ISSUED: 23 December 2015
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Masterworks Chorale, under the direction of Rachel Carlson, will hold auditions on Monday, January 11, 2016 at 7:30 p.m. in the Frank Center’s McCoy Rehearsal Hall. Auditions will consist of vocal exercises, and singers are not required to prepare a piece in advance.
The Masterworks Chorale meets Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. The 130-member vocal ensemble, made up of Shepherd University vocal students and members from the surrounding community, will perform Mozart’s “Requiem” on Saturday, April 23, 2016. Composed in 1791, the “Requiem” was Mozart’s last composition and is one of his most popular and respected works.
Rachel Carlson is the visiting director of choral activities at Shepherd and the founder and artistic director of Six Degree Singers in Silver Spring, Maryland. A soprano soloist and choral musician as well as a conductor, Carlson has performed with many of the finest ensembles in the country, appearing as a soprano soloist with True Concord Voices and Orchestra in Arizona, the Oregon Bach Festival, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Vox Humana in Texas, Washington Master Chorale, and Washington Bach Consort and as a professional choral singer with Conspirare in Texas and the Manhattan Chorale. She holds bachelor’s degrees in vocal performance and music education from the University of Maryland, a master’s degree in choral conducting from the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and is in the final stages of completing her D.M.A. in choral conducting at the University of Maryland.
For more information or to schedule an audition, contact Rachel Carlson at 304-876-5371 or email rcarlson@shepherd.edu.
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