Brazeal Dennard Celebrates 60 Years

Chorus America Staff | Conducting, Diversity, Profile

Sixty years ago Brazeal Dennard stood up before the Angelic Choir of the Peoples Baptist Church in Detroit for the first time as its conductor. We profile the life and career of this champion for African-American music and composers. [Editor's note: Brazeal Dennard sadly passed away in July 2010.] Read more

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New Voices on Composing and Commissioning

New Voices on Composing and Commissioning

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Technique/Tool

Are more composers increasingly looking to the choral genre as a means for expression? We explore the issue in this roundtable discussion featuring Heather Hitchens of Meet The Composer, John Nuechterlein of the American Composers Forum, and Joanne Hubbard Cossa of the American Music Center. Read more

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Working with the Music Director

Working with the Music Director

Chorus America Staff | Conducting, Governance, Management/Leadership

Artistic leadership of a chorus is both an individual balancing act and a highly collaborative endeavor. Read more

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Choral Music: Worth Listening To

Choral Music: Worth Listening To

Tom Hall | Audiences, Impact/Value, Marketing/Public Relations, Performance

When choruses take the time to really sing the text—be it biblical or poetic, somber or silly—we demonstrate the moral consequence of lives that are animated by beauty, passion, and love. Read more

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How to Choose Chorus Apparel

How to Choose Chorus Apparel

Lawana Holland | Marketing/Public Relations, Operations, Performance

Finding the right look for your chorus is no easy undertaking. Here's a look at the questions you should consider before making a decision on what your chorus should wear on stage. Read more

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Learning for Life: A Conducting Masterclass

Learning for Life: A Conducting Masterclass

Karen Deans | Careers, Conducting, Education

Cellists hang out with the other cellists, singers hang out with other singers, but conductors—who do they hang out with? Stephen Czarkowski and 31 other conductors hung out together for four days in May 2006 to share with each other, explore some of the great works in the choral-orchestral repertoire, and learn from some of the nation's finest choral conductors. Read more

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Vance George: My Life in Choral Music So Far

Vance George: My Life in Choral Music So Far

Vance George | Conducting, Impact/Value, Profile, Repertoire

Vance George, former director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, reflects on a lifetime of musicmaking. 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

Purcell The Indian Queen

Purcell The Indian Queen

Boston, MA

Handel and Hayd... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, Awards, Careers, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, General, Impact/Value, Performance, Singing, Symphonic, Venue

H&H presents a program of comedy, romance, intrigue, and beautiful music with this dramatic semi-opera and scenes from other Purcell works. Read more

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Susquehanna Chorale "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi

Susquehanna Chorale "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi

500 Walnut St., Harrisburg, PA

Susquehanna Cho... | Audiences

Hear the drama as the Susquehanna Chorale appears with Stuart Malina and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra to bring this popular Italian opera to life in a passionate concert performance. Read more

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Susquehanna Chorale "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi

Susquehanna Chorale "La Traviata" by Giuseppe Verdi

500 Walnut St., Harrisburg, PA

Susquehanna Cho... | Audiences

Hear the drama as the Susquehanna Chorale appears with Stuart Malina and the Harrisburg Symphony Orchestra to bring this popular Italian opera to life in a passionate concert performance. Read more

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The Complete Conductor: Orchestral Conducting for the Choral Director

The Complete Conductor: Orchestral Conducting for the Choral Director

New York City

Jeffery Thyer | Conducting, Education, General, Networking, Performance, Professional, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Technique/Tool

The Complete Conductor: Orchestral Conducting for the Choral Director is an intensive program for choral directors to gain more experience in working with an orchestra. Read more

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ELIOGABALO

ELIOGABALO

New York City

emilymt | Performance

Gotham Chamber Opera continues its 2012-2013 Season with ELIOGABALO (1667) by Francesco Cavalli. This production of Eliogabalo will be staged by James Marvel and produced in cooperation with Randy Weiner (Sleep No More) in one of New York’s most decadent nightspots: The Box, on the Lower East Side. Read more

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Masterworks at San Roque - Mozart and Beethoven

