Iowa July 16- 22, 2017 Simpson College Singing Actor Camp (the NEW Orpheus Experience) Simpson College Campus Indianola, IA http://www.simpson.edu/music/singingactorcamp This new camp is designed exclusively for high school students who love combining their talents in singing and acting, whether through an interest in musical comedy, opera, operetta, or Broadway. July 17-21, 2017 CORO Summer Composer's Institute Simpson College Campus Indianola, IA http://www.coroonline.org/summer-2017/composers-institute The week-long Composer’s Institute is devoted to the emerging composer. Each composer selected to participate will receive individual composition lessons and attend seminars on the commissioning process and advanced choral writing. Compositions will be rehearsed and performed by the CORO Vocal Artists. This year's guest composer is Timothy Takach. July 18-22, 2017 CORO Summer Conductor's Institute Simpson College Campus Indianola, IA http://www.coroonline.org/summer-2017/conductors-institute The Conductor’s Institute…
Fund raising is a necessary task that every community organization faces. In order to continue to offer musical experiences for our cities and towns, leaders of choirs must be creative in seeking out money for concerts and events. Some groups have been very successful at this process; one of these organizations is the Dubuque Chorale. Currently, I am the associate conductor of this community organization, serving with artistic director Bob Demaree. I had conversations with our board president in order to ascertain how this organization became fiscally sound. Over the past few years, Demaree has lead the Dubuque Chorale to financial security. Through careful planning, conservative spending, and a concerted effort in the area of fund raising, the board has succeeded in adding a children’s choir, including a paid artistic director,…
When the opportunity arose for my choir to participate in a festival performance at Carnegie Hall this year (which, of course, we had to take advantage of!), I was presented with the task of working with the students to raise sufficient funds for the trip to be feasible. Since the invitation came in May of 2016 after classes were already over for the year and the performance was to take place in March 2017, I had essentially six months in which to get the job done. So what I share with you here is based primarily on what we were able to make happen in that time frame, as well as some ideas for what I think would work better next time around. To give you some background, Dickinson State…
I do not recommend googling "fundraising ideas for choirs." You will find yourself weeding through numerous Pintrest suggestions and ads from companies promising ways to make fundraising painless, quick, and bring in lots of money. Sound too good to be true? Why yes, it is. In general, fundraising is difficult, time-consuming work. It puts all of us on edge because usually no one wants to ask for money (and if you are from the upper Midwest, you would probably prefer not to bother anyone for things like that!). Fundraising strikes at the very heart of what is not polite conversation: religion, politics, and money. But if touring and attire are essential parts of your program and you don’t have the means to write a check for what you need to…
