March 2009 – All Articles

Are you jealous of people with perfect pitch? Read about a program designed to help you join their ranks. Does it work? Find out here.

Does an audition for an opera chorus differ from a regular opera audition, and if so, how? In this first of a series of articles on the top opera choruses in the United States, Donald Palumbo, chorus master of the Metropolitan Opera Chorus, tells what he looks for and what a singer can expect when auditioning for him.

After being offered a Young Artist contract with one of the top opera companies in the country, a young tenor found himself in a dilemma when he was also offered a contract with the chorus of another top company, the San Francisco Opera. Find out how he made this difficult decision and how he’s enjoying his current chorister job.

Charles Bruffy took a less than typical path to arrive at his current career as conductor of two professional choirs. In this exclusive interview, he shares how hard work and the right door opening made the difference. He also discusses what he looks for in the singers he hires, what he expects of those who sing in his choirs, and the price of being a self-defined workaholic.

Get the lowdown on chorus work. How much work is there? What does it pay? What are the pros and cons, financially and artistically? Pursuing professional chorus work is an opportunity to get to know the singing industry better and a valuable chance to look at yourself as an artist and ask: What do I want? What’s important to me, and where can I find it?

Is it possible to be both a choral conductor and a professional singer? Here are eight great tips for keeping a foot in both fields.

It’s no secret that choral singing can cause difficulties for singers. Read about four of these challenges from a medical perspective: vocal-part misclassification, the tendency to oversing, straight-tone singing, and sharing germs as much as music.

Choral singing has long had the stigma of being hard on the voice, sometimes from the result of choral directors who don’t fully understand the vocal mechanism nor the requirements of healthy singing. A revolutionary choral graduate program at the University of Kansas is working to change this stereotype.

From humble beginnings in a San Francisco apartment to the now world-famous singing sensation, Chanticleer has enjoyed a rich 30-year history as one of the premier choral groups in the United States. Read about how the impetus for the group came about, what a typical rehearsal day is like, whether members can keep up solo careers, and how these 12 singers stay healthy with such a strenuous and busy performing schedule.

Four current members of the Los Angeles Master Chorale weigh in on the advantages and pitfalls of choral singing. Find out how choral singing has strengthened their abilities as solo singers, and read their advice for other singers wanting to do both.

In our last installment of the Pedagogy 101 series, we discussed the importance of diction and its effects on healthy vocal technique. In this installment, we’ll tackle the somewhat controversial issue of choral singing, its effects on solo singing, and what experts, from choral conductors to teachers and vocalists, recommend.

Ensemble singing has long held stereotypes and misconceptions as well as valid concerns for the classically trained singer—from being hard on a singer’s voice, to “pigeonholing” a singer as forever