The choral program, directed by Gabriel Crouch, includes a Glee Club, Chamber Choir, Playhouse Choir, and Vocal Consort program. Auditions for all choral ensembles (Glee Club, Chamber Choir and Playhouse Choir) take place during the first week of class in the fall semester. More information about choral auditions, and details of how to sign up, can be found at www.princetongleeclub.com
The Glee Club is the oldest and largest choir at Princeton University, and has for generations served as the ‘hub’ for singers at Princeton – in which like-minded students come together to explore musical passions and make lifelong friendships. The choir tours internationally on alternate years (at no cost to the students!), and has recently added northern Spain and South Africa to the list of stamps in the Glee Club passport. There are six major performances this coming season, and numerous special appearances at functions and gatherings around campus. The choir embraces a vast array of repertoire, from Renaissance motets and madrigals, Romantic partsongs, large choral-orchestral masterworks, and 21st century choral commissions to the more traditional Glee Club fare of spirituals, folk music, and college songs. The spectrum of Glee Club members is perhaps even broader: undergraduates and graduate students, scientists and poets, philosophers and economists – all walks of academic life are represented, knit together by their belief in the nobility and joy of singing together.
REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: The Glee Club meets on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays from 4:30-6:30PM in McAlpin Hall at the basement level of the Woolworth Center.
Conducted by Gabriel Crouch, the Chamber Choir is a select group of 30-35 mixed voices that sings a range of challenging music from the Renaissance period through the twenty-first century. Most of the choir’s membership also sings in the Glee Club. This ensemble performs in concert with the Glee Club as well as on a separate concert series, and is frequently invited to perform off campus. Because of the advanced repertoire and light rehearsal schedule, Chamber Choir members possess a high level of musicianship. Recent repertoire has included Bach’s complete motets, Poulenc’s Figure Humaine, Rossini’s Petite Messe Solennelle and Mary Lou Williams’ St Martin de Porres with jazz great Cyrus Chestnut.
REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: The Chamber Choir meets on Mondays, Wednesdays from 7:30-9PM in McAlpin Hall at the basement level of the Woolworth Center.
The Playhouse Choir explores the intersection of choral music and theatre. The group’s work incorporates large and small ensembles, a cappella and accompanied singing, vocal solos, dance, spoken word, new music commissions, and collaborative projects with artists across departments.
REHEARSAL SCHEDULE: The Playhouse Choir meets on Tuesdays and Thursdays from 4:30pm-6:30pm in McAlpin Hall at the basement level of the Woolworth Center.
The Vocal Consort Certificate Program allows singers with an interest in one-to-part singing, of unaccompanied vocal music from any era or genre, to pursue their passion together in a supervised setting. Under the general direction of Gabriel Crouch and Jacqueline Horner-Kwiatek, the students in the program curate their own recitals and rehearse with each other in a variety of configurations, depending on the needs of the repertoire. The Consort’s first concert program included music by Ligeti, Tye, and Padilla, as well as improvisational singing and a set of traditional Bulgarian folk songs.
The Vocal Consort Certificate Program is part of the Program in Performance, which students audition for as rising juniors.
