News and Notices

Dear Choral Conducting Applicants and Colleagues,

Sacred Music at the University of Notre Dame is accepting applications for its Master of Sacred Music and the Doctor of Musical Arts in Choral Conducting (sacredmusic.nd.edu), which prepares students to work in church, education, university, and professional ensemble settings. Our choirs are in full swing in our outdoor rehearsal and performance spaces in the Notre Dame football stadium. Watch our video, There Will Be Singing, to learn more: https://www.nd.edu/stories/there-will-be-singing/.

The University of Notre Dame is a top 20 nationally ranked school that offers full tuition, generous stipends, and assistantships working as choir directors at local churches and with the Notre Dame Children’s Choir. Student stipends range from $12,500-$19,000 annually.

Four graduate students are admitted each year and our program is ideal for students interested in positions within churches and cathedrals, K-12 schools, and professional or university environments. Our diverse students have come from the United States, England, Nigeria, Australia, Canada, the Philippines, and South Africa.

Highlights of studying at Sacred Music at Notre Dame include:
-Fully-paid choral ensembles for graduate recitals
-Recital with a chamber orchestra
-Funded trips to England, Rome, and the Republic of Georgia to study and perform
-Recent masterclasses include: Anne Howard Jones, Stephen Cleobury, Benjamin Saunders, Joseph Flummerfelt, Kimberly Dunn Adams, Jan Harrington, Alfred Calabrese, Donald Nally, Mark Miller, and, this spring, Dale Warland
-Study with scholars of Gregorian chant, Hildegard, Bach, Brahms, Schenkerian Analysis, and Composition
-Directing ensembles of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir – English cathedral choir combined with training choirs using Kodaly music education approach (sma.nd.edu)

Our conducting team includes:
-Dr. Mark Doerries, Head of the Graduate Conducting Program and Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir
-Dr. Carmen Telléz, Latin American music, and interdisciplinary arts specialist
-Dr. Nancy Menk, Women’s choir and new-music specialist
-Dr. Alexander Blachly, Early-music scholar

Our Alumni currently work at:
-University of Notre Dame, Basilica of the Sacred Heart
-Emory and Henry College
-Minot State University
-Madeleine Choir School
-Fort Wayne Children’s Choir
-Holy Name of Jesus Catholic Church and Cathedral of Raleigh, NC
-Catholic and Public Schools in Texas, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Indiana, Ohio, North Carolina, Vermont, and Utah
-Parishes in Massachusetts, Kansas, Texas, Louisiana, Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Minnesota, South Carolina, Kentucky, Michigan, and Indiana

Interested applicants may learn more about our program and apply by visiting our website: sacredmusic.nd.edu. Applicants should not hesitate to contact Dr. Mark Doerries by email () or phone (574-631-6528) to discuss the program in greater detail.

Our application deadline is December 15, 2020.

COVID-19 Accommodations: Choral conducting applicants should do their best to safely record and submit videos of themselves conducting a choir (conductors and singers may wear masks). If you cannot put together a full choir, we will accept videos of the conductor working with a piano and a small groups of 4-6 singers. Videos made prior to February 2020 will be accepted.

We look forward to receiving your application. Apply at sacredmusic.nd.edu.

Mark Doerries, D.M.
Head of the Graduate Conducting Studio
Artistic Director of the Notre Dame Children’s Choir
Associate Professor of the Practice of Conducting
Director of Graduate Studies, Sacred Music at Notre Dame

General Inquiries
Christine Trail, Graduate Studies Coordinator
Phone: (574) 631-1300
Email:

With as many digital concerts these days, Constellation Men’s Ensemble thought it important to make sure artists had access to their latest endeavor, Five O’Clock Somewhere. That is why the event, which takes place at 5pm CDT this Sunday, is being offered free of charge.

