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Singers represent
the finest and most versatile choral singers in the University.
They perform music from the thirteenth century through
the present, including works written especially for them.
They have performed repeatedly for state conventions
of the Nebraska Choral Directors Association, the Nebraska
Music Educators Association, the North Central Division
Conventions of the American Choral Directors Association,
and most recently, the regional and national Music Educators
National Conference conventions in Illinois and Nashville
(2002) and the regional ACDA convention (also 2002).
In 2001 and 2008, the choir was featured on a prestigious
8 PM solo performance at Carnegie Hall.
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University
Singers performing at Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church
in
New York City
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They
have performed with numerous orchestras and have worked
under renowned composers, pedagogues, and conductors/artists/scholars/performers
(reading like a Who’s Who): Dale Warland,
René Clausen, Don V Moses, Lee Kjelsen, Joshua Rifkin,
Jeremy Jackman, Weston Noble, Simon Carrington, Sir David
Willcocks, William Hatcher, Malcolm Dalglish, Anton Armstrong,
Ann Howard Jones, Phil Mattson, Bobby McFerrin, William Warfield,
Mack Wilberg, Eph Ehly, André Thomas, the Swingle
Singer, Doreen Rao, and the late Moses Hogan, Margaret Hillis,
and Robert Shaw (at least four times), to name just a few.
Recent and planned repertoire
included/includes the Duruflé Requiem,
Tallis’ 40-part motet Spem in Alium, Mendelssohn’s
Psalm 42 and Elijah, Honegger’s King David,
the Brahms Requiem, Carmina Burana, Chichester
Psalms,
the Fauré Requiem, the Mozart Requiem, Belshazzar’s
Feast, Liszt’s Christus, Hindemith ’s When
Lilacs Last in the Dooryard Bloom'd, Bruckner’s
Mass #2, Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Mass in C,
Puccini's Messa
di Gloria,
Haydn's Harmoniemesse and Lord Nelson Mass,
Handel's Messiah, and
the operas Elixir
of Love and La
Bohème.
While many of the singers are music majors, students from
throughout the University participate and are encouraged
to audition. The choir owns a rich list of distinguished
alumni that have gone on to lead choirs and music departments
at major universities and Schools of Music across the country
over the last 130+ years.
Auditions:
The University's
premier choral ensemble is open to students of sophomore
standing and above. Students should schedule an audition
time in the spring during dead week (the week before
finals week) or during finals week. Accommodations are made
for upperclassmen singers new to the campus in the fall.
Times for auditioning are posted outside rm203 in Westbrook
Music Building. The First Round of auditions consist of singers
performing a solo or choral piece that they have prepared
(need not be memorized –
singers may bring a pianist or they may sing a cappella).
A letter and info will be sent to the finalists during the
summer – singers will login to the UNL "Blackboard
site" and download audition music and prepare it for
the fall and Final Round of auditions that will occur
on the Sunday prior to the start of class or during the
first week of classes (depending on the voice part). During
the final round, singers will sing with other singers
of like-voice-part and be placed into a choral formation.
Rehearsals begin immediately after and performers supply/purchase
their own attire (men in black tux tails and ladies in
a red velvet standard-issue performance dress).
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