Rowan University Choirs

    

• Transform the lives of all majors on campus who sing through artistic, well-sung, and thought-provoking rehearsal and performance.
• Serve the greater choral community by offering workshops and performance opportunities for secondary students and educators.
• Contribute to the artistic sensibility of all members of the Rowan University community.  
• Perform domestically and abroad to connect more deeply with the lineage of choral music in Western and non-Western cultures.
• Perform one intentionally themed program every year that broadens our awareness of music’s role as
  art, endeavoring to evoke—or invoke—response to an issue, concept, culture, or event. 
• Perform contemporary music that includes a responsible balance of new and significant works of underrepresented composers and perform historical repertoire from each era.
• Work collaboratively with non-vocal ensembles, even in experimental or non-traditional ways, to encourage a spirit of community, creativity, and discovery.
• Model professional responsibility and concern for the process of creating music while thoughtfully nurturing one another as learners and performers.

Consider attending a concert, singing with us, or becoming a friend of the program.  Thank you for taking the time to learn more about us!

Christopher Thomas, DMA
Director of Choral Activities
Email

Concert Choir

Dr. Christopher Thomas, conductor

The Rowan University Concert Choir is Rowan University’s flagship choral ensemble with highly skilled and dedicated members.  The repertoire of the Concert Choir is the most advanced of all the choral ensembles, including world premieres, collaborations, and significant historical works.  Rehearsals are held Monday through Friday (3:30-4:30), with auditions for new members held before the start of each semester.  

In 2020, the Concert Choir performed by invitation for the Eastern Division ACDA Conference in Rochester, New York.  The program included “Kyrie” from Mass in E-Flat Major, Op. 109 by Josef Rheinberger; Sehnsucht, Op. 112, No. 1 by Johannes Brahms; “Forgiven” and “Now You Know” from Open Minds by Rob Redei; There is that in me by Ivo Antognini (2020 Raymond W. Brock Memorial Commission); Gropen arr. Gjermund Larsen, and Stomp on the Fire by Andrea Ramsey.

View our program booklet

Past performances of the Concert Choir have included Requiem masses of Verdi, Mozart, Howells, and Duruflé, masses of Mozart, Haydn, and Rheinberger, and significant works by Britten, Finzi, Menotti, Orff, Ramírez, Thoefanidis, and Vaughan Williams.  In addition to the historical repertoire, the choir has also performed contemporary works, including To the Hands by Caroline Shaw, Circulo de tiempo by David Martynuik, Song of the Shulamiteby Donald McCullough, and the world premiere of Open Minds by Rob Redei.  Past conductors of the choir have included Clarence Miller, Eugene Simpson, Robert Page, Lourin Plant, and Z. Randall Stroope.

Audition for the Concert Choir!

University Chorus

Dr. Lorraine Lynch, conductor

University Chorus is a mixed-voice ensemble that is open––by audition––to all majors from the entire campus community.  Literature is varied and representative of different periods of music, including contemporary compositions and non-western genres.  There is one significant performance each semester which may include collaborations with other ensembles.  In addition to performance, there is an emphasis on improving sight-singing, diction, and ensemble skills, all within a supportive and safe environment.  University Chorus rehearses Tuesday and Thursday from 5-6:15.  

Register for the University Chorus!

Voces

Christopher Thomas, conductor

Voces, Latin for voices, is one of Rowan University’s most active chamber ensembles.  Composed of ten to twelve of the Department’s most flexible singers, the group often collaborates with professional musicians and ensembles through a range of standard and experimental projects.  Past performances have included historical presentations of seventeenth and eighteenth-century oratorios accompanied on period instruments, improvised Jazz recitals, lightly-staged madrigal presentations, samba singing with jazz ensembles, and standard performances of traditional Western motets of all periods.  Auditions for Voces for vacant positions occur at the beginning of each semester.  Singers must already be a member of the Concert Choir.  

Watch Voces in Rehearsal: Bogoroditse Devo, raduysia by S. Khvoshchinsky

Join a Choir!

Voice Majors taking Applied Voice Lessons including BM in Education, Music Therapy, Performance, Composition, Bachelor of Arts, and Voice Minors.  

• Fall placement: Information for the choral placement audition will be emailed by August 15.  You will sing an excerpt of your solo repertoire, sight-sing, and perform a prepared section.  
• Spring placement:  Assignments remain the same for the entire academic year, but students placed into University Chorus for the fall semester may audition for Concert Choir in the spring semester by registering here.  

All majors from all across campus!  Our singers include engineers, biological scientists, medical students, education majors, business majors, and dozens more.  Not only is singing in a choir a great way to feel connected to the campus community and provide an outlet for creative expression, but it can also fulfill your Artistic Literacy for the Rowan Core!  

• Fall placement: If you are interested in singing in the University Chorus, you may register for the class in self-service banner. We will hear you sing during the add/drop period to ensure you have enough skill to succeed in the course.  Previous experience and the ability to match pitch and understand basic rhythmic constructs are assumed.  If you are interested in auditioning for Concert Choir, you must register for a placement audition here.  Auditions always happen before the first day of classes. 
  
• Spring placement: Students who participated in University Chorus in the fall need not re-audit but register for the course in self-service banner.  Students placed into University Chorus for the fall semester who wish to audition for Concert Choir in the spring semester must register here.  Concert Choir auditions are held before each semester.    
  

SHADOW DAYS FOR PROSPECTIVE STUDENTS

We love to host prospective students on our shadow days!  Open to high school juniors, seniors, and transfer students.  You’ll have an opportunity to dive in and experience a day at Rowan as a music major and have lots of one-on-one time with faculty and students.  Shadow days are specialized by degree program.

Register for a Shadow Day

If you are a teacher interested in bringing an entire choir or class to Rowan, observing a rehearsal, touring campus, and receiving a free clinic from Dr. Thomas, email him directly.

Prior to your shadow day
     Complete and bring: Waiver
     Request a visitor parking pass 

13th Tenor|Bass Festival - October 19, 2022

The Tenor|Bass festival is back!  The festival is open to up to 500 high school tenors and basses. Bring one student or your entire tenor|bass section!

$15 per student, which includes lunch and music
 Schedule
•8:15-8:30 / Registration
•8:45-9:00 / Group Warm-Up
•9:00-9:20 / Sing-A-Long with the "Teacher Band"
•9:20-10:20 / Rehearsal with Dr. Thomas
•10:20-10:30 / Break
•10:30-10:50 / Performances by Rowan faculty and students
•10:50-11:35 / Rehearsal with our guest conductor, Dr. Trent Brown (Florida Gulf Coast University)
•11:35-11:45 / Performance by Rowan Tenor|Bass choir
•11:45-12:15 / Lunch (2 slices of pizza and a soda or water)
•12:15-1:15 / Final Group Rehearsals with Dr. Thomas and Dr. Brown
•1:15-1:30 / Perform for one another

Once you complete online Registration, please send a check for the appropriate amount to:

Rowan University
Tenor|Bass Festival
Attn:  Christopher Thomas
201 Mullica Hill Rd.
Glassboro, NJ 08028

I will solicit final numbers two weeks before the event so you can make adjustments at that time.  Once final numbers have been received, you must pay for the total number of singers for whom you register as we will have reserved their seats and purchased music and food for them.  If it's easier for you, you may pay on the day of the event.  

CHOIRS ABROAD

Students in the choral program at Rowan have an opportunity to travel and perform internationally.  Since 2011, the choir has traveled to Czech Republic, Poland, Hungary, Italy, Germany, and Austria. Covid interrupted 2020 plants to travel to Spain, but plans for the future are underway.  

  

Vienna, Austria