Five O’Clock Somewhere will feature the CME ensemble in some socially distant music making, along with the added twist to include interviews with our singers, solo cabaret performances from core members, and even some Chicago choral ‘celebrities’ stopping by for a pint and a song.

In the chaos we are surrounded by in our day to day lives, it has been heartening to create a new distinct performance in a unique space – the digital pub. Mark your calendars, reserve your spot, and grab your favorite beverage for a toast:

To each of us and to each of you, for forging ahead in uncertain times.
To continue the creation of art. To question, and to be there for each other.

HTTPS://www.gleepub.webflow.io

Consortio, the revolutionary marketplace that connects composers’ consortium ideas and ensembles who make them a reality, regularly offers exciting new programming options. This spotlight is on Timothy C. Takach’s “Outshine,” a project that includes 4 versions of a work written for the Grammy® award-winning ensemble Conspirare’s “Songs of Connection” project.

Click here to view “Outshine” on the Consortio marketplace.

Tim says this new work “begs to be sung by choir. For this consortium, I will make 4 different versions of the score, and you will receive all of them: SATB, 3-part mixed, SA and TB (no divisi). Choose which version you would like to use this year, but feel free to keep all in your library for future use.”

This project is a sure thing! It’s already funded, but you can still join before the release date on November 6th for exclusive interactions with Tim and premiere rights with the other project members to perform the work during the premiere window.

___________________

Consortio is making commissioning easier, more accessible, and more impactful for all involved. Most of the consortium projects on Consortio cost only a fraction more than the purchase of a set of octavos, so a new music experience is available to nearly everyone. Please visit consortio.io for more information on our composers, their projects, and the ensembles that make them a reality.

2020-21 Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Emerging Composer Contest

In memory of Sandra Fivecoat, Inversion announces that its third annual composition contest takes on the new title of the Sandra Fivecoat Memorial Emerging Composer Contest to be highlighted as part of our 2020-21 season After Silence. If safe to perform, the concerts will take place February 20 and 21, 2021, in Austin, Texas.

Two categories for this year’s contest:

1. Young Composers 35 years or younger as of January 1, 2021, are asked to write a setting of the Agnus Dei in Latin to be part of a collaboratively composed modern requiem.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis.
               Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, dona nobis pacem.
2. All Composers of any age are asked to write a piece “in memoriam.” 

Please adhere to the February requiem concert theme Be near me when my light is low in order to be considered for performance. Inversion Ensemble is a modern, innovative ensemble so welcomes the use of extended technique, non-traditional forms, graphic scores, etc.

Qualifications:

Composers for both categories must currently reside in the United States including Alaska, Hawaii or U.S. Territories.

Composition Requirements:

1. 3-7 minutes in duration
2. Any combination of SATB voicing up to SSAATTBB
3. Either a cappella or with piano accompaniment
4. A cappella submissions must include piano reduction.
5. Text for the in memoriam piece must be public domain or be accompanied by a letter of permission from the copyright owner.
6. Please only submit one (1) entry total.
7. No fee is required for submission.

Please submit the following:

1.  PDF copy of your composition without your name anywhere on the body of composition. The PDF copy must be clear, clean and legible. No handwritten scores will be considered. Graphic scores may be a PDF scan of a written score if applicable.  

2. an mp3 recording or midi rendering (if possible)
3. a headshot 
4. a cover letter that includes the following information: 

Composer’s name
Physical address and mailing address (if different)
Phone number 

Email address

Date of birth

Current occupation (including if you are currently an enrolled student)

Short bio

Judging criteria includes, but is not limited to:

1. Compositional structure
2. Voice Leading
3. Harmonic language
4. Adherence to concert theme
5. Text selection and setting
6. Piano accompaniment (if applicable)
7. General understanding of choral idiom

All entries must be submitted by 11:59 PM January 1, 2021. The winner will be notified no later than February 1, 2021. The composer will have the opportunity to have a phone meeting with Artistic Director Trevor Shaw and members of the ensemble, including other composers. Each winner will each receive a $500 cash prize, certificate of achievement, inclusion of piece on February 2021 concerts (pandemic-permitting), and a recording of composition concert performances.

