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See also the Choir Auditions page for ongoing audition ads from choirs.
Finishing off its 2011-2012 season and continuing its tradition of presenting an annual choral masterwork by an opera composer, Taconic Opera will be offering two performances of Petite Messe Solenelle by Gioacchino Rossini, the composer of The Barber of Seville, Cinderella (La Cenerentola) and many others. Since this work is a favorite among choral singers, the company is extending an invitation to them to collaborate in this concert program featuring the Taconic Opera chorus, and professional lead singers and orchestra. The concert will be conducted under the baton of Dan Montez, General Director of the Taconic Opera.
Completed in Rossini's later years and one of very few works he offered to the public during those years, he describes with characteristic wit why he chose to write a sacred mass: "Good God--behold completed this poor little Mass. You know well, I was born for comic opera. Little science, a little heart, that is all. So may you be blessed, and grant me Paradise!" The Emperor Napolean found the mass to be neither little (Petite), solemn (Solennelle) or even liturgical. Audiences find this controversial but exciting work fascinating, unique and a true pleasure for the ear and the heart to experience.
Performances are at the Ossining United Methodist Church on Saturday, June 2, 2012 at 7:30 PM, and Sunday, June 3, 2012 at 3:00 PM. Chorus rehearsals will take place on 801 Kitchewan Road (Route 134) and will begin around March 28 and will continue on Saturdays from 3 to 5 PM and Wednesdays from 7 to 9 PM until the concert dates. Choral singers wishing to learn the piece for the first time or eager to wipe the dust off of their old score are encouraged to join. There are no membership fees, but singers must supply their own music. A short, painless, friendly audition is required and will be done by appointment at a convenient time for the auditioner. For further questions, concerns or to schedule an audition, contact Mary Corda at divamaryc@aol.com or (914) 649-1826.
Posted 2/1/2012.
Expires 4/1/2012.
Pond Road Middle School in Robbinsville, NJ is in need of a rehearsal accompanist for its production of Disney's Beauty and the Beast for February 2 and 3 from 3:00-5:30 and February 6 and 7 from 3:00-6:00. Please contact Grant Mech at grantmech@gmail.com for further details, including remuneration.
Posted 2/1/2012.
Expires 2/7/2012.
The MetropoliTones are looking for new talent to join our NYC-based Seven Sisters a cappella group. We'd love to hear you audition this Saturday, February 4! We are interested in all voice parts as well as vocal percussion/beatbox. Our group is comprised of all Seven Sisters College grads who love to create vocal harmonies and rock the a cappella scene together! Check us out at www.metropolitones.com. For questions or to reserve your audition time, please contact director@metropolitones.com.
Posted 1/31/2012.
Expires 2/4/2012.
The NJ Association of Verismo Opera Chorus (Verismo Opera) announces auditions to be held throughout February. Male choristers, who are tenors, baritones, and basses, are especially needed.
The only professional, grand opera company based in North Jersey continues its new performance season, "A Year of Love, Tragedy, and Suicide," with the production of Giuseppe Verdi's Il Trovatore on April 20 at 7:30 PM and April 22 at 3:00 PM, and Giacomo Puccini's Madama Butterfly in the fall at the Bergen Performing Arts Center (bergenPAC) in Englewood, New Jersey and other venues.
Auditions for the chorus will be held on Wednesdays, February 1, February 15, and February 29 from 8:00 to 9:00 PM at 44 Armory Street in Englewood, New Jersey. Applicants should bring one or two songs to perform. An accompanist will be provided.
Sight-reading ability is definitely a plus, but not necessary. No prior stage experience is required. An application may be downloaded at www.njavo.org/chorus.html. For information or to schedule an appointment to audition for the chorus, call (201) 886-0561.
Posted 1/30/2012.
Expires 3/1/2012.
Harmonium Choral Society announces its 15th Annual New
Jersey High School Student Choral Composition Contest. The contest is open
to all students enrolled in grades nine through twelve in any public or
private school in the State of New Jersey. It is also open to all students
who are legal residents of New Jersey participating in home schooling at
the high school level.
Harmonium invites eligible students to submit their original choral
compositions no later than March 5, 2012. Compositions must be five
minutes or less in length and based on Psalm 121 or selected texts from
works by 19th Century English poets. To view a list of texts, guidelines
and additional contest materials, visit harmonium.org/contest.shtml
or contact entry coordinator Marty Sedek at ccc@harmonium.org.
