For current students: Fall 2024 Ensembles Audition Information
A wide variety of performance opportunities await our students each year, with orchestras, bands, choirs and opera, jazz nonets and combos, small ensembles, and more.
A variety of programs and initiatives operate continuously or annually to enhance learning experiences and help students prepare for their future in music.
The MSU College of Music supports and challenges students, values innovation and creativity, and helps every community member achieve professional excellence.
Studying choral conducting at the MSU College of Music blends rigorous academic training with practical, hands-on experiences. Students conduct various ensembles, participate in masterclasses, and engage in comprehensive coursework covering diverse styles and techniques. Graduates of the program are distinguished professionals with successful careers in choral leadership, performance, and academia.
MSU College of Music, Chorale
The choral groups at MSU perform secular and sacred music in all styles and genres representing many eras and cultures. University Chorale, State Singers, Mosaic, Viridis, Singing Spartans, Campus Choir, Chamber Choir, and Choral Union.
Browse MSU Choral Ensembles“Michigan State University is, in my opinion, the best place in the country to pursue graduate studies in choral conducting. I think one of its strongest factors is the opportunity to study with a diverse choral faculty, each with his/her own unique strengths and approaches to conducting.”
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“In the Michigan State graduate program I found instruction from the top figures in choral music today, invaluable knowledge of choral literature and conducting, amazing podium time, valued colleagues in my fellow students, and support from faculty and staff that continues today.”
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“Graduate study at Michigan State University offered me more than I could have hoped for: three internationally recognized conductor-scholars who challenged my intellect and musicianship while demonstrating genuine compassion and caring for me as an individual; an incredibly talented cohort of graduate students with whom life-long relationships have been forged; and since my graduation, a continued commitment to both career placements and promotion of my success and abilities.”
Sarah Graham Gwyneth Walker’s Songs for Women’s Voices
Jason Thoms Tempo Relationships and Editing in Sixteenth-Century Polyphony: A Study and Compilation of Existing Research
Andrew Crane French and Latin Choruses in The Lark by Leonard Bernstein
Sean Vogt The Choral Music of Geoffrey Bush (1920-1998)
Jeff Buettner Gypsy Vocal Music of Ukraine
Joel Navarro A Style Study on Selected Choral Works of Ramon Pagayon Santos
Janice Dudley Marriage of Text and Tune in Alice Parker’s Sweet Manna
Jonathan Palant Unifying a Nation: Male Singing Societies and Part Songs in Nineteenth-Century Germany with New Musical Editions
Scott Hochstetler “The Pity of War:” A Study of Vaughan Williams’s Federalist Dona Nobis Pacem and Britten’s Pacifist War Requiem
Brent Wells The Choral Folksong Settings of Percy Grainger
David Howard Patron of the Choral Art: Walter Hussey’s Commission of Choral Works In the Twentieth Century
Clint Desmond Matthias Werrecore’s La Bataglia Taliana. Transcription and Conductor’s Resource
Tim McMillin The A Cappella Choral Ensemble Tradition in America and Its Influence upon the Choral Canon of the 20th Century: An Examination of the Influence of Selected Scores Commissioned by the New Choral Music Program (Choral Ventures) and the Dale Warland Singers
Simon Lee Achieving Quality in Musical Worship in the Catholic Church
Zach Durlam Echoes of Handel in the Choral-Orchestral Psalm Settings of Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy
Trent Patterson Charlene Archibeque: An Iconic Figure in American Choral Music
Kelly Miller David Brunner’s Music for Women’s Choirs
Zebulon Highben World War II and Its Impact on Sacred Choral Music: The Lives and Works of Hugo Distler, Jean Berger, and Heinz Werner Zimmermann
Ryan Kelly Carl Friedrich Christian Fasch and His Mass for Sixteen Voices with Performance Edition
Ryan Beeken Alberto Grau: Expressing Globalism
Gerald Custer Metric Flexibility In the Performance of Renaissance Choral Music.
Fox, Derrick “Lord, Give Me Just a Little More Time”: Examining the Seven-shape Note Gospel Singing of African-American Communities in Northwestern Alabama
Tranquilla, Joel Canadian Choral-Orchestral Works from the Last Thirty Years
Ulrich, Brandon Five Magnificat Settings of Padre Martini
Bolding, Randi Forming Interpersonal Relationships with At-Risk Students: Case Study of a High School Choral Conductor-Teacher
Watkins, Frank “I Too Sing America”: The Choral Works of Florence B. Price
Bowen, Meredith Sacred Music from the Convents of Seventeenth-Century Italy: Restoration Practices for Contemporary Women’s Choruses
Williams, Brandon And They Lynched Him On A Tree: A Critical Analysis
Boyd, Megan A Curated Guide to the Study, Rehearsal, and Performance of Choral Music by Libby Larsen
Fisher, Elizabeth Baldassare Galuppi’s Laudate Pueri in G Major: A Historical Analysis and Performing Edition
Minear, Andrew Graduate Choral Literature Curricula and Pedagogy
Zeuch, Kyle Antonin Dvorak’s Cantata, The American Flag, Op. 102: Performance Solutions in a Modern Context
Cossey, Alyssa Britten as Interpreter: Twentieth-Century Influences on Twenty-First-Century Performance Practice
Voorhees-Hall, Amy The Choral Rehearsal Methodology of Dr. Brad Holmes
Miller, S. Cody Johann Albrechtsberger’s “Missa Solennis Pro Coronatione Francisis II” with Performance Edition
Sengin, Jennifer Choral Music from Zimbabwe: Repertoire and Resource Guide for Published Choral Music
Chapin, Clelyn Choral Classroom Management: A Case Study
Michaels, Brennan The Inherent Dichotomy of Good and Evil: An Analysis of Francis Poulenc’s Choral Cycle “Figure Humaine”
Lin, Xiaosha A Conductor’s Guide to Handel’s “Birthday Ode for Queen Anne, HWV 74”
“Here at Michigan State University, the professors have taken into consideration who I am as a person. I have been mentored holistically and in a way specifically tailored toward my strengths, weaknesses and interests. The choral literature sequence is exhaustive and rich, and the opportunity to study privately with multiple conductors has strengthened my gesture as well as my pedagogy with a diversity of philosophies, techniques, and approaches.”
University Chorale Over the Years