Choral Studies

CCM is proud to offer transformative music experiences for our singers and audiences. Dedicated to creating opportunities for all members of our community, we offer engaging opportunities and a wide range of ensembles open to all UC student musicians of all experience levels.  

Joe Miller, music director and conductor

Providing professional-level training for aspiring musicians, this mixed-voice chamber ensemble sets a standard of excellence through diverse programming and inspiring artistry. Open to all UC students, the Chamber Choir is a leading voice for choral artistry. Audition is required.

The CCM Chamber Choir has been acclaimed for its staged productions in collaboration with CCM’s Opera Department of Bach’s St. John Passion and St. Matthew Passion, and its Monteverdi Project (Nov. 2012), which hosted international and national Early Music guest artists with CCM students in selections from Book 8 Madrigals of Love and War and Selva Morale e Spirituale that was produced for Public Television by WCET Arts Connect.

The Chamber Choir has received accolades for presentations from the canon of contemporary works to include David Lang’s Little Match Girl Passion, Tan Dun’s Water Passion after St. Matthew, Schnittke’s Concerto for Choir and the collegiate premiere of Bastian Clevé’s film, The Sound of Eternity, with Bach’s Mass in B Minor.

The Chamber Choir has performed before national and regional conventions of ACDA, participated in Chorus America’s Masterclass for Choral and Orchestral Conductors at CCM, presented a lecture–demonstration for the NCCO national conference at CCM, and was featured in a program of si placet works of Josquin and his contemporaries for a national convention of the American Musicological Society.

Brett Scott, music director and conductor

This large mixed-voice ensemble offers distinctive performance opportunities to students from across the UC. Diverse programming and an emphasis on choral/orchestral masterworks offer singers the opportunity to experience some of the greatest works from the choral music repertoire.

The CCM Chorale maintains an active performance schedule both within and without the walls of the University of Cincinnati. It regularly combines with other CCM ensembles to execute large choral/orchestral and operatic works, and also performs more intimate compositions with the school’s top chamber ensembles. The ensemble has a strong presence in the Cincinnati community, annually performing stand-alone or combined concerts in the top venues and concert series of the greater Cincinnati area. Chorale has sung at multiple American Choral Directors Association and Midwest Composers Symposium conferences, and has been guest artists with several Cincinnati musical organizations, including the May Festival Chorus.

Chorale has presented the regional premiere of Ivan Moody's Passion and Resurrection, Brahms’ Ein deutsches Requiem in collaboration with Concert Orchestra, as well as programs of contemporary Portuguese and Cuban choral music. Chorale has also performed the North American premiere of Fredrik Sixten's St. John Passion, the American premiere of a staged production of Andrew Staniland's Dark Star Requiem, and an All-Brahms program with the CCM Concert Orchestra featuring the Alto Rhapsody, Op. 53; Nänie (A Funeral Song), Op. 82; and Schicksalslied (Song of Destiny), Op. 54. The ensemble has also completed recording projects of the Sixten St. John, and a disc of sacred music for choir and electronics. Additional repertoire has included Jonathan Dove's The Passing of the Year, an All-French and All-Schubert program, and Puccini’s Messa di Gloria.

Dedicated to leadership preparation for choral conductors, this mixed-voice ensemble is conducted exclusively by MM and DMA Choral Conducting majors under the mentorship of the Choral Studies faculty. Singers and aspiring conductors gain professional conducting training and choral pedagogy through rehearsals and performance. No audition required but consultation with the instructor is advised.

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 master classes for MM and DMA choral majors with choral and guest artist faculty.

The UC Choruses and Cabaret Singers are comprised of students from the UC’s 14 colleges of over 43,000 students. UC Choruses is one of the oldest organizations on campus, led by graduate choral conducting students and operated by a student-elected board. The UC Choruses perform a diverse repertoire of a cappella, accompanied, folk, spirituals and world music. It presents concerts on and off-campus, appear on CCM’s Feast of Carols and make an annual spring tour. No audition is required.

UC Cabaret Singers is an auditioned mixed-voice choral ensemble made up of members from the UC Chorus. Students must be enrolled in UC Chorus in order to participate.

The Cincinnati Youth Choir is an educationally based choral ensemble program. Participants learn healthy vocal technique, sight-reading, music history and music theory while experiencing performance excellence using the philosophies and techniques of Carl Orff, Zoltan Kodaly, Jacques Dalcroze and Jerome Brunner.

The learning environment is creative, explorative and fun. The children form lasting relationships with children outside of their community and develop a lifelong appreciation of music.

CYC members have toured Italy, Japan, China, Scandinavia, England, Ireland, Wales, Germany, Austria, Czech Republic, Canada and the United States.

