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, hand, and facial gestures.
Jeffrey Douma is the Director of the Yale Glee Club and the Marshall Bartholomew Professor in the Practice of Choral Music at the Yale School of Music. He is the founding Director of the Yale Choral Artists and serves as Artistic Director of the Yale International Choral Festival.
The San Miguel Master Chorale (SMMC), now non-existent, was the first professional choir in the Philippines. It was composed of an all-Filipino roster ranging from faculty members and honor graduates of music conservatories, alumni of various choirs, choral conductors, composers, arrangers, and soloists.
Raymundo Cipriano Pujante Cayabyab, known professionally as Ryan Cayabyab, is a Filipino musician, composer and conductor. Regarded as one of the pillars and icons of Original Pilipino Music (OPM). He was the Executive and Artistic Director for several years for the defunct San Miguel Foundation for the Performing Arts. He was named National Artist of the Philippines for Music in 2018.
The National Music Competitions for Young Artists Foundation or NAMCYA was founded in the Philippines in 1973. It was created by virtue of President Ferdinand Marcos' Presidential Proclamation No. 1173, which declares the period between November 26 and December 12 every year as National Week for Young Artists.
The University of the Philippines Madrigal Singers (UPMS), also known as the Philippine Madrigal Singers or simply Madz, is one of the major choral groups based in the University of the Philippines, Diliman. Its current conductor, musical director, and choirmaster is Mark Anthony A. Carpio. The Madz is the first choir to win the European Grand Prix for Choral Singing (EGP) twice.
The University of the Philippines Singing Ambassadors, also known as the UP Singing Ambassadors or UPSA, is one of the major performing musical groups based at the University of the Philippines Diliman (UP-Diliman) in Quezon City, Philippines. UPSA is the State University's official performing group for choreographed choral music and resident choir of the UP College of Arts and Letters. The UPSA has performed music from different styles: classical music, international songs, spirituals, ethnic, Broadway, pop, jazz, gospel, inspirational songs and rock. As ambassadors of Philippine culture, the UPSA incorporates cultural dances, costumes and traditions from various regions in the Philippines as part of its repertoire.
Andrea Ofilada Veneracion was a Filipino choral conductor and a recipient of the 1999 National Artist for Music award. She founded the Philippine Madrigal Singers in 1963. She was also an adjudicator in numerous international choral competitions and was an active force in choral music before her massive stroke in 2005.
Mark Anthony Carpio is a choral conductor, choirmaster, piano accompanist and a countertenor, who is the present choirmaster of the Philippine Madrigal Singers, Kilyawan Boys Choir, Voces Aurorae, Pansol Choir, and the Madz Schola Cantorum. He is also a faculty member at the Conducting and Choral Ensemble Department of the University of the Philippines College of Music in Diliman, Quezon City, Philippines.
Joy T. Nilo is a Filipino composer who specializes in a cappella choral music. Also an orchestrator, his works range from traditional to modern, ethnic to electronic, serious to popular. He is also a pianist, singer, music conductor and educator.
Nilo Alcala is a Filipino-American composer and 2019 The American Prize Winner in Composition. He is the first Philippine-born composer to be commissioned by Grammy winner Los Angeles Master Chorale, and also to receive the Aaron Copland House Residency Award.
Chorus Philippines is a composite choir founded by choirmaster-composer Joy Nilo in 2002. Cited as one of the country's leading chamber choirs, the choir has performed works by major composers as well as compositions by Filipino icons found in most concert halls in the Philippines.
The Ateneo de Manila College Glee Club (ACGC), simply known as the Ateneo Glee Club, is a choir based in the Ateneo de Manila University, Philippines. It is distinguished as the oldest university chorale in the Philippines, celebrating its 98th season in 2018. It has held concerts internationally, and has released several albums with songs genres ranging from Classical, Negro spiritual, Sacred choral works, as well as Pop, and OPM. The Glee Club remains active internationally through the performances it stages and choral festivals it participates in.
Imusicapella is an internationally-acclaimed church choir based at the Our Lady of the Pillar Parish in Imus City, Province of Cavite, Philippines. The choir regularly sings at the Imus Cathedral and St. Peregrine Chapel.
The Bukidnon State University Chorale is the premier cultural group of the Bukidnon State University specializing in Bukidnon indigenous music. It is a mixed choir composed of students and employees of the institution.
Joel Magus P. Navarro is a Filipino-American conductor and music educator. He is one of the Philippines' most esteemed choral conductors. He is also a composer, singer, arranger, choral clinician, writer, producer, music minister, author, and book editor.
Carl William Lesch (1924–1983) was an American Catholic educator, director, and musical conductor and instructor associated with many institutions in the New York Metropolitan area.
The UP Manila Chorale is the multi-awarded official performing group for choral music of the University of the Philippines Manila. Established in July 1992 by a few BA Behavioral Sciences students, the group aims to embody and represent the University locally and internationally through the art of choral music, serving as ambassadors of cultural goodwill by being the “voice of UP Manila to the world”. Presently, the group is led by their musical director, Emmanuel "Eman" P. de Leon Jr.
Donald Frederick Hunt was an English conductor, from Gloucester. He was a distinguished English choral conductor, having made his conducting debut with the Halifax Choral Society in 1957.
Daniel Troen Moe was an American choral conductor, composer, and pedagogue. He was director of choral organizations for the University of Iowa, professor of choral conducting at Oberlin College Conservatory of Music, and founding music director of Key Chorale in Sarasota, Florida. He was a published composer and author. He was once hailed by The New Yorker music critic Andrew Porter as "that dean of choral conductors."
