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Arcata Choral Artists

A Choral Workshop Experience

The Complexity of the art of ensemble singing is one that is often underestimated. Singers must not only sing accurately and with good tone, but also do so in the context of an ensemble and in response to a conductor’s gestured indications. Singers in this workshop will learn to sing with accurate intonation and with sophistication, which often goes beyond the tempered system, all the while listening for balance with other sections and with singers in their own section.

Workshop participants will learn how to sing many varied texts with sensitivity to meaning and inflection, yet to balance their individual instincts with the shape asked of the ensemble as a whole. The singers will explore these issues through the rehearsal of significant choral compositions throughout music history from the renaissance to contemporary works.

Such issues will be addressed in the context of rehearsal so participants can actually experience problems specific to the choral singer first hand. This will include but not limited to tone, diction, interpretation, language skills, and the International Phonetic Alphabet. This will help prepare the singer for other choral experiences as both singer and conductor.

The Arcata Choral Artists is the culmination of an 8-session workshop (A Choral Workshop Experience), under the direction of Jonathan Souza. We typically rehearse and prepare 20 musical selections for public performance. The 8 rehearsals take place within a 2 week span, rehearsing Monday-Thursday both weeks from 6-9pm. The workshop takes place the last 2 weeks of June each year.

If you are interested, join us for our summer Choral Workshop Experience and become a member of the Arcata Choral Artists. Please contact Jonathan Souza at jon@arcatachoralartists.org. All are welcome, however: because of the nature of the experience, music reading is a welcome and utilized skill.