Specialized Ensembles
The Cali School supports a broad range of specialized ensembles including Chamber Ensembles, University Singers, Collegium Musicum, Harry Partch Ensemble, Jazz Band, Opera Workshop and Vocal Jazz Ensemble.
Chamber Ensembles
Chamber music is a vital part of the Cali School curriculum. We offer a wide variety of opportunities, ranging from the Collegium Musicum, which performs music from the Middle Ages though the 18th century, to ensembles performing contemporary and newly composed works. Ensembles are formed by the faculty following auditions that determine students' interests and abilities. Students may also have the opportunity to perform with faculty in concert. Recent joint student and faculty concerts have included performances of William Walton’s Façade: An Entertainment; John Harbison’s Wind Quintet (commissioned and premiered by emeritus 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 & 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 on the prestigious European label ECM Records (2011). This collaboration was included in the Producer of the Year section of the 2012 Grammy nominations. In February 2012 University Singers gave their ACDA Eastern Division Convention debut performance (Providence, RI) with a program featuring two World Premiere performances by composers Chen Yi (Distance can’t keep us two apart, the 2012 Raymond Brock Memorial Commission) and Martin A. Sedek (She Walks in Beauty).
Lux Aurumqe - Eric Whitacre [ Video] (University Singers, Heather J. Buchanan, conductor)
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Collegium Musicum
Collegium Musicum, directed by Jeffrey Gall, performs solo and ensemble works for instruments and voice from the pre-19th century repertoire. It also performs later works related to the earlier styles. Its diverse programs have included: The Love Feast - Music from Early American Religious Societies, works from the Ephrata Cloister, Shakers, Moravian Brethren, Harmony Society, and the shaped-note tradition; Spain and New Spain 1550-1750, with works from Europe and the Americas; Monteverdi's Orfeo; magic scenes from Purcell’s The Fairy Queen and King Arthur; "Vanity of Vanities” - Rome 1650, works by Carissimi, Storace, Pasquini, Froberger, and Marini, music of Charpentier and the French baroque, and Italian Influences in German Music, 1600-1650 including works of Böhm and Schütz.
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Harry Partch Ensemble
The Cali School provides a unique opportunity for students to perform on the Partch Instrumentarium, the collection of microtonal instruments invented by the 20th century composer Harry Partch. Students perform works by Partch and others, compose, and are also encouraged to invent their own instruments. Directed by the composer Dean Drummond, who worked with Partch during the 60's and 70s, the ensemble's performances have included: Partch's Eleven Intrusions, O Frabjous Day!, Daphne of the Dunes, The Wind, The Letter, Soldiers–War–Another War; Drummond's MS Genitron; premieres of Elizabeth Brown's Seahorse and Mathew Rosenblum's Yonah's Dream; and Sam Donovan's Elemental Storm.
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Jazz Band I
The Montclair State University Jazz Band I, directed by Dr. Jeffrey Kunkel, performs classic jazz standards and contemporary works for large jazz ensemble. It is open, by audition, to anyone on campus, but is comprised primarily of jazz studies 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, including 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). It has featured the compositions, arrangements and solo performances of guest artists including Alan Ferber (trombone), Ed Palermo (saxophone) in works of Frank Zappa, and Ingrid Jensen (trumpet).
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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. Fully staged performances have included Kurt Weill's Street Scenes, Menotti's The Consul, Britten's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Robert Aldridge's Elmer Gantry (East Coast premiere), 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); Britten's Albert Herring. and Rossini's La cambiale di matrimonio (The Marriage Contract). In addition to fully staged works, Opera Workshop has presented scenes from operas by many composers including Bernstein, Bizet, Handel, Puccini, Gilbert and Sullivan, Britten, Strauss, Humperdinck, Mascagni, Menotti, Ravel and Massenet.
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Vocal Jazz Ensemble
Vocomotion Singers, the Montclair State University vocal jazz ensemble under the direction of 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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