<p>Hello, I have a daughter who loves to sing in choirs. Does anyone know universities/colleges with really great chorus programs?</p>
<p>What part of the country? What size school? How competitive academically?</p>
<p>As a major, as an extracurricular?</p>
<p>As a serious extra curricular activity and east of the Mississippi River. I think she’s open to any size school as long as she gets to be part of a choir that travels and has opportunities to sing outside of the school. Thanks!</p>
<p>Penn State and Lycoming college choirs have both come to sing with our HS choir during their tours and they were quite good and quite professional. We had another college come sing with us, and our kids were horrified - They wore street clothes and had plastic water bottles on stage - the same lack of discipline was apparent in their singing. But, they travel. Our select choirs are very, very disciplined, so our kids may be pickier than most (my D in particular). If you browse the music dept section of most college sites, you can usually get a feel for how much travel, etc., the schools do.</p>
<p>James Madison University has very competitive choirs, and there are people in the top two who are not music majors. However, even the non- auditioned men’s chorus and women’s chorus are very professional. There is also an audition only Treble Chamber Choir. I believe only Madison Singers and Chorale travel though. Chorale went to England this past summer and sang regionally and at the Kennedy Center during the year. Madison Singers travels even more. If you schedule a tour, make an appointment to meet with the Director of Choral Activities.</p>
<p>Not quite east of the Mississippi, but St. Olaf in MN has a fabulous choral program.</p>
<p>Westminster Choir College is a part of Ryder College in NJ.</p>
<p>Just a minor correction, but it’s Rider University. The School of Fine Arts and Westminster Choir College join to make Westminster College of the Arts.</p>
<p>I didn’t include Westminster because the OP said “extracurricular”. Westminster’s choirs are amazing, but/and (depending on your perspective) they are required course work.</p>
<p>If she has the academics for it, Yale.</p>
<p>Thanks for the head’s up, cartera! I should have known better- must have been the Swine Flu I’ve been battling! BeezMom, I mentioned WCC, but I should have done it the other way around, talking about Rider. I believe that if one is a student at Rider, there are opportunities to particpate in at least some of the choruses at WCC. Found this statement on the website:
“Westminster College of the Arts offers every Rider student the opportunity to participate in the arts — whether you plan a lifetime career in the arts or seek the personal expression and enrichment found through its study.”</p>
<p>Is there a decent choir at U C Berkeley?</p>
<p>Just about every college at Oxford and Cambridge.</p>
<p>East Carolina University (Greenville, North Carolina) has a wonderful choral program, headed up by Daniel Bara. You can check out a few of their recordings on YouTube. I’ll be attending ECU next year as a voice performance major - their vocal studies program is very strong.</p>
<p>Chap - Marika Kuzma, choral director at Berkeley, is excellent and her groups are very good.</p>
<p>The University of Chicago has some excellent choir opportunities. My child is passionate about singing in choirs and grew up singing in some top rate choirs, giving her the opportunity to travel domestically and internationally. While it is an extracurricular to her, it was essential in the college she attended. Well she found it at Chicago, singing in three major choirs, including church music, ethic/cultural music and top university overall choir. She has done two national tours with one choir and is invited to Russia with another. So, if Chicago appeals to your child, it certainly may be worth looking at.</p>
<p>Thank you for your input. We are actually considering James Madison for other good reasons, so the choral program is a big plus. We will check out the other schools mentioned. Thanks again.</p>
<p>Take a look at Centenary College in Shreveport Louisiana. Best college choir I’ve heard. They travel a lot and she’d get great experience.</p>
<p>The Nordic Choir at Luther is one of the best in the country. It’s the Westminster of the Heartland.</p>
<p>[Nordic</a> Choir - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia](<a href=“http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_Choir]Nordic”>Nordic Choir - Wikipedia)
[Music:</a> Music at Luther](<a href=“http://www.luther.edu/music]Music:”>Music | Luther College)</p>