The Choral Conducting course will be held exclusively in-person, in Siena. 

Lessons will be held in space that allows for social distancing protocols to be maintained according to government recommendations, between the choir members and the conducting students, and between the individual choir participants themselves.

Choir directors, intermediate level (or above) composition students, musicians with a diploma in the vocal disciplines, those pursuing a voice-related diploma, and pianists with experience related to voice and/or choir may participate in the Course.

Mass: from Josquin to Stravinskij, from Monteverdi to Pärt
One of the most important musical forms in the history of music, one of the expressive spaces of the sacred, in between art and liturgy, and word and sound. The form of the “mass” from the extraordinary contrapuntal experiences of Josquin and Monteverdi, to the intense and thin relationship with the text by Pärt and Stravinskij, passing through the intensity of the composers of Romanticism. A path to better understand the styles and performance practice, the gesture and the value of the technique applied to the interpretation of choral phrasing, the course will focus on a broad repertoire ranging from the powerful polyphonic interweaving of the fifteenth century to the vocal purity of contemporary music.
The program is completed by the splendid cycle for choir and piano “Nocturnes” by Morten Lauridsen.

The Course will be organized as follows:

• morning: practical lessons, theory, and exercises with the choir;
• afternoon: practical lessons with the choir.

At the end of the afternoon lessons, all students (active and auditors) will attend rehearsals of the following compositions:

Samuel Barber  Let down the bars, O Death op. 5 n. 2; To be Sung on the Water op. 42 n. 2; Sure on this Shining Night
Aaron Copland  Four Motets
Terry Riley  Olson III
Philip Glass  Pierre de Soleil
Michael Tippett  Five Negro Spirituals
Virgil Thomson  da “Four Saints in 3 Acts”, Saints’ Procession; da “Praises and Prayers”,  My Master Hath a Garden
David Lang  Again
Arvo Pärt  The Deer’s Cry

The entrance examination will be exclusively by video audition. Candidates must submit both of the following:

1. A video of a rehearsal on repertoire of their choice from 5-10 minutes in length.
2. A video of the execution of a piece for choir a cappella.

The lessons will cover the following repertoire:

• Josquin des Prez  Missa ‘L’homme armé”, Ave Maria a 4 voci, Pater noster a 6 voci
• Jacobus de Kerle Missa “Regina coeli” per 4 voci maschili
• Claudio Monteverdi  Missa “In illo tempore” a 6 voci
• Josef Rheinberger Messa in Mi bemolle maggiore op. 109 “Cantus missae” per doppio coro
• André Caplet Messa a tre voci per coro femminile
• Igor Stravinskij Messa (versione per coro e pianoforte), Ave Maria, Pater noster
• Arvo Pärt Missa syllabica
• Morten Lauridsen Nocturnes per coro e pianoforte