.
.
VAN FEATURES
Summer singing with a treble twist
Posted 8/7/2019

Melodia Women's ChoirSummer months bring a massive shift in the choral world. As the last few concerts of the season close, it’s not just the music that fades away. Gone are the protracted and intense rehearsal periods when conductors and singers seek perfection for their long-anticipated concerts. As a choral singer, I experience a change, even a loss, every year. Others tell me the same thing – and there are two million choral singers across the U.S.

Many singers want to continue to explore broad repertoire during the summer months. Workshops, festivals, tours and open “sings” with score read-throughs have emerged to fill the summer gap. But precious few of these activities explore women's choral music and works scored for treble voices. More...


Career jolt for Steve Friedman
Posted 7/22/2019

AtosSteve Friedman, wearer of many hats, is wearing one fewer today, as his sales engineering position at Atos was eliminated on Friday, July 19 as part of a restructuring of the IT services company’s Unified Communications and Collaboration unit.

Friedman, founder and operator of Vocal Area Network since the organization’s inception in 1995, sings bass with the professional octet at St. Michael’s Church and with the Nikolai Kachanov Singers, and supports his wife Julie Siegmund’s jewelry design business--Carnelian Knoll--with technical and schlepping services. He’s the father of two--a son about to start his sophomore year in college and a daughter who’s a rising high school junior--and he’s composed and arranged music for choirs and vocal ensembles.

Music and technology have always been complementary elements in his career. More...


Archive of old VAN Features

Want to see more coverage of the vocal ensemble community? You can help! See your feature article here. You'll gain valuable exposure as a writer about vocal ensemble music and your group will benefit from the PR. Submit proposals for approval to the editor.

NEWS
VAN welcomes news of interest to the vocal ensemble community. Send stories to the editor.
  • Read the New York Tiimes story abou the Brooklyn Youth Chorus and its collaborations with cutting-edge composers and popular musicians. (2019-7-21)
  • The American Masters series on PBS (Channel 13 in NYC) offers "Robert Shaw. Man of Many Voice" on Friday, June 21 at 9 PM. For details visit www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/robert-shaw-man-of-many-voices-about/11465/. (2019-6-20)
  • The New York Times has a substantial article about The Crossing, the celebrated Philadelphia-based choir that focuses on new music. (2019-6-20)
  • Read the New York Times obituary of Joseph Flummerfelt, who died last week at the age of 82. (2019-3-6)
  • The GMChorale, a 90-voice choir based in Middletown, CT, has announced the appointment of Melissa Rooklidge as Assistant Conductor and Director of Operations, the first person to fill these newly-created roles. For more details, visit www.gmchorale.org. (2019-2-28)

Archive of old "News" items

Subscribe to VANupdate. Receive twice-monthly updates about new content on Vocal Area Network. Get the latest news items, upcoming vocal ensemble events, the most recent postings to the VAN Concert Calendar, new site features and updates to Choir Auditions, the Choir Directory and the Info Exchange. Sign up here.

NEW ON VAN
The latest additions to the site's content and features.
  • July 24, 2019: New Choir Directory listing and Choir Auditions ad for Music on the Hill, based in Wilton, CT.
  • May 20, 2019: New VAN QuickLink for Sounds Choral, broadcast on WWFM.
  • April 30, 2019: New Choir Directory listing and Choir Auditions ad for Here to Sing, a non-audition pop/rock community choir in Manhattan.
  • April 25, 2019: New link for Singing A Cappella at Home, a HomeAdvisor (!) tutorial with an interesting collection of a cappella resources.
  • March 27, 2019: New link for The London Singing Institute, offering singing lessons for those in or near the UK capital.
  • February 5, 2019: For those using non-Microsoft browsers, we've changed the layout of the Info Exchange so as to show only the ad titles upon first viewing the page. You then have the choice of expanding all of the ads or just the individual ads you'd like to see. (This feature is implemented using standard features of HTML5 that are not supported in Internet Explorer or Edge.)
  • January 15, 2019: New Choir Directory listing and Choir Auditions ad for the Flushing Schiller Institute Community Chorus.
  • November 12, 2018: New Choir Directory listing and Choir Auditions ad for CantaNYC, a new choir directed by Claude Lévy.
  • October 31, 2018: New link for Music Books Plus, offering music and audio books, videos, CD-ROMs, DVDs, software and sheet music.
  • October 26, 2018: New Choir Directory listing and Choir Auditions ad for The Choir, a new community choir based in lower Manhattan that focuses on pop hits along with contemporary and classic Broadway tunes.

Archive of old "New on VAN" items

SERVICES
See also the Info Exchange.
  • Need some exquisite beaded jewelry to complement your concert attire? Or perhaps a distinctive gift for that special singer in your life? Or maybe you'd like to host a jewelry show to benefit your favorite non-profit organization? Try Carnelian Knoll, where you'll find necklaces, bracelets and earrings of vintage beads and silver handcrafted by Julie Siegmund.
  • Looking for rehearsal space or performance venues? Try NYC Music Spaces, part of Fractured Atlas's SpaceFinder NYC database of available rehearsal and performance spaces for instrumental and vocal musicians. You'll find places to rent, from studios to large venues, for classical, jazz, rock--whatever you need to rehearse or perform in NYC.
  • Looking for an outstanding vocal ensemble coach? Mark Johnson, possessor of an amazing ear and terrific interpretive insights in a variety of styles, is available to coach your group. Contact Mark via e-mail.
  • Liz Fleischer's Sight-Singing Program is offered each season at the Kaufman Center (129 West 67th Street). Classes include ear-training, rhythm and pitch reading, music theory, basic notation and terminology, with emphasis on learning to hold a part with confidence. For more info, visit www.kaufman-center.org/lucyadults_mus_sight.htm, e-mail fleischerliz@aol.com or adultdivision@kaufman-center.org or call (212) 501-3362. The sight-singing program is just one of the classes offered by the Kaufman Center's Lucy Moses School.

Your purchases from our affiliate vendors help support VAN. VAN receives a referral fee on everything you buy. Just click through from our site and you'll be supporting VAN at no additional cost to you.

Sheet Music Plus

For our book and CD recommendations, visit the VAN Store.

Vocal Area Network gratefully acknowledges the support of the following Sustaining Member ensembles:

GOLD
The Dessoff Choirs, Grace Church Choral Society, The West Village Chorale

SILVER
Big Apple Chorus, The Brooklyn Community Chorus, The Brooklyn Contemporary Chorus, The Canby Singers, Cantori New York, The Cecilia Chorus of New York, Cerddorion, Chelsea Song, Dalton Chorale, Florilegium Chamber Choir, Greenwich Village Chamber Singers, Riverside Choral Society, St. George's Choral Society, Schola Cantorum on Hudson, The Stonewall Chorale

Americas Vocal Ensemble, AmorArtis, The Babylon Chorale, C4: The World's First Choral Composer/Conductor Collective, Cantabile Chamber Chorale, Choral Chameleon, Chorus 802, Christ Church Choir, Douglas Frank Chorale, Down Town Glee Club, Greater Nassau Chorus, Lehman College and Community Chorus, New Amsterdam Singers, The New Choral Society, New York Choral Society, Nikolai Kachanov Singers, North River Sing, The Peace of Heart Choir, Renaissance Street Singers, Renaissance Vocal Ensemble, Riverdale Choral Society, Russian Chamber Chorus of New York, Sacrum Convivium, St. James' Compostela Choir, St. Paul's Englewood, Sing We Enchanted, Uncommon Chord, Voices of New York, Women Singing

For more about how you or your ensemble can help defray the costs of providing VAN's services,
visit the Sustaining Membership page.