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Concert Choir, directed by Dr. Nina Nash-Robertson,
Director of Choral Activities, is an ensemble of 75-100 students
whose majors represent a variety of specialties within the
university. In addition to annual Fall, Winter (Juletide) and Spring
concerts, they also join with the Festival Chorus and Symphony
Orchestra for an annual performance of a major choral/orchestral
work. This group also performs regularly with the Midland Symphony
Orchestra. In addition to all the music performed with the Festival
chorus, in recent years this group has also performed Berlioz
Romeo et Juliette, Beethoven Ninth Symphony, Mahler
Second Symphony, Verdi Requiem, and Vaughan Williams
Mystical Songs and in the opera Die Fledermaus. The group
also performs shorter choral works of all genres, including
spirituals, folk-song arrangements, contemporary masterworks, and
multi-cultural choral literature. In 2005 the Concert Choir
performed Vaughan Williams Dona Nobis Pacem in Carnegie Hall
with the New England Symphony Orchestra and five other choirs, with
Nina Nash-Robertson conducting. In 2003, the Concert Choir and
Chamber Singers joined for a 10-day tour of China with concerts in
Beijing, Xian, and Shanghai. In March, 2007, they will perform
Benjamin Britten’s masterpiece War Requiem in De Vos Hall,
Grand Rapids, with the Grand Rapids Symphony Orchestra and Chorus.
Chamber Singers,
directed by Nina Nash-Robertson, is CMU’s most highly selective
ensemble of 20-30 singers, primarily upperclassmen and graduate
students. Chamber Singers performs the highest quality music of all
periods, but they focus on the a cappella literature of the
Renaissance and other choral chamber music. Recent works include the
Bach Lobet Den Herrn, Haydn Lord Nelson Mass, Mozart
Magnificat, Brahms Zigeunerlieder and Liebeslieder
Walzes, Ravel Trois Chansons, and Vaughan Williams
Serenade to Music. Chamber Singers has also been honored to sing
the premier performance of many new choral works, perform at
regional conventions of the American Choral Directors Association
and the Music Educators National Conference, and have performed in
Ireland, Czech Republic, Slovakia, Italy, Austria, and China. Their
May, 2007, concert tour to Ireland and France included performances
in Dublin’s St Patricks’ Cathedral, La Madeleine in
Paris, and Chartres Cathedral. The Chamber Singers are also
pleased to host the annual Vocal Chamber Music Day where guests have
included Chanticleer, the Kings Singers, Cantus, and the Brazeal
Dennard Ensemble.
Women’s Chorus, under the
direction of Dr. Alan Gumm since 2000, quickly gained recognition in
the region as a choral ensemble of great finesse and artistry, with
invitations to premiere several new works and to perform with the
Cadillac Symphony Orchestra, Saginaw Choral Society, and with other
women’s choruses around the state. A Saginaw News music
critic commented on “the group’s clear sound, excellent vocal
technique and magnificent tuning. The musical lines were beautifully
shaped. This was expressive singing at its finest.” Works recently
performed include Mozart’s Alleluia and Marriage of Figaro
(jazz arrangement), Brahms’ Four Songs for Women, Harp, and Horns,
and treble portions of Vivaldi’s Gloria, Randall Thompson
Frostiana, and Holst’s The Planets with the CMU
orchestra. Their repertoire has extended to include jazz standards
such as Take Five and Mood Indigo, gospel numbers,
spirituals, and arrangements of songs from cultures and countries
around the world.
Men’s Barbershop,
directed by composition professor Dr. David Gillingham, is
associated with the national Barbershop Society under the name
MountainTown Singers, performs in the community and
around the state, and competes in Barbershop Society events. The
group won its way to international competition in 2007-2008, its
third year of existence. It is open to university students by
audition and enrollment (does not count for music major/minor
ensemble requirement) and to community men by audition and
membership fee. Gillingham arranges many of the ensemble’s
selections, in traditional Barbershop harmonic style.
Festival Chorus
is directed by Nina Nash-Robertson. In a long tradition of “town and
gown” choirs, Festival Chorus draws students, faculty, staff, and
community members together in the fall semester to perform larger
masterworks for chorus, soloists, and orchestra. Major
choral/orchestral works performed in recent years have included
Brahms and Mozart Requiem, Bernstein Chichester Psalms,
Copland Old American Songs,, Vivaldi and Poulenc
Gloria, Handel Messiah, and Mozart Requiem.
Members of the Festival Chorus recently performed Vaughan Williams
Dona Nobis Pacem in Carnegie Hall.
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