Additional Performance Opportunities

Mollie Stone, Music Director

Again this season, the Department of Music will partner with the Chicago World Music Chorus to provide an additional opportunity for choral singing at the University. Under the joint direction of Mollie Stone (Director of the University of Chicago Chorus and Women’s Ensemble) and Patty Cuyler, this innovation, non-auditioned world music choir is open to members of the University of Chicago community as well as to all interested Chicago-area singers. The CWMC performs authentic choral music from across the globe, embracing many of the world’s most powerful harmony singing traditions – including those from South Africa, the Republic of Georgia, Corsica, Bulgaria, Scandinavia, Latin America, the United States, Western Europe, and more. The ensemble rehearses once a month on the University of Chicago campus, and presents an informal concert at the end of the season. For more information, visit www.chicagoworldmusic.org.

Alex Johnson, director

The famous carillon in Rockefeller Memorial Chapel is the single largest instrument ever constructed, and it is played by the Guild of Carillonists every weekday when the University is in session. The Guild comprises twenty students who perform on the 72-bell Rockefeller Chapel carillon and receive weekly lessons. No prior carillon experience is required, but interested students must be fluent in both treble and bass clefs, and must have at least three years left in their academic program. Signups are open during the first week of autumn quarter by contacting Alex Johnson (alexrjohnson@uchicago.edu). All interested students will receive weekly lessons from a Guild member before auditioning in November. Guild members have the option to prepare for their associate or professional carillonneur exams through the North American Guild.

Opportunities to join a campus a cappella ensemble are many and varied. The a cappella ensembles are student-generated and student-led, and are sponsored by the Campus and Student Life Center for Leadership and Involvement. The groups vary in size, choice of repertoire, in musical style, as well as in both type and frequency of performances. Several UChicago a cappella groups have produced CDs and garnered awards at competitions and festivals throughout the country.

For more information on campus a cappella ensembles, explore the University of Chicago A Cappella Council website.

The University hosts several prime opportunities for participating in musical theatre. In conjunction with the Department of Music, the Gilbert & Sullivan Opera Company produces a mainstage production every March, for which the University Chamber Orchestra serves as pit orchestra. Students are encouraged to audition for principal roles and for chorus positions.

Other musical theatre productions are sponsored by Theater and Performance Studies/University Theater and often feature both student directorship and student participation as actors and as pit musicians. Some of these musical theatre productions – such as the 2008 presentation of Urinetown – include collaborations with and direction by Chicago-area professionals.

An addition to the a cappella ensembles, the campus musical scene encompasses such student-led musical groups as Golosa, The University of Chicago Russian Choir; the University of Chicago Pep Band; Kojo Daiko, a Japanese Drumming Ensemble; and more. Many of these musical groups are sponsored by the Campus and Student Life Center for Leadership and Involvement. Explore the UChicago Arts website for more information.