Posted 1/26/2012.
Expires 3/6/2012.
Please take a moment to take a look at the info for Choral Chameleon's June Institute this year! You'll find details at www.choralchameleon.com/the-choral-chameleon-institute.html. This is a wonderful, unique, and economical NYC-based opportunity for young and emerging composers and conductors of choral music. I'm so pleased that both Vance George and Matthew Oltman will join our faculty this year, making the educational experience for our students absolutely invaluable.
This institute promises not only the premieres of new and exciting works and an amazing educational opportunity for all the students, but also what we feel will be a great addition to the enrichment of choral-music-life in New York City. We're thrilled about it and we hope that you might see fit to pass this info along to others (students and colleagues) whom you feel might flourish with us for these eight days in June.
Posted 1/26/2012.
Expires 4/26/2012.
I am traveling to New York in February this Year with the Welsh School Choir, known as Crescendo from North Wales in the UK. The choir is a Welsh Language school choir, which includes over 40, 12-18 year old students. They sing in both English and the Welsh language. After recent successes the choir have been invited to perform in New York. We have a number of arranged concerts but are still looking for a venue to perform or a concert to be part of during the day or evening of the 11th of February.
The choir has been successful recently in the National Choir competition together with TV performances of Sister Act and their Christmas Concert which received much acclaim. If you have a venue to suggest, please contact Dylan Jones at DRJ@yale-wrexham.ac.uk.
Posted 1/26/2012.
Expires 2/11/2012.
NYC Chant Camp, Saturday, February 11, 2012, 11 AM-1:30 PM: "Vespers: a Treasury of Plainchant" with Susan Hellauer of Anonymous 4 and ChantVillage.com, at Immanuel Lutheran Church,122 East 88th Street (undercroft), New York City.
The evening services of the Divine Office -- Vespers and Compline -- were drawn upon by Renaissance and Baroque composers for some of their greatest works.
Learn about and sing plainchant Vespers and Compline masterpieces, including hymns, psalms, the Magnificat and the great Marian antiphon Salve Regina.
This Chant Camp is produced in association with Artek's performance of a 17th-century Vespers in the Grand Venetian Style, Saturday, February 11, 2012 at 8 PM, for eight singers, strings, historical brass and winds. With members of Piffaro and guest Michael Collver, cornetto. For more information, visit www.chantvillage.com/events.php. Susan will also be giving the pre-concert lecture, on the monastic and plainchant origins of Vespers and Compline at 7:00 PM at the concert venue.
Posted 1/26/2012.
Expires 2/17/2012.
If your choir is looking to revamp its website, use social media to generate more interest, and/or streamline its email communications, I can help. My name is Mary and I'm an online marketing professional as well as a choral singer. I've sung with Dessoff, C4 and Amuse, and I currently sing with Accord Treble Choir and in the parish choir at Zion Episcopal in Queens. Get the most out of your marketing efforts and see what social media can do for your choir. For more information, please contact me at m.kaufman777@gmail.com.
Posted 1/26/2012.
Expires 4/26/2012.
VOICES Chorale announces that its annual Children's Music Composition Contest will culminate in a Young Composer Concert on April 17, 2012, 7 PM, at Music Together in Hopewell, NJ. Children ages 5 to 12 are invited to compose a piece of music with a vocal element for a soloist or choral ensemble, either unaccompanied or with instrumental accompaniment. The music can be written down in any kind of notation, formal or invented. Parents, piano teachers and music teachers are invited to support, but not edit, the child's composition, as children hear things in their own imaginations differently from adults. Please submit a recording and three written copies of the child's music (with the child's name and age, assisting adult's name, phone number, address and child's background in music), together with a $12.00 processing fee, to VOICES Composition Contest, PO Box 404, Pennington, NJ 08534. Deadline for submissions: March 1, 2012. For additional information on this contest and free song-writing workshops for children and their parents, please leave a message at 609-637-9383, or e-mail voiceschoralevp@aol.com.
Posted 1/23/2012.
Expires 3/1/2012.
