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Department of Choral Studies
For application to the MM and DMA graduate choral program for admission in fall 2010, go to www.ccm.uc.edu/admissions/index.aspx. Applications and tapes are due December 1, 2009. Qualified applicants will be invited to audition January 23 and 24, 2010.
CCM Choral Department hosts the Thursday, February 25, 2010 evening concert for the ACDA Central Division convention featuring CCM’s Chamber Choir, Chorale, Philharmonia Orchestra and Cincinnati Children’s Choir with Augusta Read Thomas’s Ring out, Wild bells, to the wild sky and Penderecki’s Credo. For additional information see the ACDA website
Faculty:
Earl
Rivers, Professor of Music and Director of Choral Studies
Brett Scott, Assistant Professor of Conducting
CCM's Choral Studies Program is internationally recognized for over forty
years of excellence in training conductors for successful, lifelong careers in
the choral arts. The Master of Music and Doctor of Music Arts programs provide
professional level experiences in rehearsals and performances, developing
musicianship and technique, and acquiring knowledge of styles, performance
practices and repertoire. MM and DMA graduates of CCM's Choral Studies programs
are conducting and administrating successful professional, collegiate,
symphonic, secondary, children's and church choirs programs throughout the
world.
Features of CCM's Graduate Choral Studies MM and DMA Programs:
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Opportunities to conduct the Chamber Singers, a 50-voice mixed chorus of music
majors rehearsing three days weekly and producing an annual nine-concert series prepared and conducted
exclusively by graduate MM and DMA choral conducting majors, under the
mentorship of choral faculty.
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Significant amounts of podium time with a variety of ensemble experiences.
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Two-year positions for DMA choral majors as directors of the
University of Cincinnati Men's and Women's Choruses, which perform
quarterly concerts, make an annual spring tour, and sing masterworks with
orchestra.
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Eight Choral Graduate Assistantships offering competitive stipends and full
tuition waivers, with additional Graduate Assistantships available in
Accompanying, Music Education, Music History and Music Theory.
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Access to America's greatest resources of choral scores through the CCM Choral
library, with multiple scores of over 3,500 works; the
Dale Warland Singers Performance Score Library, with multiple scores to
over 1,100 works, (270 being commissioned works); and the
University of Cincinnati Libraries, which offer borrowing privileges from
all academic libraries in Ohio through Ohio-Link.
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Intensive studies in instrumental conducting and score preparation.
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Two-year studies (six quarters) of the Survey of Choral Literature (Renaissance
through Contemporary) and additional specialized studies in current choral
literature.
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Exposure to master conductors and internationally acclaimed choirs through
conducting masterclasses, residencies, workshops, and performances. Past master
conductors at CCM have included Charlene Archibeque, Harry Christophers,
Stephen Cleobury, Fiora Contino, Stephen Darlington, Vance George, George
Guest, Tom Hall, William Hatcher, Thomas Hilbish, Joseph Jennings, Peter Phillips,Johannes
Prinz, Richard Sparks, Dale Warland, Jon Washburn, Richard Westerberg and Sir David Willcocks.
Masterclasses have included internationally known ensembles, with MM and DMA
choral majors conducting the Dale Warland Singers under the mentorship of Dale
Warland, The Sixteen under the mentorship of Harry Christophers, and the Tallis Scholars under the mentorship of Peter Phillips.
- Opportunities for generous financial support for research, for travel and
fees for conducting competitions, masterclasses, workshops and conferences through the
Friends of CCM and the Tangeman Sacred
Music Center.
For details of the Choral Program MM and DMA degree requirements,
see the CCM Bulletin, (download from CCM website home page) pp. 26-30 for Graduate Program information, pp. 34- 35 for
MM, and pp. 45-47 for DMA.
Choral Ensembles
The Choral Department maintains five choral ensembles -- the 40-voice Chamber
Choir, 60-voice Chorale, 50-voice Chamber Singers, and 100-voice University
Men's and Women's Choruses. Choral majors are often engaged as assistant conductors,
accompanists, and administrators for the Vocal
Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, a 24-voice professional chamber choir, and
the Cincinnati Children's Choir,
Ensemble-in-Residence at CCM, of 300 children and youth in five ensembles.
