Student Ensembles: Choirs

School of Music - University of Missouri

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University Singers

The University Singers is the most prominent choral representative of the MU School of Music and offers a proud tradition of excellence in choral singing. The repertoire is varied, including major works from all periods of music history. The choral excellence of this ensemble has captured the attention of audiences in Washington, D.C. and New York, at national conventions of professional music organizations, and at the Brighton and Exeter Festivals in England. Alumni of the University Singers have gone on to become professional members of touring companies such as those directed by Norman Luboff and Robert Shaw. Two major on-campus concerts are presented annually in addition to other local and state-wide appearances.

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)

This group consists of 6-12 singers and is dedicated to the performance of both small combo and choral jazz arrangements.