The New York Continuo Collective will offer a three class course on ornamentation of the early Baroque to be taught by Paul Shipper. While designed primarily for vocalists, the course is open to interested instrumentalists, as well. The class will concentrate on three elements:
- How to build a vocabulary of useful, stylistic ornaments
- The musical, textual and emotional function of ornamentation
- Proper technique to establish speed, accuracy, timing and color
Posted 1/20/2012. Expires 2/14/2012.
Looking for a beatboxer/vocal percussionist between the ages of 25 and 35 to join a newly formed co-ed a cappella group. We rehearse once a week on Wednesdays in Union Square, and performances will start late Spring. We will be performing a wide range of music; pop, soul, funk, indie, oldies, country, etc. Please respond with a short description of your experience. If you can sing, it is a definite plus but not required. Only serious applicants should respond. Auditions will be held at our studio in early February. Reply to Becky Froman at beckyfroman@gmail.com.
Posted 1/20/2012.
Expires 2/9/2012.
Looking for basses and sopranos, between the ages of 25 and 35, with strong singing experience, to join a newly formed co-ed a cappella group. We rehearse once a week in Union Square, and performances will start late Spring. We'll be singing a wide range of music; pop, soul, funk, indie, oldies, country, etc. Please respond with a short description of your experience, your voice part, and the type of music you enjoy singing and listening to (name a few artists). Arranging experience and vocal percussion experience is a definite plus! Only serious applicants should apply. Auditions will be held at our studio on Thursday, February 2. Reply to Becky Froman at beckyfroman@gmail.com.
Posted 1/20/2012.
Expires 2/9/2012.
The Manhattan Choral Ensemble announces a composition contest. Composers local to New York City (living within 50 miles) are invited to submit a short (2.5-3 minute) work for 4-part chorus based on a text in some way associated with, connected to, or appropriate to New York City (for example, a setting of text by a New York City poet/ writer -- anyone from Walt Whitman to Langston Hughes to Patti Smith). The work should be a new composition that has not yet been premiered. The work should be of a level of difficulty that it would require a maximum of three hours of rehearsal to prepare for performance. The general repertoire difficulty of the Manhattan Choral Ensemble can be ascertained through the concert listings on the group's website at www.manhattanchoralensemble.org. Note: It is the responsibility of the composer to secure permission to use any texts not in the public domain.
Three winners will be chosen by a committee including MCE Director Thomas Cunningham and Artistic Advisor George Andoniadis. Each winner will receive a $500 award and a performance by the Manhattan Choral Ensemble on May 12, 2012. Additionally, one work will be chosen through audience voting on the night of the performance. The composer of the chosen work will receive an additional $500.
Submissions must be received by March 1, 2012. Electronic submissions are acceptable. There is no fee to apply. Submissions should be e-mailed to info@manhattanchoralensemble.org or (if not possible to send electronically) mailed to Manhattan Choral Ensemble,
PO Box 2044, New York, NY 10108-2044.
Posted 1/20/2012.
Expires 3/1/2012.
My name is Fabio Pace, I am the president of the Choir Voci del Baldo -- City of Verona, a famous male choir with a wide popular repertoire. In our choir there are 30 singers aged 20 to 65 years old. Since 1955 our choir has performed hundreds of concerts throughout Europe and the U.S.A, and has won many awards in national competitions. We also recorded seven long-playings and CDs.
Our choir is settled in Verona, a very famous city, where we organize an important meeting called "Meet with the bigger choirs." Next year (2012) we would like to organize this meeting with a prestigious exchange with a choir from abroad. In this exchange we offer and ask for good quality accommodation. We need to operate on reciprocal basis, such as number of concerts, number of people, length of stay -- 7/8 days if overseas countries, 4/5 days if European countries -- hotel category, coach available during your stay, possible sightseeing in Venice or Florence or Dolomites....
Other points can be discussed on the spot, in any case we ask and offer top seriousness and high reliability! At the airports of Verona, Bergamo / Milan and Venice / Treviso several low cost flights are available from/to European destinations.
Our desire is to meet a friendly choir with a great musical curriculum.
You can find further information about us by visiting www.corovocidelbaldo.com (unfortunately only in Italian!) If you are interested in evaluating other details, please don't hesitate to contact me. Fabio Pace, Via Casaletto, 4, 37131 VERONA/MONTORIO (Italy). 00393483502166 or 003945557190. E-mail fabio_pace@alice.it.
