Performance OpportunitiesStudents in Voice/Opera perform two fully-staged operas and four opera scenes concerts each year, and give solo recitals to culminate their degrees. Students in Choral Activities perform in one or more of our seven choirs, with op

Students in Voice and Opera perform two fully-staged operas and four opera scenes concerts each year, and give solo recitals to culminate their degrees. Students in Choral Activities perform in one or more of our seven choirs, with opportunities to perform at professional conferences as well as our annual Kimmel Center concert with the Temple University Symphony Orchestra. Graduate student conductors give two recitals and have opportunities to conduct six of our seven choirs in performance.

Temple University Opera Theater produces two fully staged opera productions with orchestra each year on Temple’s main campus. Our opera productions are led by the Opera Faculty, as well as regular guest directors. Staged opera scenes and arias programs are presented each year as well as special projects and other performing opportunities, both on campus and on tour. Voice and Opera students may audition for any production of Temple University Opera Theater or Temple Theaters, with departmental approval.

Past opera productions include Cosi fan tutte, Dido and Aeneas, Trouble in Tahiti, Werther, The Impresario, La Canterina, Lucio Sila, The Merry Widow, La finta giardiniera and others. List of archived operat productions.

Opera Workshop class prepares singers for a professional career in opera performance. Students engage in rigorous training with our Opera Faculty in standard acting, receive musical coaching on their assigned repertoire, and learn basic dance and fight techniques. In addition to fully staged opera scenes programs, students present staged aria programs each fall. Students also study audition technique and have regular interactions with invited guest teachers and current industry professionals.

Temple University Choirs have enjoyed a rich tradition of excellence under the batons of some of Philadelphia's most prominent conductors. The six ensembles comprise nearly 200 students each year, and have enjoyed regional and national acclaim for their performances both individually and collectively. Between the 1940s and 1980s the combined choirs performed annually with The Philadelphia Orchestra, and since 2002 have collaborated annually with the Temple University Orchestra at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. All choirs are open to Temple students of all majors by audition.

Temple choirs strive for excellence, artistry, and individual growth. They embrace both standard choral works and contemporary music from all around the world. Temple’s choirs have enjoyed leadership by some of the profession’s finest musicians, including Elaine Brown, Robert Page and Alan Harler. Dr. Paul Rardin, Elaine Brown Chair in Choral Music, is chair of Vocal Arts and director of choral activities. Watch past performances.

Choir Ensembles:

Temple University Concert Choir
University Singers
Women's Chorus
University Chorale

Temple University Concert Choir

MUSC 4300, 1 credit
Meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 1:00pm to 2:50pm
Members selected by audition

Praised for "professional musicianship" and "rich, free sound" (Boston Music Intelligencer), the Temple University Concert Choir has enjoyed a regional and national reputation for excellence and versatility. The choir is comprised of undergraduate and graduate students at the Boyer College of Music and Dance. In addition to performing the great masterworks of the choral and choral/orchestral canon, the choir is committed to the performance of new American choral music and has presented many first Philadelphia performances, including Robert Moran's Hagoromo, Alfred Schnittke's Requiem, Arvo Pärt's Passio Nostri Jesu Christi Secundum Joannem, Eriks Ešenvalds's Three Teasdale Poems, and Donald McCullough's Song of the Shulamite.

The Concert Choir has been Temple's choral ambassador in the United States and abroad. Under the direction of Alan Harler, the ensemble earned invitations to perform at the National and Eastern Division conferences of the American Choral Directors Association in 1995, 2000, 2004, and 2008, at the inaugural conference of the National Collegiate Choral Organization in 2006, and at Alice Tully Hall with Manhattan Concert Productions in 2013. It has performed across the United States as well as China, Hong Kong, Venezuela, and Puerto Rico, and has sung for some of the world's great conductors, including Eugene Ormandy, Riccardo Muti, Leopold Stokowski, Klaus Tennstedt, Zubin Mehta, Carlo Maria Giulini, Krzysztof Penderecki, Hellmuth Rilling, and Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The Concert Choir and members of the University Singers joined The Philadelphia Orchestra and Westminster Symphonic Choir for a four-performance run of Bernstein's MASS in April 2015 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin. Engagements for 2015-2016 included invited conference performances for the National Collegiate Choral Organization and American Choral Directors Association Eastern Division, as well as a performance of Bach motets with special guest conductor Helmuth Rilling.

Since 2013, the Concert Choir has produced three recordings on the BCM&D label: Northern Lights (2015), featuring the music of Latvian composer Eriks Ešenvalds; That Music Always Round Me (2014), featuring original jazz compositions by Garry Dial and Dick Oatts; and Waken the Dawn (2013), featuring words and music by African-American composers and poets. The ensemble's recording of William Averitt's Afro-American Fragments, the featured composition of Waken the Dawn, was praised by the composer as "absolutely superb from start to finish."

