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:

• 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.
• Significant amounts of podium time with a variety of ensemble experiences.
• 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.
• 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.
• 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.
• Intensive studies in instrumental conducting and score preparation.
• Two-year studies (six quarters) of the Survey of Choral Literature (Renaissance through Contemporary) and additional specialized studies in current choral literature.
• 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

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.

CCM Chorale

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).

Masterworks with the Chamber Choir, Chorale and Orchestra

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

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.

University Men’s and Women’s Choruses

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.