Student Ensembles: Choirs

School of Music - University of Missouri

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University Singers

The University Singers is the most selective choral ensemble of the MU School of Music and offers a proud tradition of excellence in choral singing. Their repertoire is varied, including major works from all periods of music history. Their performances have captured the attention of audiences at national, regional and state conventions. In November 2009 the University Singers were one of nine choirs invited from the United States to perform at the national convention of the National Collegiate Choral Organization at Yale University. In May of 2010 they accepted an invitation for a sponsored tour of Milan and Bologna, Italy, singing in prestigious venues, such as the Sforza Castle, St. Ambrose Basilica and Academica Filarmonica. After performing at the state convention of Missouri Music Educators Association in January, they were one of eleven choirs chosen to sing at the national convention of the American Choral Directors Association in Chicago during March of 2011. They were selected by audition to perform at the White House, in December 2011, and hosted the internationally acclaimed conductor, Peter Phillips, for a weeklong residency in April 2012.

Click here for a history of the University Singers.

pictured below: University Singers in Vienna

See Choral Activities web site >>

Concert Chorale

The Concert Chorale is a seventy-voice select ensemble designed to provide intensified study of, and performance experience with, a varied repertoire of outstanding and challenging choral compositions. The membership of the Concert Chorale consists primarily of freshmen and sophomores, both music majors and majors in other disciplines.

Women's Chorale

Advanced repertoire written for mature women's choirs.

University Choral Union

Organized in 1977, this 250-voice non-auditioned chorus represents a "union" of choral singers from the student body, University faculty and staff, and community members from Columbia and mid-Missouri. The ensemble presents one major program each semester. The Choral Union combines with professional orchestras, performers, conductors and various University instrumental ensembles to present performances of significant choral/orchestral literature. A primary objective of the Choral Union is to offer participants direct, extended educational exposure to some of the most significant music personalities of our time. These artists have included Aaron Copland, Robert Shaw, Sir David Willcocks, John Rutter, Lukas Foss, Vincent Persichetti, Margaret Hillis, Otto-Werner Mueller, and William Warfield. The Choral Union's repertoire has included large-scale oratorios such as Bach's Christmas Oratorio and Handel's Messiah and Judas Maccabaeus, Haydn's The Creation, Mendelssohn's Elijah, the Requiems of Mozart, Brahms, and Verdi, Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, and such 20th-century works as the Honegger King David, Carl Orff's Carmina Burana, and Vaughan Williams's Dona Nobis Pacem.

pictured below: University Choral Union performing Verdi's Requiem

Hitt Street Harmony (Vocal Jazz Ensemble)

Hitt Street Harmony is an auditioned chamber vocal ensemble specializing in traditional vocal jazz repertoire, often in collaboration with instrumental jazz combos. In addition, this ensemble also performs contemporary popular music and a cappella arrangements. Each semester the group performs one full-length concert and participates in various outreach events in the community. Hitt Street Harmony provides a diverse, challenging experience for each of its singers, developing vocal independence and a variety of different performance techniques.

Hitt Street Harmony