The choir has performed under the distinctive leadership of Elaine Brown, Robert Page, and Alan Harler, and since 2011 has been conducted by Paul Rardin.

University Singers

MUSC 3300 - 002, 1 credit
Meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 2:50pm
Members must take a placement audition at the beginning of the semester

University Singers is a mixed choir of students representing a wide range of majors within the Boyer College and across the University. The choir performs frequently on and off campus, and participates in the annual combined-choir and orchestra concerts at the Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts. The University Singers took part in the 1967 Grammy-winning performance of Carl Orff's Catulli Carmina with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The University Singers have served regularly as musical ambassadors to the greater Philadelphia community, performing in recent years at the Historic St. George's Church, Rutgers University-Camden, and other venues. The Singers perform a diverse sampling of repertoire from many different times and traditions. Founded in the 1960s and enjoying decades' worth of loyal alumni, the ensemble has sung under the expert musical leadership of Gail Poch, Tram Sparks and Jeffrey Cornelius.

Guest composer/performers in recent years have included Ola Gjeilo and Darius Brubeck, and the ensemble has been joined in rehearsal and performance by the ensembles Amarcord and Magnificat. Members of the University Singers joined the Concert Choir, The Philadelphia Orchestra, and Westminster Symphonic Choir for a four-performance run of Bernstein's MASS in April 2015 under the baton of Yannick Nézet-Séguin.

The University Singers is conducted by Mitos Andaya.

Women's Chorus

MUSC 3300 - 003, 1 credit
Meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 2:50pm
Members must take a placement audition at the beginning of the semester

The Women's Chorus is a mixed choir of female students representing a wide range of majors within the Boyer College and across the University. Formed in 2000 with the intent of expanding Temple's choirs' repertoire, the ensemble performs four times per year on campus as well as with the combined choirs and orchestra for the annual Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts concerts.

The Women's Chorus embraces a wide variety of choral music genres and has earned praise for their engaging, emotionally connective, and stylistically informed performances. The ensemble has regularly championed new music, including works by Boyer faculty and students. The choir has also earned acclaim for its regular "flash-mob" performances across campus.

University Chorale

MUSC 3300 - 001, 1 credit
Meets on Mondays and Wednesdays from 1:00pm to 2:50pm
Members must take a placement audition at the beginning of the semester

The University Chorale is a choir of men's voices representing a wide range of majors within the Boyer College and across the University. The Chorale, originally titled Music Education Chorus, formed as a result of the merger of the Men's Glee Club and Women's Glee Club in the 1960s. The ensemble was conducted for many years by Temple Professor Emerita Janet Yamron until her retirement in 2009, and took part in the 1967 Grammy-winning performance of Carl Orff's Catulli Carmina with the Philadelphia Orchestra.

The Chorale performs music of many times and cultures, and in recent years has placed special emphasis on contemporary American music, including works by Z. Randall Stroope, Eric William Barnum, Daniel Pinkham, Jeffery Ames, Carol Barnett, and Frank Ticheli.

The University Chorale is conducted by Christine Bass.

Singing Owls

MUSC 4352 (undergraduate students); MUSC 5352 (graduate students)
0-1 credits
Meets on Tuesdays from 7:30pm to 9:30pm

The Singing Owls joined the roster of Temple choirs for the first time in Fall 2014. Singing Owls is a mixed choir comprised of Temple University students, faculty, staff, and alumni, as well as members of the greater Philadelphia community. The ensemble's primary goal is to create a dynamic and inclusive singing community through the appreciation and performance of music from diverse places, cultures, styles, and time periods. The ensemble performs twice each semester and is open to all without audition. Complimentary musicianship and voice classes are available 30 minutes prior to each rehearsal.

In April 2015, Singing Owls welcomed noted singer, composer, and song-leader Dr. Ysaye Barnwell to campus for a residency. Dr. Barnwell coached the ensemble on several of her compositions, after whose performance she led an enthralled audience in a community sing. In April 2016, Singing Owls joined the other Temple choirs and the Temple University Symphony Orchestra to perform Carl Orff's Carmina Burana at the Kimmel Center. Later that same month, the choir welcomed the Sister Cities Girlchoir, under the direction of Kendra Balmer, as special guests for their spring concert.

The choir is conducted by Rollo Dilworth.

Graduate Conductor's Chorus

MUSC 4310, 0-1 credits
Meets on Mondays from 3:00pm to 4:50pm
Members selected by audition

The Graduate Conductors Chorus is an ensemble of 24 members selected from the Concert Choir by competitive audition. The choir is conducted by MM Choral Conducting students and presents a recital every six weeks under the direction of a different conductor. Members receive tuition assistance each semester and are held to a high standard of sight-reading and musical preparation. The ensemble focuses on concerted and a cappella choral literature from the Renaissance to present day.

Recital Chorus