Choral Ensembles

The CCM Choral Department maintains five choral ensembles - the 40-voice Chamber Choir, 50-voice Chorale, 50-voice Chamber Singers, and 120-voice UC Men's and Women's Choruses. Choral majors are often engaged as assistant conductors, professional singers, accompanists, and administrators for the Vocal Arts Ensemble of Cincinnati, a professional chamber choir, and the Cincinnati Children's Choir, Ensemble-in-Residence at CCM, of over 300 children and youth in six ensembles.

Chamber Choir

The CCM Chamber Choir is a graduate-based ensemble of 40 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. Last season the Chamber Choir performed a 400th Anniversary Celebration concert of Monteverdi’s Vespers of 1610 at Cincinnati’s Christ Church Cathedral, Stravinsky’s Les Noces on CCM’s Stravinsky Festival, and the regional premiere of Schnittke’s a cappella masterwork, Concerto for Choir. In November 2011 the Chamber Choir collaborates with the CCM Opera Department with a staged production of J.S. Bach’s St. Matthew Passion at Cincinnati’s St. Peter in Chains Cathedral, and in March 2011 presents an Interest Session on the production of the St. Matthew Passion before the ACDA Central Division convention. National activities of the Chamber Choir in the most recent decade include acclaimed performances of Handel’s Dixit Dominus 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, and in 2008 performed the Midwest premieres of Tan Dun's Water Passion after St. Matthew and Bach’s Mass in B Minor with the Midwest and collegiate premieres of Bastian Clevé’s film, The Sound of Eternity. 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, Morten Lauridsen, Louise Talma, and Jeffrey Van. The Chamber Choir combines with the Chorale twice annually to perform choral/orchestral masterworks.

CCM Chorale

The CCM Chorale is an undergraduate based ensemble of 50 voices with a core of undergraduate voice majors under the direction of Brett Scott that performs a wide range of music including a cappella and accompanied standard and contemporary repertoire. Chorale will perform Bernstein’s Chichester Psalms at Calvary Episcopal Church in October 2011, Brahms’s Neueliebeslieder Waltzer in January 2012, and a new work by Jonathan Dove at Covington’s Cathedral Basilica in May 2012. The Chorale will join with the UC Men’s and Women’s Choruses and CCM Concert Orchestra April 2012 for Orff’s Carmina Burana, Finzi’s Requiem da Camera, and Vaughan Williams’s Serenade to Music. The Chorale frequently combines with the Chamber Choir to perform with the Cincinnati May Festival, the western hemisphere's oldest continuing choral festival. The most recent May Festival performances with the combined Chorale and Chamber Choir have featured the Mahler Symphony No. 8 conducted by James Conlon and Berlioz Requiem conducted by James Levine.

Masterworks with the Chamber Choir, Chorale and Orchestra

The Chamber Choir and Chorale combine annually to present standard repertory and contemporary choral/orchestral masterworks with the CCM Philharmonia and Concert Orchestras. Featured in January 2011 was a concert version (complete) of Puccini’s Turandot with the CCM Philharmonia Orchestra and Cincinnati Children’s Choir. Recent seasons have featured collegiate premieres of John Adam’s On the Transmigration of Souls, Philip Glass’s Symphony No. 5, Penderecki’s Credo, and Augusta Read Thomas’s Ring Out, Wild Bells, To The Wild Sky, the latter two works both performed before the ACDA Central Division Convention. Featured in February 2012 is Berlioz’s La Damnation de Faust with visuals by Raul Barcelona.

Chamber Singers

The CCM Chamber Singers is a 50-voice mixed chorus of music majors conducted exclusively by graduate MM and DMA choral majors, under the mentorship of the 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 UC Men's and Women's Choruses of 120 voices are comprised of undergraduate students from the University of Cincinnati’s thirteen component colleges of over 40,000 students. DMA choral majors with significant experience are awarded the Directorships of two these ensembles. The UC 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.