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

The Choral Music of Healey Willan: Part II

The Choral Music of Healey Willan: Part II

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Repertoire, Research/Data

Research Memorandum Series No. 188 Read more

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The Choral Music of Healey Willan: Part I

The Choral Music of Healey Willan: Part I

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Repertoire, Research/Data

Research Memorandum Series No. 187 Read more

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The Choral Music of R. Murray Schafer

The Choral Music of R. Murray Schafer

Chorus America Staff | Composing/Commissioning, Repertoire, Research/Data

Research Memorandum Series No. 184 Read more

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Events

Angel City Chorale 20th Anniversary Concerts

Angel City Chorale 20th Anniversary Concerts

Los Angeles, CA

Green Gal | General

Angel City Chorale will commemorate its first two decades in song with special reunion concerts on Saturday, June 1 and Sunday, June 2, 2013. The Angel City Chorale 20th Anniversary Concerts will feature the West Coast premiere of Grammy Award-Winning Composer Christopher Tin’s Calling All Dawns. Read more

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Choral Arts presents Life Stories: The Choral Music of Eric Barnum

Choral Arts presents Life Stories: The Choral Music of Eric Barnum

Seattle, WA

Choral Arts | Audiences, Children/Youth, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Education, General, Performance, Repertoire

An extraordinary concert devoted to the luminous harmonies and deep spirituality of one of America's foremost choral composers, Eric Barnum. This program features many of Barnum's most alluring works and includes the Seattle premiere of "Human Heart", performed as a combined finale with six exceptional student choirs. During the evening, Choral Arts will also premiere "Chronologic", its annual Finding Your Voice poetry contest commission. For more information visit: http://www.choral-arts.org/concerts/life-stories.html Read more

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IT'S OUR PARTY! A SWEET/SASSY 16 PARTY

IT'S OUR PARTY! A SWEET/SASSY 16 PARTY

200 South Grand Ave, Los Angeles, CA

Vox Femina Los ... | Adults/Seniors, Audiences, CA News, Children/Youth, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Composing/Commissioning, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, General, Performance, Schools

MISSION: Vox Femina Los Angeles gives women voice through the performance of quality choral literature. Diverse in culture, age, race, belief and sexual identity, we are a chorus committed to commissioning new works and raising awareness about issues that affect us as a family of women. Through music, we aim to create a world that affirms the worth and dignity of every person. Read more

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La hija de Rappaccini

La hija de Rappaccini

Brooklyn, NY

emilymt | Performance

GOTHAM CHAMBER OPERA presents La hija de Rappaccini Mondays, June 17 and 24, 2013 at 7pm At Brooklyn Botanic Garden Read more

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Bucks County Choral Society

Bucks County Choral Society

5175 Cold Spring Creamery Road, Doylestown, PA 18902

Leland Felt | Performance

BUCKS COUNTY CHORAL SOCIETY Thomas Lloyd, Artistic Director 40TH ANNIVERSARY CONCERT   Read more

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Verdi's Requiem

Verdi's Requiem

190 South Cascade Avenue Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Colorado Spring... |

G. Verdi's Requiem Guests of the Colorado Springs Philharmonic with assistance from the Colorado Vocal Arts Ensemble,  Soli Deo Gloria, and the Taylor Choir of Grace and St. Stephens Episcopal Church Read more

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A Choral Tapestry

A Choral Tapestry

Chevy Chase, MD

Ed Stawick |

Voices 21 closes its thirteenth season with a program that weaves an array of musical selections into one beautiful choral tapestry on the human response to nature's beauty. Read more

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A Choral Tapestry

A Choral Tapestry

Columbia, MD

Ed Stawick |

Voices 21 closes its thirteenth season with a program that weaves an array of musical selections into one beautiful choral tapestry on the human response to nature's beauty. Read more

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USAFA Band & Colorado Springs Chorale

USAFA Band & Colorado Springs Chorale

190 South Cascade Avenue, Colorado Springs, CO 80903

Colorado Spring... |

The Colorado Springs Regional Business Alliance Military Affairs Council and Mike Shaw Buick-GMC present The 2013 Armed Forces Week Concert, “Call of the Champions.” The Armed Forces Week celebration is one of the largest of its kind in the country. The Concert features the United States Air Force Academy Band, performing a program of inspirational and patriotic music and song. In 2012, over 2,000 people attended this event. The concert is open to the public, and is FREE of charge, although tickets are required. Tickets are available at the Pikes Peak Center and World Arena box offices beginning May 3rd. Limit 4 tickets per person. Read more

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SA Choral Society presents Beyond the Horizon: Music of the 20th and 21st Century

SA Choral Society presents Beyond the Horizon: Music of the 20th and 21st Century

230 E. Travis Street, San Antonio, TX 78205

Gustavo Rios Jr | Adults/Seniors, Children/Youth, Civic Engagement, Community Outreach, Conducting, Diversity, Education, Families, Fundraising, Participation, Performance, Singing, Volunteer

  Season finalé featuring music of the 20th and 21st century.   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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