- Chamber Choir
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The CCM Chamber Choir is a graduate-based ensemble of 40 voice and choral majors under the direction of Earl Rivers that performs masterworks with chamber orchestra and miniatures from the historical standard repertory and contemporary periods. The Chamber Choir rotates the cycle of J.S. Bach's masterworks- Mass in B Minor, Christmas Oratorio, St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion. In November 2009 the Chamer Choir presents a Composer Anniversary Concert featuring Handel’s Israel in Egypt (Part I), Purcell’s Funeral Music for Queen Mary, Haydn’s The Seasons (Autumn), and Mendelssohn’s Die erste Walpurgisnacht. In May 2010 Chamber Choir presents Lauridsen’s Madrigali: Six Fire Songs on Italian Renaissance Texts and Poulenc’s Chansons Françaises. Recent national activities of the Chamber Choir include acclaimed performances of Handel’s Dixit Dominus at the 2001 ACDA National Convention in San Antonio and of si placet works of Josquin and his contemporaries at the 2002 American Musicological Society National Convention. In 2003 the Chamber Choir presented Bach's Mass in B Minor and an all-American program on a concert tour of Portugal. In 2008 the Chamber Choir performed the Midwest premieres of Tan Dun's Water Passion after St. Matthew and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Midwest and collegiate premieres of Bastian Clevé’s film, The Sound of Eternity. Four ACDA Central Division Convention appearances by the Chamber Choir in recent seasons have included J.S. Bach's Mass in B Minor; a program of American composers Carol Barnett, Cary John Franklin, William Hawley, and Aaron Jay Kernis; Interest Sessions on "Performance Practices of J.S. Bach exhibited through the Christmas Oratorio"; and "Music for chorus and mixed instruments" featuring works of David Brunner, Libby Larsen, Morton Lauridsen, Louise Talma, and Jeffrey Van. The Chamber Choir combines with the Chorale twice annually to perform choral/orchestral masterworks.
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CCM Chorale
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The Chorale is an undergraduate based ensemble of 60 voices with a core of undergraduate voice majors under the direction of Brett Scott that performs a wide range of music including a cappella and accompanied standard and contemporary repertoire. Chorale will perform Britten’sRejoice in the Lamb and Vaughan Williams’s Five Mystical Songs in November 2009. In March 2010 the Chorale joins the Philharmonia for an evening of Bel Canto opera highlights, and in May 2010 presents Elgar’s Three Part Songs, op. 18 and Grieg’s Fire Salmer (Four Psalms).
The Chorale frequently combines with the Chamber Choir to perform with the Cincinnati May Festival, the western hemisphere's oldest continuing choral festival. Recent May Festival performances with the combined Chorale and Chamber Choir have featured the Mahler Symphony No. 8 conducted by James Conlon (2004) and Berlioz Requiem conducted by James Levine (2005).
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Masterworks with the Chamber Choir, Chorale and Orchestra
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The Chamber Choir and Chorale combine twice annually to present major choral/orchestral works with the CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestras. Featured in 2009-10 are Penderecki’sCredo (collegiate premiere), Augusta Read Thomas’sRing out, Wild bells, to the wild sky, and Brahms’s Maria, Begräbnisgesang, and Alto Rhapsody.
Chamber Singers
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The Chamber Singers is a 50-voice mixed chorus of music majors conducted
exclusively by graduate MM and DMA choral majors, under the mentorship of
choral faculty. MM and DMA choral majors gain professional conducting training
through rehearsals and performances of the Chamber Singers, performing a
varied repertoire of a cappella, accompanied, and chamber works from all
style periods. Chamber Singers rehearsals are followed by masterclasses for MM and DMA choral majors with choral and guest artist faculty.
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University Men’s and Women’s
Choruses
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The University Men's and Women's Choruses of 100 voices are comprised of
undergraduate students from the UC's thirteen component colleges. DMA choral
majors with significant experience are awarded the Directorships of two these ensembles. The University Choruses perform a diverse
repertoire of a cappella, accompanied, folk, spirituals, world music,
and annual masterworks with orchestra. They present quarterly concerts on
campus, appear on CCM’s Feast of Carols, and make an annual spring weekend tour.
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