The Cali School supports a broad range of specialized ensembles including Chamber Ensembles, University Singers, Collegium Musicum, Contemporary Chamber Ensemble, Harry Partch Ensemble, Jazz Band, Opera Workshop and Vocal Jazz Ensemble.

Chamber Ensembles

The Cali School offers opportunities for participation and performance in a wide variety of groups, from the Collegium Musicum, which performs music from the Middle Ages though the 18th century; up to and including the Contemporary Ensemble, which performs music of the twentieth century through newly composed works.

Students are also encouraged to form their own groups for experiment, practice or public performance. These groups may explore one kind of literature, such as the string quartet repertoire, perform a specific piece, or  meet the needs and interests of particular students. The faculty offers specialized coaching for groups made up of many combinations including strings, piano, flutes, clarinets, percussion and voice.

In addition to student ensembles, students have the opportunity to perform with faculty in concert. Recent concerts have included performances of William Walton’s Façade: An Entertainment, with the narrated, poetry of Edith Sitwell; John Harbison’s Wind Quintet, which was commissioned and premiered by MSU professor David Singer; and Milhaud’s The Creation of the World: Chaos, Man and Woman Created, Desire, and Kiss.

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University Singers

The Montclair State University Singers is a 60 member mixed-voice choir comprising undergraduate and graduate students who are experienced singers and musicians. Students from all schools/colleges in the University in good academic standing may audition. The University Singers performs a wide variety of sacred and secular repertoire, encompassing genres from the Renaissance to the 21st Century, with special interest in contemporary composers. Previous season highlights include New York Choral Festival Showcase Concerts performances at Carnegie Hall and Alice Tully Hall (2005, 2007 & 2008), Prelude Concert performances for the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra’s annual Winter Festivals (2004 & 2005), tours of Central Europe (May 2005) and Russia (May 2008) with performances in Prague, Budapest, Bratislava, Debrecen, Moscow, Pushkin and St. Petersburg. World Premiere performances include Madison’s Descent (Mícheál ÓSúílleabháin), That Music Always Round Me (Tarik O’Regan), and Ave Maria and A White Blossom (Martin A. Sedek). The University Singers has also established an exciting performance relationship with renowned composer-artist Meredith Monk beginning with their historic collaboration in December 2006 and continuing with the critically acclaimed March 2009 performances of Ascension Variations at the Guggenheim Museum. They recorded the CD Songs of Ascension with Meredith Monk and Vocal Ensemble was released in May 2011. In Spring 2010, Vocal Accord, the 24-voice chamber choir comprising students from University Singers, made its debut performance in the Cali School of Music’s Leshowitz Recital Hall.

Lux Aurumqe - Eric Whitacre [ Video]
MSU Singers
Heather J. Buchanan, conductor

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Collegium Musicum

Collegium Musicum performs instrumental and vocal works from the pre-19th century repertoire. It also performs later works when they are related to the earlier styles. Students have the opportunity to perform in solo as well as ensemble repertoire. Recent programs that demonstrate the great diversity of works performed by this ensemble include The Love Feast: Music from Early American Religious Societies, with works from the Ephrata Cloister, Shakers, Moravian Brethren, Harmony Society, and from the American shaped-note tradition; Spain and New Spain 1550-1750: Music of Three Continents, with early repertoire from Europe and the Americas; Monteverdi's Orfeo; magic scenes from Purcell’s operas The Fairy Queen and King Arthur; and "Vanity of Vanities”: Rome 1650, a program of vocal and instrumental works by Carissimi, Storace, Pasquini, Froberger, and Marini, all composers who flourished in mid-17th century Rome. In 2009, Collegium Musicum performed music of Charpentier and the French baroque, directed and coached by Jeffrey Gall and harpsichordist Gwendolyn Toth. In 2010, Gwendolyn Toth directed a program of works by Gabrieli, Monteverdi, Marenzio, Frescobaldi, Merula, Sweelinck and Cavalieri.

