Chamber Chorus Information
Wei Cheng, Director
Course Number: Music 145
Rehearsal Schedule: MW 5:00-7:00pm, Hertz Hall (Fa23 Update: Changed from 5:30-7:30pm)
The UC Berkeley Chamber Chorus is the university’s premiere concert choir. Known for offering our singers and audiences an engaging musical experience, each year the Chamber Chorus sings a cappella and accompanied music in many languages, and from the last 800 years.
The Chamber Chorus’s approximately 35 singers are competitively selected from singer-musicians in the greater campus community: undergraduates, graduate students, faculty, and staff. Some singers who are not directly affiliated with the University may also be admitted to ensemble. Singers in the chamber chorus are expected to have advanced musicianship skills and significant vocal/choral experience, and to be passionately devoted to chamber choir singing
Participation
Auditions for the Chamber Chorus (Music 145) and private voice lessons (Music 167B and 168B) are held at the beginning of every semester. Please refer to the Audition Requirements for more details.
Regular attendance at weekly rehearsals and participation in performances is required. The Chamber Chorus performs several times per semester, in Hertz Hall, as well as in other on- and off-campus venues.
Singing in the Chamber Chorus prepares members to perform with professional ensembles after they graduate and leave the Bay Area. Many of our alumni now sing with professional choirs internationally and perform on major opera and concert stages One of our alumni, Clarissa Lyons, is currently an apprentice at the Metropolitan Opera!
Description and History
Sponsored by the Department of Music, the chorus performs a cappella and choral-instrumental works and is particularly acclaimed for its readings of early and contemporary music. In 2009, it performed Handel’s L’Allegro with Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra and the Mark Morris Dance Group. In 2010-11, it performed Morton Feldman’s Rothko Chapel with the Abel-Steinberg-Winant Trio and James MacMillan’s Seven Last Words with the Berkeley Symphony under Joana Carneiro and works by Purcell under the direction of Matthew Oltman (emeritus director of Chanticleer). In 2012, the Chamber Chorus performed the Vaughan Williams Mass in G at Grace Cathedral in San Francisco and Berg’s Wozzeck under Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen in Berkeley and in Los Angeles at Disney Hall. In March, 2014, the chorus was one of three prestigious US Choirs to sing a concert of contemporary a cappella music at Carnegie Hall. In April, 2015, it performed the Bach B minor Mass in Hertz Hall and choruses from John Adams, Death of Klinghoffer in Zellerbach Hall. In March 2019, in collaboration with CalPerformances, the chorus sang the world premiere of the oratorio Dreamers, music by Jimmy Lopez and libretto by Pulitzer Prize winner Nilo Cruz, along with the professional choral ensemble Volti and the London Philharmonia under Maestro Esa-Pekka Salonen in both in Zellerbach Hall and Bing Hall at Stanford University. The Chamber Chorus has also appeared in concert tours to the East Coast, Canada, and Europe. Its performances have been featured in broadcasts of the Voice of America, Public Radio International, and Austrian Radio. Critics from the New York Times, Washington Post, San Francisco Chronicle, and Opera News alike have praised the chorus as “excellent,” “splendid,” “electric.” “The UC Chamber Chorus leaves no syllable unarticulated and no musical marvel unexplored” (San Francisco Examiner). Among Chamber Chorus recordings, its Handel Susannah on the harmonia mundi label won a Grand Prix du Disque.
