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.
CHOIRS
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.
One of eight choral ensembles at Michigan State University, the University Chorale is the university’s premiere choral ensemble, comprised of the best graduate and upper-level undergraduate singers in the College of Music. The ensemble performs accompanied and unaccompanied music from historical and contemporary musical practices.
The MSU State Singers, an auditioned undergraduate ensemble, includes music majors and some talented non-music majors. This choir enjoys a proud heritage and is recognized as the oldest singing organization on campus. The State Singers ensemble appears in concert throughout Michigan, frequently joining the University Chorale and University Symphony for major works and convention appearances.
Mosaic is an auditioned ensemble singing treble repertoire both historical and contemporary. The ensemble has appeared at national (2009), regional (2007), and state conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association. Mosaic performs regularly on campus and in the community. Members of the ensemble are majors in music as well those seeking degree programs across campus and include undergraduate and graduate students. Commissioning projects feature premiere works by American composers and poets.
Viridis is Latin for ‘green’ and a performing ensemble of treble voices consisting primarily of non-music majors that performs several times throughout the academic year. Performing a vast array of music—from Renaissance through contemporary—Viridis participates in in-state festivals and often collaborates with ensembles from other universities. This ensemble is open without audition to all treble singers on the MSU campus.
The Singing Spartans brings together singers from across campus to sing outstanding repertoire for the TTBB ensemble. Singing Spartans has been featured the featured ensemble at conferences of the American Choral Director’s Association including national conferences in 1999 and 2001, and the Central Division regional conference in 1998. Other juried performances include the national conference of the Intercollegiate Men’s Choruses. The ensemble has regularly toured Europe to include Czech and Slovak Republics, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France, Netherlands, and the UK.
The Campus Choir is a popular 50-member mixed ensemble of singers from across the university. It performs a wide variety of musical styles from throughout history and around the world. Open to all students at MSU without audition, the Campus Choir performs twice a semester and often collaborates with musicians at the College of Music.
The Chamber Choir is composed of approximately 20-24 singers selected by the conductor (a graduate student in choral conducting) for their vocal and sight-reading abilities. The group studies and performs music from a range of stylistic periods generally not suited for the larger choral ensemble. This ensemble meets only one hour per week and is not available for academic credit.
The Choral Union, a large mixed chorus of 125 voices, is designed to bring the campus and community together in a joint musical effort. Repertoire focuses on the major choral and orchestral works, performed with both the Lansing Symphony Orchestra and the MSU Symphony Orchestra. Membership is open to adults and high school and college students and consists primarily of mid-Michigan residents and MSU students. Previous choral singing experience is desired but not required.
The State Singers present “Music in the Key of Life,” while the University Chorale performs “Chaotic Joy,” featuring works from Bach to contemporary composers, conducted by Derrick Fox and Sandra Snow.
Viridis and Campus Choir, directed by Marianna Romero Serra and Stuart Hill, present a program on “new beginnings” featuring choral music that embraces change.
Mosaic and Singing Spartans perform historical and contemporary choral gems from around the world, conducted by Sandra Snow and Jonathan Reed.
Over 250 voices join the MSU Symphony Orchestra for an uplifting concert featuring Poulenc’s Gloria and selections from Handel’s Messiah, conducted by Sandra Snow and Jonathan Reed.
This concert celebrates the rich voices of MSU with a program that delves into themes of playfulness, childhood, and mischief. Mariana Romero Serra and Stuart Hill, conductors.
Mosaic and Singing Spartans perform historical and contemporary choral gems from around the world, conducted by Sandra Snow and Jonathan Reed.
“Ring Out, Wild Bells” features music inspired by Tennyson’s poem, calling for fairness and tolerance, with works by Mendelssohn, Dove, Kesselman, and more, conducted by Sandra Snow and Jonathan Reed.
The MSU Symphony, Choral Union, State Singers, and University Chorale perform Brahms, Strauss, Walton, and a student-composed Fanfare, featuring baritone Mark Rucker and conducted by Sandra Snow and Octavio Más-Arocas.