SPONSORED STORY FROM A CHORUS AMERICA PARTNER

When the COVID-19 pandemic hit in March 2020, Steve Smith was five months into his new job as president of Berkshire Choral International (BCI) with a mandate to reset and re-energize the summer program for a new generation of choral singers. COVID-19 then forced cancellation of all BCI live events for both 2020 and 2021. After a two-year gap of in-person programs, the summer of 2022 has seen a much-anticipated reopening. Chorus America checked in with Steve to see how the return is going and what lessons he and the organization have learned.

Many choruses and choral leaders are wondering if their organizations should require vaccination as a condition of returning to in-person rehearsal and performance as safely as possible. Their first question: “Is that even allowed?”

In the U.S., under federal law and current guidelines, choruses—like other private employers and organizations—can require staff, volunteers, and audiences to get vaccinated in most cases. Below you’ll find more detail about the guidelines around each of these cases, as well as some important things to consider.

Asking your chorus members to re-audition may be the single greatest test of the notion that choruses can create outstanding art and at the same time create meaningful community. Artistic leaders, managers, and singers who have experienced re-auditioning in volunteer choruses large and small talk about its benefits and pitfalls, and explain how they have managed this delicate process.

Now more than ever, it’s important for choruses to understand their rights and responsibilities regarding the use of published music. New technologies are changing the way organizations purchase and use copyrighted materials. To complement a session at the 2018 Chorus America Conference, five music publishers talk about the key questions they are facing.

In our Winter 2017-18 issue of The Voice, Chorus America spoke to conductors and publishers about how to address the challenge of finding quality repertoire for community choruses. So what are some specific pieces that these publishers and composers would recommend for these groups? We asked a wide range of publishers and composers in the field to recommend one work from their own catalogue that they felt is especially suited to community choruses. The list we compiled represents a broad spectrum of cultural traditions, orchestrations, and voicings—including links to websites for more information when available.

In addition to enriching musical knowledge and enhancing vocal technique, singing in a chorus can also teach important lessons about life itself. We reached out to the growing network of choruses specifically for older adults, and asked longtime singers about the ways in which singing has informed other aspects of their lives.

Singers are the lifeblood of the choral field. Ensembles from coast to coast are anchored by veterans of school and youth choral programs who found the experience rewarding enough that they continued through adulthood. But as choral leaders know all too well, many choristers can’t or don’t stick with it; they drop out of choral singing when they hit significant life transitions.