A choir is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which spans from the medieval era to the present, or popular music repertoire. Most choirs are led by a conductor, who leads the performances with arm and face gestures.
The War Requiem, Op. 66, is a large-scale setting of the Requiem composed by Benjamin Britten mostly in 1961 and completed in January 1962. The War Requiem was performed for the consecration of the new Coventry Cathedral, which was built after the original fourteenth-century structure was destroyed in a World War II bombing raid. The traditional Latin texts are interspersed, in telling juxtaposition, with extra-liturgical poems by Wilfred Owen, written during World War I.
The mass, a form of sacred musical composition, is a choral composition that sets the invariable portions of the Eucharistic liturgy to music. Most masses are settings of the liturgy in Latin, the liturgical sacred language of the Catholic Church's Roman liturgy, but there are a significant number written in the languages of non-Catholic countries where vernacular worship has long been the norm. For example, there are many masses written in English for the Church of England. Musical masses take their name from the Catholic liturgy called "the mass" as well.
The Grammy Award for Best Choral Performance has been awarded since 1961. There have been several minor changes to the name of the award over this time:
John Milford Rutter is an English composer, conductor, editor, arranger, and record producer, mainly of choral music.
A German Requiem, to Words of the Holy Scriptures, Op. 45 by Johannes Brahms, is a large-scale work for chorus, orchestra, a soprano and a baritone soloist, composed between 1865 and 1868. It comprises seven movements, which together last 65 to 80 minutes, making this work Brahms's longest composition. A German Requiem is sacred but non-liturgical, and unlike a long tradition of the Latin Requiem, A German Requiem, as its title states, is a Requiem in the German language.
The St. Olaf Choir is a premier a cappella choir based in Northfield, Minnesota. Founded in 1912 by Norwegian immigrant F. Melius Christiansen, the choir has been influential to other church and college choirs for its performance of unaccompanied sacred music. Conducted since 1990 by Anton Armstrong, there have been four conductors in the choir's 108 year history.
Gabriel Fauré composed his Requiem in D minor, Op. 48, between 1887 and 1890. The choral-orchestral setting of the shortened Catholic Mass for the Dead in Latin is the best-known of his large works. Its focus is on eternal rest and consolation. Fauré's reasons for composing the work are unclear, but do not appear to have had anything to do with the death of his parents in the mid-1880s. He composed the work in the late 1880s and revised it in the 1890s, finishing it in 1900.
The Grande Messe des morts, Op. 5, by Hector Berlioz was composed in 1837. The Grande Messe des Morts is one of Berlioz's best-known works, with a tremendous orchestration of woodwind and brass instruments, including four antiphonal offstage brass ensembles. The work derives its text from the traditional Latin Requiem Mass. It has a duration of approximately ninety minutes, although there are faster recordings of under seventy-five minutes.
The King's College Choir is an English choir. It is considered one of today's most accomplished and renowned representatives of the great English choral tradition. It was created by King Henry VI, who founded King's College, Cambridge, in 1441, to provide daily singing in his Chapel, which remains the main task of the choir to this day.
The Texas A&M University Century Singers are Texas A&M University's 60 to 70 member mixed choral group. The ensemble is Texas A&M's first mixed choir, and is the university's second oldest choral group. The Century Singers perform regularly throughout the Bryan/College Station community and annually throughout the State of Texas. The choir is currently under direction of Mr. Travis Angel, and is accompanied by Mr. Miguel Sousa.
The Swansea Philharmonic Choir is a mixed choir based in Swansea, Wales. It performs with 76 members.
Canticum Novum is the church choir of the Stellenbosch Dutch Reformed Church (Moederkerk). The choir exists as a society of the University of Stellenbosch and is the only choir in South Africa connected to a university singing only sacred music.
Bradley Ellingboe is an American composer, conductor, and bass-baritone singer.
Eugene Concert Choir is a choral masterworks organization in Eugene, Oregon, that consists of three performing ensembles: the 100-voice Eugene Concert Choir (ECC), the 36-voice chamber choir Eugene Vocal Arts (EVA), and the associated professional chamber orchestra Eugene Concert Orchestra. The organization is a Resident Company of the Hult Center for the Performing Arts, which is the primary performance venue for the choirs. Eugene Vocal Arts also regularly performs at The University of Oregon's Beall Concert Hall. Community and educational outreach is an important element in the organization and the ECCO program annually reaches 1,000+ children through in-school presentations. Dr. Diane Retallack has been the Artistic Director and Conductor since 1985.
The University of Pretoria - Tuks Camerata is one of five choirs that the University of Pretoria, South Africa has on its campus. The other four are The UP OVUWA, The University of Pretoria Youth Choir, The University of Pretoria Jacaranda Children's Choir and the University of Pretoria Concert Choir. It is the official Choir of the University of Pretoria
The Victoria Philharmonic Choir is an 80-voice auditioned choir based in Victoria, British Columbia. Conducted since 2009, by artistic director Peter Butterfield, the choir performs a wide range of a cappella and accompanied music, and collaborates with or performs with community and professional vocal soloists and musicians, including the Victoria Symphony.
Taplow Choirs is a group of four professional youth choirs for young people which rehearse in the village of Taplow, UK near Slough. It was founded in September 2004 by Philip Viveash and Gillian Dibden MBE after both conductors split from Berkshire Maestros. They held their first concert in the Christmas of 2004. They are a professional, highly prestigious choir and make up some of the top youth choirs in the world. They require high musical skill in young performers and therefore require auditions per entry for the choirs. They frequently perform in venues such as Windsor Castle and other professional events around London, have been on international tours and won the BBC's choir of the year award.
Masterworks Chorale is a choral ensemble based in San Mateo, California.
Gabriel Dessauer is a German cantor, concert organist and academic. He has been responsible for the church music at St. Bonifatius, Wiesbaden from 1981, conducting the Chor von St. Bonifatius until 2018. He is an internationally known organ recitalist and was an organ teacher on the faculty of the Hochschule für Musik Mainz. In 1985, he founded the German-English project choir Reger-Chor. He has lectured at international conferences, especially about the music of Max Reger, who was a member of the parish St. Bonifatius.
