The City Choir of Washington is a 140-member professional-level volunteer mixed choir composed of singers throughout the Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C.

Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....

 metropolitan area. The chorus is led by its founding artistic director Robert Shafer

Robert Shafer (conductor)

Robert John Shafer, Jr. is a Grammy Award-winning American conductor, classical composer, educator and church musician . He has served as artistic director of the City Choir of Washington since its launch in September 2007....

, Washington's Grammy award-winning conductor, educator, composer and church musician. The organization was incorporated in the District of Columbia in October 2006 and held its first performance in November 2007 at Schlesinger Concert Hall in Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria, Virginia

Alexandria is an independent city in the Commonwealth of Virginia. As of 2009, the city had a total population of 139,966. Located along the Western bank of the Potomac River, Alexandria is approximately six miles south of downtown Washington, D.C.Like the rest of northern Virginia, as well as...

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The City Choir has performed with the National Symphony Orchestra

National Symphony Orchestra

The National Symphony Orchestra , founded in 1931, is an American symphony orchestra that performs at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C.-History:...

, The Washington National Opera

Washington National Opera

The Washington National Opera is an opera company in Washington, D.C., USA. Formerly the Opera Society of Washington and the Washington Opera, the company received Congressional designation as the National Opera Company in 2000. Performances are now given in the Opera House of the John F...

 at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...

, and at Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts, known locally in the Washington, D.C. area as simply Wolf Trap, is a performing arts center located on 130 acres of national park land in Wolf Trap, Virginia...

.

Mission

The City Choir is "committed to nurturing the next generation of performers and audience members."

Activities

During its first four seasons, the chorus presented several major works with orchestra, including the Monteverdi

Claudio Monteverdi

Claudio Giovanni Antonio Monteverdi – 29 November 1643) was an Italian composer, gambist, and singer.Monteverdi's work, often regarded as revolutionary, marked the transition from the Renaissance style of music to that of the Baroque period. He developed two individual styles of composition – the...

 Marian Vespers of 1610, Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach

Johann Sebastian Bach was a German composer, organist, harpsichordist, violist, and violinist whose sacred and secular works for choir, orchestra, and solo instruments drew together the strands of the Baroque period and brought it to its ultimate maturity...

’s Mass in B Minor, Handel

George Frideric Handel

George Frideric Handel was a German-British Baroque composer, famous for his operas, oratorios, anthems and organ concertos. Handel was born in 1685, in a family indifferent to music...

’s Dixit Dominus, Haydn

Joseph Haydn

Franz Joseph Haydn , known as Joseph Haydn , was an Austrian composer, one of the most prolific and prominent composers of the Classical period. He is often called the "Father of the Symphony" and "Father of the String Quartet" because of his important contributions to these forms...

’s Lord Nelson Mass and Mass in Time of War, Maurice Duruflé

Maurice Duruflé

Maurice Duruflé was a French composer, organist, and pedagogue.Duruflé was born in Louviers, Eure. In 1912, he became chorister at the Rouen Cathedral Choir School, where he studied piano and organ with Jules Haelling...

's Requiem, the Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart

Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart , baptismal name Johannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart , was a prolific and influential composer of the Classical era. He composed over 600 works, many acknowledged as pinnacles of symphonic, concertante, chamber, piano, operatic, and choral music...

 Requiem, the Vivaldi

Antonio Vivaldi

Antonio Lucio Vivaldi , nicknamed because of his red hair, was an Italian Baroque composer, priest, and virtuoso violinist, born in Venice. Vivaldi is recognized as one of the greatest Baroque composers, and his influence during his lifetime was widespread over Europe...

 Gloria, Robert Shafer’s Lux Aeterna and Joel Puckett

Joel Puckett

Joel Puckett was born in on June 27, 1977, in Atlanta, GA and is an American composer. He comes from a musical family; his father was a classical tubist and in his retirement still plays dixie-land jazz gigs around Atlanta. Joel completed his academic work at the University of Michigan, earning...

’s This Mourning.

TCCW's Excellence in the Arts award honors contributions to the arts in the greater Washington, DC area.

Community outreach and education

In February 2011, local businesses and chorus members sponsored tickets for Pentagon

Pentagon

In geometry, a pentagon is any five-sided polygon. A pentagon may be simple or self-intersecting. The sum of the internal angles in a simple pentagon is 540°. A pentagram is an example of a self-intersecting pentagon.- Regular pentagons :In a regular pentagon, all sides are equal in length and...

 families affected by 9/11 and high school and college students as part of the organization’s community outreach efforts. TCCW’s artistic director and executive director often invite college-age music education students to attend rehearsals and participate in question and answer sessions following events.

Programs

• City Singers — TCCW's community outreach chamber choir that regularly performs for underserved segments of the community. The ensemble brings quality choral music — light classical, popular, secular, patriotic, show tunes, folk songs — to organizations and audiences who may not be able to attend its regular concerts.
• Partners in Song — a talented high school choral group joins TCCW for its annual Music for Christmas concert. The group performs several selections on its own and also joins the City Choir for part of the program.
• Young American Artists Program — one or more emerging performers from the Washington metropolitan area are selected to be featured soloists in one of TCCW's concerts. The vocalists are selected through a comprehensive audition process for young singers from throughout the region. Each Young American Artist receives private coaching from Robert Shafer.

External links

• Official Web Site
• Daybook: Event Calendar