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Welcome to the Kalamazoo Singers website! We are pleased that you found us, and we hope that you enjoy exploring this site!
The Kalamazoo Singers is pleased to announce the naming of our new Music Director and Conductor, Richard (Rick) Phelps! Rick brings over twenty years of conducting experience with youth choirs, adult choirs, and orchestras in a wide array of musical genres. Rick earned his Bachelor of Music from Central Michigan University and his Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the Cincinnati Conservatory of Music. Rick is originally from Mt. Pleasant, where he taught for many years while also serving as adjunct faculty at his alma mater, CMU. Rick is currently the choir director at Holland High School, and has taught at Interlochen every summer since 1997. Please join us in welcoming Rick to the Kalamazoo arts community!
In other news, the Kalamazoo Singers is pleased to announce our 2011-2012 season, our 35th concert season!
Our 2011-2012 season will begin with "O Magnum Mysterium", a concert of sacred vocal music from Renaissance to Rutter. Featuring works by Tomas Luis de Victoria, Morten Lauridsen, Francis Poulenc, Pablo Casals, David MacIntyre, Franz Biebl, Sergei Rachmaninoff, Randol Bass, Giovanni Gabrieli, and John Rutter, this promises to be an inspiring and uplifting event. The concert will take place at Holy Family Chapel (on the Nazareth campus near the intersection of Gull Road and Nazareth Road), on Sunday, November 6, 2011, at 3:00 PM.
The second concert of our season will be a collaboration with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra in a performance of Handel's "Messiah". This performance will take place at Chenery Auditorium (near the intersection of Westnedge Avenue and Vine Street), on Saturday, December 17, 2011, at 8:00 PM.
Our season will continue with "A Gilbert and Sullivan Celebration", a celebration of the operettas written and composed by this prolific duo. The concert will take place at Kalamazoo First Baptist Church (315 West Michigan Avenue, on the north side of Bronson Park), on Sunday, March 25, 2012, at 3:00 PM.
The final concert of our 2011-2012 season will be "Concert in the Park". The Kalamazoo Singers is thrilled once again to participate in the 2012 "Concerts In The Park" summer concert series presented by the Arts Council of Greater Kalamazoo and the City of Kalamazoo, and sponsored by the Irving S. Gilmore Foundation. The concert will take place on the Kalamazoo Rotary Club Stage in Bronson Park, on a Sunday in June, 2012 (date TBD), at 4:00 PM .
Tickets for Kalamazoo Singers concerts (including collaborations with the Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra) may be purchased from the Miller Auditorium Ticket Office.
Auditions for the Kalamazoo Singers will be held on Monday, January 9, 2012, time TBD. Auditions consist of a piece from your repertoire (opera, operetta, musical theatre, or choral literature), scales / vocalizations (in order to determine vocal range), and sight reading. An accompanist is provided. Audio recordings of auditions may be made for later review. If you have an interest in auditioning for the Kalamazoo Singers, please e-mail our audition coordinator, or call our office at (269) 373-1769.