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The Voice

Chorus America's award-winning quarterly magazine, The Voice, highlights chorus news, artistic initiatives in the choral world, and advice and commentary on the business of running a successful chorus. The Voice is distributed to nearly 2,000 choral leaders throughout North America. It is published in Spring, Summer, and Fall/Winter; ISSN 1074-0805. Browse articles and past issues in the tabs below. Editor, Liza W. Beth

Voice Magazine, Issue 45.2 - Spring 2022

The digital edition of our 2022 Spring issue of the Voice is here! Read more for feature articles, a letter from chair Brian Newhouse reflecting on the past three years and resilience shown by the choral field, news from our members, and 2022 Chorus America Conference content. 

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Finding the Right Mix of Virtual and In-Person Performances

At the outset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many choruses scrambled to create new virtual connections in an effort to stay engaged with their singers and supporters. Two years on, as singing in-person returns, choral organizations are making the time to reflect on what they’ve learned and to envision a virtual presence that makes sense for their long-term future.

What Does Caring for Ourselves and Our Organizations Look Like Now?

This is a uniquely challenging time for the choral field, full of both hope and fatigue. For two years the ground has shifted constantly beneath our feet, leaving many feeling drained and apprehensive about the future. Yet this has also been a time of extraordinary creativity and innovation, and the reaffirmation of the value of choral music. We asked seven choral leaders to share how they are caring for their organizations, their singers, and themselves right now.

Radical Creativity: An Interview with Alysia Lee

An artist, arts educator, teaching artist, policymaker, and philanthropist, Alysia Lee has a broad perspective on the arts ecosystem. As the founder and artistic director of Sister Cities Girlchoir and as the inaugural president for the Baltimore Children & Youth Fund (a position she began in early 2022), she works to advance access, equity, and decolonization—always with a focus on youth, anti-racism, creativity, and justice.

Voice Magazine, Issue 45.1 - Fall/Winter 2021

The digital edition of our 2021 Fall/Winter issue of the Voice is here! Read more for feature articles, a letter from president and CEO Catherine Dehoney about our new Music Education Partnership Grants program, news from our members, and our 2021 Honor Roll of Contributors.

*Log in with your Chorus America username and password to view the digital Voice.

What Strategic Planning Looks Like Now

Feeling Safer in the Concert Hall

What’s Bringing Audiences Back to Choral Performances

More #RediscoverHarmony Stories

How Singing Together Brings Us Together

Voice Magazine, Issue 44.3 - Summer 2021

Personal Journeys, Collective Change

A Conversation with Maria Ellis, Reginald Mobley, Zanaida Robles, and Anthony Trecek-King

The closing plenary at the 2021 Chorus America Summer Conference, a panel discussion titled Personal Journeys, Collective Change, centered on Black voices in the choral community. The plenary served as a follow-up to a similar event at the 2020 gathering during which longtime African American choral leaders reflected on their careers and experiences. This year, representatives of a younger generation described the paths they have followed in choral music and where they find themselves today.

Beating Burnout and the Stress Cycle

An Interview with Conductor Amelia Nagoski

Sisters Emily and Amelia Nagoski are the authors of Burnout: The Secret to Unlocking the Stress Cycle, a book that explores how we experience stress physically, mentally, and emotionally, and what strategies we can use to process it, both inside and out. In exploring this topic, the sisters bring to bear their own perspectives, Emily as a researcher with a PhD in health behavior and Amelia as a choral conductor.

Navigating New Rights Challenges with Online Concerts

Under the pandemic, the only way for choruses to share concert experiences with their audiences has been online. Learning the ins and outs of video production posed an obvious challenge, but another, less apparent, obstacle has proven to be almost as imposing: licensing the music.

The process is complicated even for a single piece featured in a virtual choir production, but clearing rights for five or ten pieces to create a concert video can be exponentially more difficult.  And although the end of the pandemic appears to be in sight, this challenge isn’t going away. For many choruses, a mix of online and in-person programming will become business as usual. We spoke with a cross-section of choral leaders, publishers, and music licensing specialists to create this primer for choruses planning to produce concert videos for online viewing.

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