Making music makes us human. So says Donald Schell, who along with his colleague Rick Fabian, leads Music That Makes Community, an organization that helps churches and other community groups break down the barriers to confident and nourishing group singing.
What happens when a long-time relationship with an orchestra goes away—taking with it a third of your organization's income? Shock, dismay, and then a determination to rally around your core mission.
Long-time singers will happily list numerous ways that choral singing enhances their lives. When those singers stay with the same chorus for many years, the benefits flow both ways. We spoke with seven singers who have sung with the same chorus for two or more decades about their experience and its value.
Every year, the movie awards season celebrates the best in film and acting. This year, we compiled our own list of nominations: the top films that should be on every choral music lover’s must-see list. The suggestions we received range from new releases to classic films and from light entertainment to inspiring stories. How many of these movies have you seen? What other titles do you think should make the list?
What are the trends, challenges, and opportunities that are shaping choruses and choral music? A panel of leaders in the field weighs in.
As a young girl, Abbie Betinis noticed that singing “Caroling, Caroling” during the holidays always brought tears to her grandpa’s eyes. Later she would learn that the famous carol was one of many composed by her great uncle Alfred Burt, who was carrying on a family tradition of carol writing begun by his father, the Rev. Bates Burt. In 2001, Betinis, by then a composer herself, decided to pick up the family carol writing tradition.
In celebration of the Britten centennial in 2013, this issue of American Choral Review features two articles on the music of Benjamin Britten: distinguished scholar Alfred Whittall offers reflections on the composer’s choral writing, and co-authors Thomas Folan and Nancy S. Niemi explore issues of identity in Britten’s Cantata Academica.
A choral singer visits a contemporary sound installation inspired by a centuries-old piece of music.
For the composing team of Paul Caldwell and Sean Ivory, inspiration usually comes in the form of a story that grabs them and won’t let go. Such was the case with “Beneath the African Sky”—a lullaby for a lost refugee girl that has become a cry for justice and a song of hope for children’s choruses around the world.
