What choir(s) can I join in the New York City area?

April 7, 2008 2:19 PM

What choir(s) can I join in the New York City area?

I'd like to join a choir in the New York City area. I'm comfortable with auditioning if I must, but I'm not necessarily looking for something competitive or difficult to join. I'm open to all types of choral music, secular or religious, old or new. My only requirement is to find a choir with members in my general age range. I'm 24 years old.

I have studied classical music in high school and college- including voice lessons, music theory, piano lessons, musical theater and of course choir. While in school, I was always in a choir (or 2 or 3). I've been out of school for 2 years and am dying to get back into choral singing- as a serious hobby and as an opportunity to meet others with similar interests.

Hope you can help! Thanks!

posted by dm_nyc to Media & Arts (5 answers total)

You may enjoy Sacred Harp, although it is very different from formal classical style and theater both.

The general idea is that it's traditional Anglo-American Christian music, sung a capella in four parts from a book of 500-odd songs (so you'll sightsing often). The quirks are the timbre (rustic, projectable, not necessarily rounded), the shape notes (corresponding to an old-fashioned solfege system with only four notes), the aesthetic (polyphonic, with two harmony lines above the melody, and post-medieval in that parallel fifths are allowed but thirds are dissonances that must be resolved), and the dynamics (loud). But it's a lot of fun even if you are classically trained, and the sing I go to (in suburban Utah) is very sociable. I've heard it reported that both New York and Seattle have sings heavily populated by hornrim-clad hipsters, but I wear the only hornrims I've seen at mine.
posted by eritain at 5:10 PM on April 7, 2008

The Collegiate Chorale takes amateurs and sings serious repertoire in great spaces (often Carnegie Hall) with good orchestras. More on the typical age range for post-college choirs (40+) but there are some younger singers mixed in - and I have a friend (27) who's enjoyed being involved.
posted by L'homme armé at 5:25 PM on April 7, 2008

New York Choral Society, New Amsterdam Singers, Riverside Choral Society are all fine groups. NYCS has summer sings open to all. Everyone has info on-line. Check the "Vocal Area Network" (online) for lots of general info. Please MeFiMail me with other questions, and let me know what you finally decide on.
posted by JimN2TAW at 9:11 PM on April 7, 2008

A few years ago, I got the same idea in my head. I didn't end up doing anything, but I did compile some resources that may now be helpful to you. Apologies if any of them are out of date:

Collegiate Chorale
YPC Chamber Singers
Vocal Area Network listing of choirs by rehearsal schedule/place
New Amsterdam Singers
New York Choral Society
West Village Chorale
Young New Yorker's Chorus
Cantori New York

Summer Sings (which I always say I'm going to try out but never have):

West Village Chorale
New York Choral Society
posted by lampoil at 7:39 AM on April 8, 2008

Response by poster: thanks everyone! I'm going to start investigating these websites...
posted by dm_nyc at 9:14 AM on April 8, 2008