Department of Choral Studies

ACDA has announced that the Julius Herford Prize competition recognizing the outstanding doctoral terminal research project in choral music for 2006 has been awarded to Robert Lamb, CCM D.M.A. Dr. Lamb's thesis is titled:

"Michel-Richard de Lalande's In convertendo Dominus: A Performance Edition with Performing Commentary."

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 Westenburg 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, the CCM Bulletin, (download from CCM website home page) pp. 27-30 and 35 for MM, and pp. 44-47 for DMA.

Choral Ensembles

The Choral Department maintains five choral ensembles -- the 36-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 250 children and youth in five ensembles.

Chamber Choir

The CCM Chamber Choir is a graduate-based ensemble of 36 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, the recent past season featuring the St. Matthew Passion. Featured in 2007-08 are Handel’s Dixit Dominus, Haydn’s Harmoniemesse, and the midwest and university premieres of Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St. Matthew. Recent national activities of the Chamber Choir include acclaimed performances 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. 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 in 2007-08 of newly appointed faculty member, Brett Scott, the Chorale performs a wide range of music including a cappella and accompanied standard and contemporary repertoire as well as world music. Featured in 2007-08 are Brahms’ Neue Liebeslieder Waltzer and Schicksalslied, Mozart’s Missa Brevis in F, K. 192, Randall Thompson’s The Peaceable Kingdom, and works of Greig, Pinkham, Conrad Susa, Tchaikovsky and Veljo Tormis. In 2005 the Chorale was featured in an international real-time web cast of Orff's Carmina Burana for Chorus America's Choral and Orchestral Conducting Masterclass held at CCM. The Chorale combines with the Chamber Choir twice annually to present major choral/orchestral works.

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 2007-08 are Beethoven Symphony No. 9, Poulenc Gloria, and Verdi Quattro pezzi sacri. The Chamber Choir and Chorale often perform with the Cincinnati May Festival, the western hemisphere's oldest continuing choral festival. Recent May Festival performances have featured the Mahler Symphony No. 8 conducted by James Conlon (2004) and Berlioz Requiem conducted by James Levine (2005).

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 for two-year positions with 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.