ISSUED: 12 August 2016
MEDIA CONTACT: Valerie Owens
SHEPHERDSTOWN, WV — Shepherd University’s Masterworks Chorale, under the direction of Dr. Rachel Carlson, visiting assistant professor of music, will be holding auditions on August 19-21 for the Saturday, November 5, performance of Vivaldi’s “Gloria” and J.S. Bach’s “Magnificat.” Masterworks Chorale is seeking tenors and basses, however auditions are open to all voices. The audition will consist of vocal exercises and sight-reading. Singers should prepare a short piece in advance to be sung without accompaniment that shows off their voices. Classical or folk songs are preferred.
The 120-member vocal ensemble, comprised of Shepherd University vocal students and members from the surrounding community, presents two full-length concerts per year of great masterpieces from the choral literature. The Masterworks Chorale meets Monday evenings at 7:30 p.m. in the Frank Center’s McCoy rehearsal hall, with rehearsals beginning on Monday, August 22, at 7:30 p.m. For more information or to schedule an audition, contact Carlson at 304-876-5371 or email rcarlson@shepherd.edu.
Carlson serves as Shepherd’s director of choral activities and conducts the Shepherd University Chamber Singers, Women’s Camerata, and Masterworks Chorale. She founded and serves as artistic director of Six Degree Singers, a community choir based in Silver Spring, Maryland, and serves as assistant conductor of the Washington Master Chorale. In 2014, Carlson was nominated for a Wammie (Washington Area Music Award) for Best Classical Conductor/Director. She has toured extensively with professional choirs across the country, appearing as a soprano soloist with the Washington Master Chorale, Washington Bach Consort, Santa Fe Desert Chorale, Oregon Bach Festival, True Concord Voices and Orchestra, Vox Humana, and Washington Revels and as a professional choral singer with Conspirare and the Manhattan Chorale. Carlson 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 a Doctor of Musical Arts in choral conducting from the University of Maryland.
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