Please send submissions to Inversion Ensemble Managing Director Robbie LaBanca at .

About Inversion Ensemble: 

Inversion dedicates itself to presenting innovative new choral works by mostly local composers. Since its inception in 2017, Inversion has contributed 77 world premieres to the choral catalogue with its imaginative program themes. Its October 2018 project, I, Too, Sing America, garnered four Austin Critics Table nominations. Inversion is a proud member of the C4 National Network.  

About 2020-21 Season Five After Silence:

Inversion creates and shares evocative, thought-provoking music borne of pandemic and social upheaval in its fifth season, After Silence. Introducing a new collaboratively composed requiem for modern times with celebrated pianist Michelle Schumann, an oratorio focused on the 1990s AIDS epidemic, the launch of a new recital series, and a new experimental ensemble, IEX, that will collaborate with percussion ensemble line upon line. Adding to Inversion’s tally of 77 world premieres, this season features brand new music from the winner of Inversion’s second annual Emerging Composer contest, Christopher Fludd, talented composers from Carlos Cordero’s Happy Composer project, as well as Inversion’s own in-house composers.

James Dargan, a frequent baritone soloist with Sounds of Stow, will present his newly created program, “Oh Glory 2” (OG2), which is tailored to this important moment in our lives, on Sunday, October 25, at 3 p.m. The program will range from pieces by Duke Ellington and Moses Hogan to Mr. Dargan’s own compositions.

This program is sponsored by Sounds of Stow Chorus & Orchestra; additional details, including how to join this livestream event, will be available on our website, https://soundsofstow.org/

In lieu of tickets, please consider donating to James’ chosen non-profit, Violence In Boston Inc.: https://www.violenceinboston.org/faq

The growing field of choral music now has its own YouTube interview series hosted by Andrea Goodman, director of the Cantilena Chamber Choir in Western Massachusetts. “Talking Choral Music” features noted composers, conductors and business leaders in the choral community.

The first video showcases Barney Smith, the director of the London-based vocal ensemble VOCES8. The a cappella octet has toured internationally and has released recordings of classical music to include early English and Renaissance works, jazz, pop and their own arrangements, most recently on their own label. Smith, the founder of the group (with his brother Paul), discusses their unique sound and the repertoire that has struck a chord with audiences, especially in Europe, The U.S. and Asia.

Watch the video trailer that will take you to the first two interviews here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xKQQ3LSWSnE

The second video in the series features Nolan Gasser, a composer, musicologist and author of “Why You Like It: The Science and Culture of Musical Taste.” He has served as the chief musicologist for Pandora Media, the Internet radio service, and he conceived the Music Genome Project, the analysis system that enables Pandora to pinpoint and program for the musical tastes of its listeners. Gasser will recommend some of his Renaissance favorites and explain how Pandora determines the music preference of its subscribers.

New videos videos to be released every two weeks include an interview with Dale Warland, a panel discussion by four New York City choral musicians about how to make a living as professional performers, an interview with Rosephanye Powell, the American choral composer, singer, professor and researcher whose influences include African American musical styles and composers, and the publisher who brings us the best in Russian choral music- Musica Russica’s Vladimir Morosan.

Andrea Goodman, Director of the Cantilena Chamber Choir, has been a professor of conducting at the New England Conservatory of Music. She has prepared choirs for the Philadelphia Orchestra under Charles Dutoit, and has previously served as the director of the Concord Chorus (Massachusetts), Director of Choirs at Skidmore College and New York University. Guest appearances have included the Aspen Music Festival, the Fribourg Switzerland Festival de Musique Sacree and the Singing World Festival of White Nights in St. Petersburg, Russia. She holds a DMA in Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College Conservatory of Music and has served on the board of Choral Arts New England.