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Contemporary Chamber Ensemble

The Montclair State University Contemporary Chamber Ensemble performs classics and new works of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries from music by Stravinsky, Varèse and Webern to student compositions. The Contemporary Chamber Ensemble is directed by Dean Drummond who is a composer, conductor and recording artist.

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Harry Partch Ensemble

The Cali School provides a unique opportunity for students to perform on the famous collection of microtonal instruments invented by the 20th century composer Harry Partch, the Partch Instrumentarium. Students perform works by Partch and others, and composer their own works. They are also encouraged to invent their own instruments. The ensemble is directed by Dean Drummond who worked with Partch during the 60's and 70's, co-directs Newband, and is a composer in his own right. In December 2008, the Ensemble presented the annual Beatrice Crawford Memorial Concert at Kasser Theater, performing Eleven Intrusions and
O Frabjous Day! by Harry Partch, MS Genitron by Dean Drummond, and premieres of Seahorse by Elizabeth Brown and Yonah's Dream by Mathew Rosenblum.

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Jazz Band I

The Montclair State University Jazz Band I, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Kunkel, performs contemporary works for large jazz ensemble, as well as music of historical importance to this genre. It is open, by audition, to anyone on campus, but is comprised primarily of jazz performance and music education majors. The group has studied originals and arrangements by such classic artists as Thad Jones, "Duke" Ellington, and "Count" Basie, and contemporary writers Shelly Berg, Mike Abene, and Bob Mintzer. It performs regularly on campus and at a variety of festivals and educational conferences. It has performed at the Villanova Jazz Festival, regional IAJE and NJMEA conferences, at Town Hall in New York City as part of the New York Vocal Jazz Festival, and the University of the Arts Jazz Festival in Philadelphia. It has collaborated with well known guest artists in clinics and performances, including Tony Kadleck (trumpet), Dave Demsey (saxophone), Andy Fusco (saxophone), Tom "Bones" Malone (trombone), the New York Voices, Steve Johns (drums), Dave Bixler (saxophone) Terell Stafford (trumpet), and Bucky Pizzarelli (guitar). In 2010 Jazz Band I featured the compositions and solo trombone performance of guest artist Alan Ferber. In 2011, it featured saxophonist, composer and arranger Ed Palermo in works of Frank Zappa.

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Opera Workshop

The Montclair State University Opera Workshop offers vocal students a wide range of performance opportunities. Every three years the ensemble presents a fully staged performance with orchestra. In the other years, the Workshop performs scenes from operas and one act works that show the range of talent in MSU's vocal program. This auditioned ensemble is open to vocalists in all concentrations, not just performance majors. Some recent operas have included fully staged performances of Kurt Weill's Street Scenes, Gian Carlo Menotti's The Consul, Handel's oratorio Saul, and scenes from Handel's Orlando, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, the East Coast premiere of Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry, Donizetti's Il giovedi grasso (Carnival Thursday), João Macdowell's Tamanduá (The Anteater); Mozart’ La finta giardiniera (The Pretend Garden Girl); Rossini’s La scala di seta (The Silken Ladder); and Britten's Albert Herring. In addition to fully staged works, Opera Workshop has presented scenes from operas by many composers including Bernstein, Bizet, Gilbert and Sullivan, Britten, Strauss, Humperdinck, Mascagni, Menotti and Ravel and Massenet.

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Vocal Jazz Ensemble

The Montclair State University Vocal Jazz Ensemble, under the direction of Prof. Holli Ross, is comprised of 12 vocalists plus rhythm section. Its members are primarily music majors, but the group is open by audition to the entire campus. Over the past few years they have performed arrangements by contemporary vocal jazz arrangers such as Steve Zegree, Paris Rutherford, and Michelle Weir. The ensemble has performed at regional IAJE and NJMEA conferences and at Town Hall in New York city as part of the New York Vocal Jazz Festival. They have performed recently with New York Voices in a performance at Kasser Theater as well as in collaboration with the MSU Jazz Band and its featured soloists.

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