Posted 1/18/2012.
Expires 4/18/2012.
Upcoming Western Wind vocal ensemble workshops:
- Big Apple 1-Day Workshop, Saturday, January 21, 2012, 10 AM to 5:30 PM at The Church of St. Luke in the Fields, 487 Hudson Street (at Grove Street in New York's Greenwich Village). Tuition: $105; 25% discount for first-time participants at any Western Wind workshop.
- Winter Wonderland Workshop In Ensemble Singing, February 17-20, 2012, All Souls Unitarian Church at the West Village Meeting House in Brattleboro, VT.
Posted 1/18/2012. Expires 2/18/2012.
The UK branch of the Tallis Scholars Summer Schools is dedicated to exploring our great heritage of Renaissance choral music and developing a performance style appropriate to it, as pioneered by the Tallis Scholars. Under the direction of Peter Phillips and members of the Tallis Scholars we work on concert and service repertoire in a variety of small and medium sized groups. The week's activities culminate in a Gala Concert by summer school participants, directed by Peter Phillips. The course also includes individual vocal tuition with members of the Tallis Scholars, for those that would like it, as well as a programme of talks and sung services in the chapel.
The course this year will be taking place at Uppingham School on 7-14 July 2012. Activities are based around the chapel, located minutes from the picturesque and historic town centre. We welcome applicants aged 18 and over with good sightreading skills. The deadline for applications is 27 February 2012. Repertoire for 2012: Theme: "Battle, Celebration and Grief" featuring works by Josquin, Guerrero, Morales, Gabrieli and settings of When David heard. Please have a look at our website at www.tsss.uk.com/UK/general_information.php for more information
Posted 1/18/2012.
Expires 4/18/2012.
Auditions for the New York Community Men's Choir will be held this Saturday, January 21 from 10 AM to 12 noon at The Winthrop School, 905 Winthrop Street, Brooklyn, NY 11203. Financial compensation for the selected singers is available. If interested in auditioning, contact conductor John Hunter at hunterjj14@mounties.mansfield.edu or contact Mr. John Robinson at 347-409-3860. For the auditions you will need to have at least one prepared piece and be prepared to sight read. For more information please visit wix.com/choral7/nycommunitymenschoir.
Posted 1/16/2012.
Expires 2/16/2012.
Rare choral singer opportunity: go on tour with Ghostlight!
We are auditioning all voice parts. We are looking for confident, committed and open-minded singers with choral a cappella experience, sight-reading abilities, excellent intonation and a positive professional attitude. You need to be able to hold down a part on your own and be proficient in the pronunciation of Latin, German and English (French optional).
We are currently preparing for our tour to Germany (July 20 to July 29, 2012) which will be an artistically and personally rewarding experience. Ghostlight will be performing in some of the most prestigious concert venues overseas! This is just one of our many exciting events in 2012. As of the moment, we only except new singers that are available for these tour dates, and are committed and excited to be bringing America's finest choral music to Europe. E-mail Evelyn Troester at ghostlight.chorus@gmail.com to set up an audition. Looking forward to hearing from you!
Posted 1/15/2012.
Expires 4/15/2012.
The Princeton Festival Conducting Workshop with Dr. Jerry Blackstone: Held June 24-28, 2012, this 5-day professional conducting workshop will offer practical rehearsal strategies, choral warm-up ideas, and sessions on performance issues, score study and preparation, creating compelling performances, and readings of new and recently published choral literature for choirs of all levels. Conductors and auditors will participate in daily conducting masterclasses with Dr. Blackstone and each conductor will conduct the Festival chorus twice daily. The workshop will culminate in a public performance led by the participant conductors.
Enrollment is limited to 8 conductors, with no limit for auditors or singers. For more information about fees, deadlines and application procedures, visit The Princeton Festival's website at www.princetonfestival.org/events/2012/choral-workshop.php.
Posted 1/14/2012.
Expires 4/14/2012.