Masterworks at San Roque - Mozart and Beethoven

Santa Barbara, CA

John A. Lynn |

  ·         JoAnne Wasserman, Conductor ·         Alexander Wasserman, Guest Artist, Piano ·         Mozart: Grand Mass in C Minor ·         Beethoven: Choral Fantasy   Artistic Director and Conductor JoAnne Wasserman will lead pianist Alexander Wasserman and members of the Choral Society in performances of Mozart’s Grand Mass in C Minor and Beethoven’s Choral Fantasy.     Date & Time:     Saturday, March 9, 2013 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, March 10, 2013 at 3 p.m. New pre-concert event: Dr. Stephen Dombek presents a lively discussion about the music 30 minutes before each performance (for ticketholders). Location:            San Roque Catholic Church – 3200 Calle Cedro, Santa Barbara   Cost:                   $20 in advance; $25 at the door; $20 seniors/students (all tickets). For group discounts, call 965-6577.   Tickets are available online at www.sbchoral.org and at Chaucer’s Books or call (805) 965-6577. Read more

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Santa Barbara Choral Society Presents Handel’s Messiah/Holiday Concert

Santa Barbara Choral Society Presents Handel’s Messiah/Holiday Concert

3200 Calle Cedro, Santa Barbara, CA

John A. Lynn | Audiences

  Let the power of 100 singers uplift you as the Santa Barbara Choral Society presents Handel’s Messiah Part 1 in a special holiday concert. Giving voice to the deepest sentiments of the holidays, the Santa Barbara Choral Society, soloists and orchestra, will fill the brilliantly resonant space of San Roque Catholic Church with sounds of comfort and joy.    Artistic Director JoAnne Wasserman will lead soprano Celeste Tavera, mezzo-soprano Diana Tash, tenor Ben Brecher, and Music Academy alum, bass DeAndre Simmons, along with the Santa Barbara Choral Society orchestra and the members of the Choral Society in the performance of Handel’s Messiah Part 1, and evocative arrangements of traditional holiday texts from chant to contemporary. Following the Messiah Part 1, the second half of the concert features some new pieces that the Choral Society has never performed before as well as several traditional holiday pieces.    Date: Saturday, December 15, 2012 at 8 p.m. and Sunday, December 16, 2012 at 3 p.m. Location:  San Roque Catholic Church – 3200 Calle Cedro, Santa Barbara Cost: $20 – in advance (all tickets); $25 – adults at the door; $20 – seniors/students - $20 For group discounts call (805) 965-6577   Tickets are available online at www.sbchoral.org and at Chaucer’s Books. Read more

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Handel's Messiah (Period Performance) in Kansas City

Handel's Messiah (Period Performance) in Kansas City

Mission, KS & Kansas City, MO

Spire Chamber E... |

Handel's Messiah (Period Performance) Period Performance featuring the Spire Baroque Orchestra and Soloists from the Choir Read more

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New York City Master Chorale: Tenors Wanted

New York City Master Chorale: Tenors Wanted

New York, NY

elee | Diversity, General, Participation, Performance, Professional, Recruitment, Rehearsal, Repertoire, Singing, Symphonic, Volunteer

The New York City Master Chorale, a 70-member classical chorus, is auditioning tenors with significant choral experience and strong sight-reading skills. Auditions for the spring 2013 season will be held in January 2013. Rehearsals are held Wednesday evenings in Manhattan. Repertoire this spring will be Poulenc Gloria and Stabat Mater. Spring concerts include a spring concert and a March performance as part of Trinity Wall Street’s Concerts at One series. To schedule an audition please contact info@nycmasterchorale.org. For more information about the chorus and to listen to audio clips of the chorus, please see www.nycmasterchorale.org.   Read more

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Star of the East - Christmas Concert

Star of the East - Christmas Concert

Chicago, Il

Oak Park Concer... |

The Oak Park Concert Chorale (OPCC), led by director Paul Lindblad, will present Star of the East. Join us for an evening of choral gems to herald the Christmas Season.  Three newly commissioned works by Paul Bouman, Carl Schalk and Harvey Hahn will be the centerpiece of this inspiring concert which also features carols from the Medieval, Baroque and 20th Century.   We hope you will be able to be with us for this festive Christmas concert! It will be an evening to remember. 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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