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University Chorus

The Brandeis University Chorus draws its members from the entire Brandeis community, including students, faculty and staff. Every year the chorus performs a major work drawn from the vast choral repertory. Often there are opportunities for student soloists.

This year's Fall semester major work will be the Psalms: The Judeo-Christian Tradition Choral settings of Josquin, Palestrina, Lassus, Purcell, Monteverdi, Rossi, Schuetz, Haydn, Mozart, Schubert, Mendelssohn, Berger, Thomson, Vaughan-Williams, and Stravinsky, on Saturday, November 14 at 8:00 p.m.

Auditions for UChor will be held afternoons from 2-5 on Tuesday - Thursday, dates to be announced August 14. Returning students do re-audition. Auditions are about 10 minutes long. A solo song, preferably classical, is encouraged but not required. Also included are pitch and ear exercises and sight-reading a Bach chorale with piano. For Chamber Choir there is a further step of more challenging sight-reading.

Rehearsals are held Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30 to 6 p.m. in the Slosberg Music Center. Regular attendance is required. We work toward a strong physical base through warm-up and breathing exercises. Through diction exercise and practice, we work toward the technical means of an expressive performance. Most rehearsals include some sight-reading, both for practice and to introduce a wider repertory.

In '07 - '08, the University Chorus took a week long tour of Germany and Austria, singing in High Baroque churches in Munich and Salzburg as well as in the Mozart Saal, a magnificent room in which Mozart performed. The next University Chorus tour will be during the '09 - '10 academic year.