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La Jolla Symphony Chorus Auditions
- David Chase, Choral Director
- Kenneth Bell, Assistant Director
- Victoria Heins-Shaw, Accompanist
Auditions
The La Jolla Symphony Chorus welcomes trained singers (university, student, and community) with excellent music reading skills who are interested in a serious commitment to choral singing. Open auditions are held by appointment at the UCSD Mandeville Center.
Winter 2008 Open Audition Date
Saturday, January 5 - beginning at 11:00am
UCSD students will have additional opportunities to schedule auditions on the first Monday of the winter quarter.
To schedule an audition appointment, contact Mea Daum by email at chorus@lajollasymphony.com. Sign up for audition appointments begins December 10.
Choral works with the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra during the 2007-08 season:
- Dec. 8 & 9, 2007 - Berlioz: L'Enfance du Christ
- Dec. 16, 2007 - Messiah Sing - 29th annual community sing-along. Christmas portion of Handel's Messiah
- March 15 & 16, 2008 - Stravinsky: Symphony of Psalms
Audition Information
First, about the audition itself. The process is designed to be thorough but fair, so we can add serious musicians, not only vocalists, to the chorus. Please prepare for the following:
- Vocalize for range, quality and accuracy of pitch. Identify rhythmic patterns.
- Sight-reading, progressing from easy to more difficult.
- Performance of a song. Prepare a song of your choice (accompanist provided) from any genre of "classical music": art song, sacred solo, aria, a song from musical theater...Please do not offer "pop music."
- There is also a written section, designed to demonstrate your understanding of a music score. It is a twenty-five question quiz on basic music skills. A sample quiz is available to download.
You will begin the audition process by coming to room B146 (1st basement) or B210 (2nd basement) in Mandeville Center on the UCSD campus, La Jolla. A map of Mandeville is available. La Jolla Symphony Chorus audition signs will be posted at Mandeville. The recommended parking is lot 207 - second lot on the right on Muir College Dr., off No. Torrey Pines Rd. Mandeville Center is a short walk from lot 207. If your audition is on a week night, UCSD charges $3 for parking. Permits are available at Gilman Drive entrance off La Jolla Village Drive, North Point entrance off North Torrey Pines Road and at the kiosk in Lot 207. Meters might be available at 25 cents per 15 min., for 2 hr. maximum. There is no charge for parking on weekends. Plan about one hour total for the audition process.
Before your audition, please take a careful look at the following information for rehearsal & performance requirements, parking fees, and description of concert attire. If you have not yet scheduled an audition please email Mea Daum, Chorus Manager, chorus@lajollasymphony.com. Also, please email if you must cancel your appointment. Leave message on voicemail if necessary, as no one will be available by phone on the day of the audition.
Rehearsal & Performance Requirements
The La Jolla Symphony Chorus (offered as Music 95-D through UCSD) rehearses from September to June, every Monday evening from 7 to 10 p.m. in Erickson Hall (B-210), Mandeville Center, UCSD. Extra rehearsals may be scheduled as needed.
Singers are required to attend a minimum of 75% of all weekly rehearsals, and to attend the dress rehearsal prior to each concert. Student grades are dependent upon rehearsal attendance and concert participation. This class may be taken for a grade or pass/no pass.
Most concerts are given at 8 p.m. on Saturdays and at 3 p.m. on Sundays in Mandeville Auditorium. Some concerts are given at off-campus locations. Chorus call is at least one hour prior to each concert. Dress rehearsal is normally on the Friday evening prior to concert weekend, but may be held on Sat. a.m. performance weekend.
Map to the Auditions
Parking Fee
UCSD requires evening parking permits, which cost approx. $40 per quarter (or $3 per evening). Quarterly parking passes are available at the UCSD Parking Office in the Gilman Drive Parking Structure (8 a.m. to 5 p.m.) or at the UCSD Bookstore. Express service permit dispenser, parking lot #P303, just east of No. Torrey Pines Rd. on Muir College Dr. (1st lot on the LEFT) No parking fee on Sat. or Sun. Parking information at UCSD.
Concert Attire
Men wear traditional black tuxedoes with black bow tie and cummerbund and white tux shirt with "wing" collar. Black socks and shoes. Since these are self-funded items, we suggest "thrift" shopping. NO FRAGRANCES!
Women are required to wear a "uniform" black concert dress ordered through the chorus. The cost is approximately $70; some "recycled" dresses might be available at a lower price. Black hosiery and shoes. The chorus "loans" uniform pearl necklaces for concerts. Small earrings only. NO FRAGRANCES!
BLACK MUSIC FOLDERS FOR ALL. Any type of black folder is acceptable. Optional is "The Black Folder" which can be ordered for approximately $20.
A Word About Audition Procedures
David Chase, Choral Director
La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
I am sometimes asked to explain why our audition process is somewhat complicated, especially in that it includes a written "quiz" and a task that specifically tests the ability to sing a familiar song in an unfamiliar way, as well as the usual tests of vocal ability.
The short answer to this is: We pride ourselves on having a smart chorus and want to make it even smarter. But a lengthier answer follows. First, it should be said that the audition is NOT that extraordinary. It's structured this way not only to be thorough, but more importantly to be fair. Like any chorus, we need sound, and a resonant, accurate, attractive voice will always be welcome. For this reason, the audition scoring is weighted toward these attributes. In fact, if an excellent singer fails the written quiz, he/she will surely be accepted, albeit with the provision that he/she is willing to improve the other skills. A singer with excellent "theory" skills whose voice is detrimental to the chorus' sound will not pass the audition.