The Down Town Glee Club, an all-male chorale that was founded 85 years ago, is looking for an interim conductor for its Spring Concert, which will take place at Saint Peter's Church, East 54th Street and Lexington Avenue, NYC on Thursday, May 3, 2012 at 7:30 PM. Rehearsals and auditions begin on Tuesday, January 17 starting at 6:30 PM for two hours in Lower Manhattan. Rehearsals continue on every Tuesday thereafter for two hours and conclude with a dress rehearsal on Wednesday, May 2. There are parking garages and good public transportation, including the A, E, 2, 3 and PATH trains to Fulton Street. Concert program will primarily consist of popular music, the songs of the Great American Songbook and traditional choral music. The Club expects to field twenty singers and is always seeking new members, particularly first tenors and second basses. For information, please contact Elmer Joerg at 848-333-2203, elmerjoerg@aol.com or visit our website at www.downtowngleeclub.org.
Posted 1/13/2012.
Expires 3/13/2012.
Jill Burstein, soprano and an experienced church musician, is now available for all your events. She is available for substitute work, and is also looking for a regular position in New Jersey, Manhattan and the greater New York City area. For more information, please e-mail her at jbopera@gmail.com.
Posted 1/8/2012.
Expires 4/8/2012.
Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts (www.usdan.com), the nationally acclaimed summer arts day camp now entering its 45th season, announces that its next Open House will be on Sunday, January 22, 2012 from 11 AM to 2 PM. In addition to the Center's frequent Open House dates, Usdan also offers individual weekend guided tours available by appointment. Weekday self-guided walks are also available on the Center's magnificent 200-acre woodland campus at 185 Colonial Springs Road, Wheatley Heights (Huntington), New York 11798. For more information on these, call Gail London at (631) 643-7900. Information on the Center is also available by calling the NYC office at (212) 772-6060, e-mailing openhouse@usdan.com, or visiting www.usdan.com.
Among the programs at Usdan Center are Junior and Senior Chorus, for students 6 to 18, who regularly perform in the 1,000-seat on-site McKinley Ampitheater. Recent performances have included Carmina Burana at the 2011 Gala Concert featuring Metropolitan Opera soprano Monica Yunus, Ernest Bloch's rarely-performed Sacred Service and the children's opera Brundibar. Excerpts from choral performances may now be viewed on the Usdan Center page at YouTube.com.
Future Open Houses after January 22 will be on Sundays, March 18, 2012, April 22, 2012 and May 20, 2012; and Wednesday, February 22, 2012. All Open Houses will be from 11 AM to 2 PM.
Posted 12/23/2011.
Expires 4/23/2012.
The New York Community Men's Choir is currently assembling a select group of 20-25 elite male singers. For this season, we will be performing music from various genres.
We plan to hold auditions starting in January of 2012. We will be rehearsing Saturday mornings from 10 AM to 12 noon. If you are interested in auditioning, you may contact conductor John Hunter II at hunterjj14@mounties.mansfield.edu or telephone 347-225-3823. For more information, check out our website at www.wix.com/choral7/nycommunitymenschoir.
Posted 12/6/2011.
Expires 3/6/2012.
The Shomrim LaBoker Chamber Choir is an elite chamber choir in Manhattan looking for singers to join our group. We specialize in Jewish classical music sung in Hebrew. Our concert for this season is on Sunday April 1, 2012 and we rehearse every Sunday afternoon from 5 PM until 6:30 PM on the Upper West Side at the Jewish Theological Seminary located on West 122nd Street and Broadway. We have had some very successful and productive rehearsals over the past few months but we are looking to expand our group starting after January 1, 2012.
Requirements to sing in our ensemble: weekly commitment; professional attitude;
choral experience; music reading ability; sight reading ability (this is an absolute requirement); classical training is preferred but not a requirement.
If interested, please contact Jonathan Angress at joangress@jtsa.edu. Please make sure to include a few choral experiences and a direct phone number (cell number preferred).
Posted 11/26/2011.
Expires 2/26/2012.
For sale: Neupert Silbermann spinet (1959). Keyboard compass: C-f3 (= 4 1/2 octaves); divided lute stop; walnut case, good condition; brass jacks in excellent condition; steel strings; speaks nicely. Asking $2,900. Contact kmsalz@optonline.net or (973) 697-9172.
Posted 11/18/2011.
Expires 2/18/2012.
Gymboree Play & Music, at 208-32 Cross Island Parkway in Bayside, NY, is in need of a music teacher available on weekends and weekdays (morning and afternoon). Visit www.gymboreeclasses.com or e-mail baysideny@gymboreeclasses.com.
Posted 11/6/2011.
Expires 2/6/2012.