Founded in 1993, as the Cincinnati Children’s Choir, the organization updated it’s name to the Cincinnati Youth Choir in 2018 to better represent the age range of it's member base.

CYC has recently received wide acclaim by winning the following awards:

• 2018 Chorus America Education and Community Engagement Award
• 2016 Chorus America ASCAP Award for Adventurous Programming
• 2015 American Prize in Choral
Performance for Youth Choirs
• CityBeat’s Best of 2015 & 2017 Reader Picks for Best Local Vocal Arts Group
• Gold Medal Choir, Youth Choirs of Equal Voices, World Choir Games 2012
• Winner of the 2008 Scripps-Corbett Award, Artist Category

For more information, please visit cincinnatichoir.org or call 513-556-0338

• Generous podium experiences, with opportunities each semester to conduct a series of rehearsals and performance with the CCM Chamber Singers, which has three 90-minute rehearsals weekly and is conducted exclusively by MM and DMA choral conducting majors, under the mentorship of choral faculty.
• Intensive studies in instrumental conducting and score preparation, in addition to choral conducting classes and seminars each semester in residence.
• Conducting positions for DMA choral majors as Director of the UC Choruses, which present on and off-campus concerts, tour, and perform masterworks with orchestra. 
  
• Conducting positions for DMA and MM choral majors as Assistant Director of the CCM Chamber Choir, Assistant Director of the CCM Chorale, Director of the UC Cabaret Singers, Director of Choruses for CCM Opera productions, Assistant Director of the Undergraduate Opera Project, and as Directors and Assistant Directors of multiple choirs for the Cincinnati Youth Choir, Ensemble-in-Residence at CCM, which serves over 1,000 children and youth in seven resident choirs, 10 satellite choirs and three festival choirs, and also partners with the May Festival Chorus, Cincinnati's Vocal Arts Ensemble and an El Sistema based choral program in the Cincinnati Public Schools.
• Annual $10,000 conducting position for a first-year DMA choral major with the May Festival Chorus through the May Festival Conducting Fellowship.
• Master classes, residencies, and workshops with guest master conductors and internationally acclaimed choirs. Past master conductors at CCM have included Charlene Archibeque, Harry Christophers, Stephen Cleobury, Fiora Contino (deceased), Stephen Darlington (deceased), Vance George, George Guest (deceased), Tom Hall, William Hatcher, Thomas Hilbish (deceased), Joseph Jennings, Craig Hella Johnson, Donald Nally, Peter Phillips, Johannes Prinz, Patrick Dupré Quigley, Leonard Ratzlaff, Richard Sparks, Martin Steidler, Dale Warland, Jon Washburn, William Weinert, Richard Westerberg (deceased) and Sir David Willcocks (deceased). Master classes have included internationally known ensembles, with MM and DMA choral majors conducting the Dale Warland Singers under the mentorship of Dale Warland, The Sixteen under the mentorship of Harry Christophers, and the Tallis Scholars under the mentorship of Peter Phillips.

• In-depth studies over four semesters of the Survey of Choral Literature from Early Renaissance through Contemporary.
• Musicology and Theory courses and special topics seminars with world-renowned specialists.
• Voice Diction in French, German and Italian, along with Voice Pedagogy with members of CCM’s Voice faculty.
• Voice Lessons each semester in residence.
• DMA Cognates offered in Historically-Informed Performance, Sacred Music, Orchestral Conducting, Music Education, Musicology, Theory, Applied Music, Collaborative Piano and Arts Administration.
• Access to America's greatest resource of choral scores through the CCM Choral library, with multiple scores of over 3,500 works; the Dale Warland Singers Performance Score Library, with multiple scores of over 1,100 works, (270 being commissioned works); and the University of Cincinnati Libraries, which offer borrowing privileges from all Ohio academic libraries via Ohio-Link.

CCM's graduate admissions process begins on September 1 for entrance in the following year's fall semester. All application materials must be submitted on or before December 1 to be considered for specific scholarship awards. Visit the CCM Admissions website for additional application instructions.

• Eight Choral Graduate Assistantships (GA) offering competitive stipends and full tuition waivers, with additional CCM GAs available in other CCM Departments.
• Scholarships for MM and DMA choral majors from the Elmer and Mary Thomas Scholarship Fund for Choral Conducting and the David R. Davidson Conducting Scholarship.
• $10,000 annual stipend for a first-year DMA choral conducting major who receives the May Festival Conducting Fellowship with the May Festival Chorus.
• Opportunities as professional (paid) singers with Cincinnati’s Vocal Arts Ensemble (professional chamber choir) and the May Festival Chorus (symphonic chorus).
• Opportunities for generous financial support for performance, research, and travel and registration fees for conducting competitions, master classes, workshops and conferences through the Dean of CCM’s Travel Funds.