The audition procedure, because it isn't only about vocalism, carries an important implication: The singers in this chorus are musicians as well as vocalists. This is often reinforced in rehearsals by our expectation that members operate from musical concepts in learning and interpreting music, rather than by simply learning by rote and mimicry.
This level of musicianship is the key to performing the varied repertoire that we do, and to doing it under time restraints. If the musicianship diminishes, the rehearsals go more slowly and the repertoire has to become less adventuresome. This chorus has been moving decidedly in the opposite direction for many years!
The audition rewards some of the non-vocal attributes that we find useful in our music making. In addition to basic musicianship and understanding of the notational system, it even tests the individual's willingness to "bone up" on the written fundamentals if necessary, indicating a different level of dedication than the traditional stand-and-sing audition.
In singing in a chorus that has this approach to finding new members, a "serious singer" can be at least partially assured of the seriousness of each new generation of auditionees. By "serious" I mean simply a singer who is dedicated to music making; this is the kind person who fits in our musical community.
This last point leads naturally to a kind of "vision statement" as it concerns the chorus's goals. This is a chorus that loves to make friends while making great music. They like to have fun while working very seriously. This chorus is traditional in that it is a community of like-minded singers whose music making brings them close together as friends. But it is unusual in that it prefers to be challenged by music that not all choruses choose to do.
To do all that, we need good singers, good musicians, and good people. This audition is the most successful way we've found to find them!
About La Jolla Symphony & Chorus
Cultural Ambassadors of the City and County of San Diego, La Jolla Symphony Chorus has been recognized for its musical excellence, high standards, and imaginative programming.
An association of amateur and professional musicians, and the University of California, San Diego since 1967, the 130 voice La Jolla Symphony Chorus attracts singers from all areas of San Diego County, and continues to draw talent from the university's faculty, staff and student body.
Conducted by David Chase since 1973, the ensemble performs a mixture of musical styles that combine choral masterworks with new or rarely heard works. Major projects have included the world premiere of Henry Brant's Western Springs, and Linda Kernohan's Now a Wanderer; both commissioned by the La Jolla Symphony and Chorus Association. The chorus also gave the U.S. premiere of Australian composer Martin Wesley-Smith's Boojum!, based on the writings of Lewis Carroll; and the west coast premiere of Cary Ratcliff's Ode to Common Things, featuring the poetry of Pablo Neruda.
In addition to concerts given with its sister organization, the La Jolla Symphony Orchestra at UCSD, the chorus has sung with the San Diego Symphony Orchestra, under the batons of Jung Ho Pak, Maximiano Valdés, Julian Wachner, Yoav Talmi, Mitch Miller and the late Robert Shaw. In collaboration with other San Diego arts organizations, guest artists from the California Ballet, the San Diego Chamber Orchestra, and the San Diego Master Chorale have appeared with the La Jolla Symphony Chorus in concerts at Mandeville Auditorium.
Members of the chorus have made four European concert tours, including festival performances in southern France; and concerts in Germany, Austria, Italy, Czech Republic and Poland. They have represented the United States at the Kathaumixw International Choral Festival in Canada. In July 2003, as official "Cultural Ambassadors" of both the City and County of San Diego, the La Jolla Symphony Chamber Chorus became the first ensemble from a western nation to sing in the remote Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan. As invited guests of the Royal Government of Bhutan, the chorus was honored to perform the program "Voices from America" in six concerts throughout the country.
The La Jolla Symphony Chorus has established a musical standard by bringing alive the great music of the past while keeping an eye...and ear to the composers of today who are writing the great music of the future.
About David Chase
For thirty-two years, David Chase has led the La Jolla Symphony Chorus through great works and innovative new pieces, drawing out not only the best in the sound but the best in the singers.
David Chase became Choral Director of La Jolla Symphony Chorus and Lecturer in the Department of Music at the University of California at San Diego in 1973. In addition to his choral duties, he has conducted symphony and chamber orchestras, as well as numerous musical theatre productions. He has directed multi-media productions of Orff's Catulli Carmina and Menotti's The Unicorn the Gorgan, and the Manticore. He has created and presented "Milton, Handel and Blake: A Meeting of Minds: L'Allegro ed il Penseroso"; a concert of poetry, paintings and music with La Jolla Symphony and Chorus. In 2000, under the auspices of America Cantat (Alberto Grau and Maria Guinand), he conducted choral workshops in the cities of Puerto Ordaz and Mérida, Venezuela. He has taken members of LJSC on four European concert tours, and in 2003 he and the chorus were honored to be the first ensemble from a Western nation to tour the Himalayan Kingdom of Bhutan.
As a singer, he performed and recorded with the Robert Shaw Festival Chamber Chorus in Souillac, France and at Carnegie Hall. He has also been a fellow in the Melodious Accord Fellowship with Alice Parker in New York City.
David Chase graduated from Ohio State University and received his doctorate at the University of Michigan. In Ann Arbor, he served as conductor for the Grand Rapids Symphonic Choir, choral arm of the Grand Rapids Symphony, then conducted by Semyon Bichkov. Dr. Chase has been on the music faculty of Palomar College, San Marcos since 1973, where he continues to teach theory, music history and conducts a chamber ensemble. His compositions are published by Shawnee Press and Concordia Music Publishers.
Dr. Chase describes his chorus as one that likes to have fun while working very seriously. It is that balance that has earned him a reputation for excellence and imagination.
