The Chicago World Music Chorus was founded in 2013 as a Midwest offshoot of Vermont-based Village Harmony. Led by University of Chicago choral director Mollie Stone and Village Harmony director Patty Cuyler, the ensemble met for its initial five years in Chicago's Lakeview neighborhood. In 2018 we accepted a generous invitation from the University of Chicago to move our rehearsals to the campus's historic Fulton Hall, where we will once again rehearse this coming year.
The innovative non-auditioned Chorus is open both to members of the University community and to any other interested adult or teen singer. We perform authentic choral music chosen from among the world’s most powerful harmony singing traditions, this year including repertoire from the United States, South Africa, the Republic of Georgia, Corsica, the Balkans, Sweden and Madagascar.
In recent years Lonnie Norwood, an in-demand clinician of African-American folk/sacred music, has regularly joined our directing team, and he will do so again this coming year.
As in years past, we meet one Sunday each month, from 1-4pm. OUR END-OF-YEAR CONCERT IS ON SUNDAY, APRIL 27 at 5:00pm in Fulton Hall, with a pot-luck sharing at 4pm. Please invite your friends and family to this joyous and informal affair.
Our singers historically include university students, retirees, teens, professional singers, choral directors, beginners, fluent sight-readers, and singers who only learn by ear. Participants do not need to sightread music fluently or have a lot of prior singing experience (although both of those attributes are welcome) to join. Singers do need to be able to match pitch, comfortably hold their own part when singing along with others in harmony, and have a can-do attitude when confronted with unfamiliar languages and singing styles.
Supplemental online materials will reinforce the live teaching for much of our repertoire, with individual voice parts recordings, performance samples, pronunciation tracks, word sheets, translations, scores and a generous variety of digital background resources to dive into.
2024-2025 REHEARSAL DATES
This season's CWMC rehearsals take place one Sunday per month from 1-4pm on the following dates.
• September 15
(workshop with Ensemble Zedashe; free to paid CWMC registrants, $30 for non-members)
• October 13
• November 17
• December 15
• January 26
• February 9
• March 9
ª April 13
• April 27 (rehearsal, potluck and concert)
TUITION
Tuition for the choir is $225 for the year. We have a self-selected reduced tuition of $175. We will also reduce the tuition amount for anyone who requests it; you can pay whatever your budget allows.
If you wish, you may also register online to join us at the first rehearsal weekend on a trial basis. You will need to pay the $30 workshop fee for the Georgian music workshop that day. If you end up deciding to join the chorus for the year, we will credit that amount to your choir tuition.
Tuition to participate is completely waived for University of Chicago undergraduate and graduate students.
COVID PROTOCOL
While we highly recommend that everyone also be fully vaccinated and boosted for their own protection, we will not be requiring proof of vaccination for choir members. Anyone who feels more comfortable wearing a mask during rehearsals will be absolutely free to do so.
