Choral Program

Director: James Armstrong
Associate Director: Jamie Bartlett

Choral Auditions for the 2012-13 academic year:

The next auditions for the W&M Choir (MUSC E04), Women's Chorus (MUSC E05) and Botetourt Chamber Singers (MUSC E07) will be held from: Sunday, August 26 through Thursday, August 30, 2012. 

Audition sign-up sheets will be posted in the Music Building (Ewell Hall) outside the choral rehearsal room (Ewell 151). Please stop by and sign-up for a time slot. The eight-minute audition will consist of vocalization, sight reading and a short conversation about your background and interest in music. A single audition allows you to be considered for any or all of the three choirs. You will have the opportunity on your audition card to indicate the group(s) in which you are interested. You are not required to prepare an audition piece but are welcome to perform a song of your choosing if you wish. Membership in these choirs is open to any student, and academic credit is given for participation (1 credit per semester). New members of these ensembles are selected only at the beginning of the fall semester as membership is considered a full year's commitment.

Students are strongly encouraged to audition before classes begin on Wed, Aug 29. For further information please contact Dr. Armstrong, Director of Choirs (757 221-1085, jiarms@wm.edu) or Dr. Jamie C. Bartlett, Associate Director of Choirs (757-221-1072, jcbart@wm.edu)..{{youtube:small:right|YHXepRy6fWg, Want to get involved in choral singing at W&M? Click on the video to uncover William and Mary's best kept secret.}}

W&M Choir  

The William and Mary Choir, under the direction of James Armstrong, is an undergraduate ensemble of sixty five members, who represent a wide array of disciplines. Their repertory is drawn from the great Western European choral tradition of the last five hundred years as well as from choral traditions from around the world.

Each year the Choir makes more than thirty appearances. It sings at most of the formal events of the College, including Convocation, Homecoming, Sunset Ceremony, Yule Log, Charter Day, and Commencement. Additional major events are the Winter Concerts at the end of Fall semester, and the Spring Concerts in late April. Every third year the Choir performs a work from the choral/orchestral repertory. Past performances include Orff's Carmina Burana, Bach's St. John Passion as well as Haydn's The Creation andels Lord Nelson Mass.

The Choir undertakes an annual six-day regional Spring Tour in mid-March and also sings abroad every third year. Since 1999 the Choir has performed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Portugal and Morrocco, Italy, Greece and Turkey. The Choir has performed twice for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II- most recently in 2007-and was one of four choirs invited to perform in concert with the United States Marine Band at the 1997 Presidential Inaugural on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. The Choir has released four CDs since 1998.

For more information, visit the Choir's web page or contact James Armstrong, Director.

Women's Chorus

The Women's Chorus is an ensemble of some sixty undergraduate women; it performs regularly on campus and in the Williamsburg community. Like all Department of Music ensembles, the Women's Chorus is made up of students from a wide variety of backgrounds and majors. Each semester the Chorus is featured in a major Candlelight Concert at Bruton Parish Church in Colonial Williamsburg, and in the regular Choral Program Holiday Concerts and Spring Concerts in December and April, respectively. The ensemble regularly performs in a variety of other venues in the Williamsburg area, including at services for the Temple Beth-El, the Williamsburg Unitarian Universalist Church, and the Inter-Faith Council of the College.

Since 1999, the Chorus is under the direction of Dr. Jamie Bartlett. The ensemble has developed into an inspired, skilled, and exciting vocal group. The Women's Chorus mounts an annual tour of the East Coast every spring; since 2001 the ensemble has performed in Pennsylvania, North Carolina, Virginia, Kentucky, Maryland, and West Virginia. For more information, visit the Chorus's web page or contact [[jcbart, Jamie Bartlett]] director.

Botetourt Chamber Singers

A vocal chamber ensemble of eighteen, the Botetourt Chamber Singers started in 1975 as an elite offshoot of the William and Mary Concert Choir. The ensemble is under the direction of Dr. Jamie Bartlett, and performs frequently on campus, in the Williamsburg community, and elsewhere. The "Bots" perform as a regular component of the Choral Program Holiday Concerts and Spring Concerts each December and April, with the Women's Chorus in its Candlelight Concerts, at Homecoming, with the William and Mary Early Music Ensemble, and at Grand Illumination in Colonial Williamsburg. In Spring 2005 the ensemble participated in its first international tour, traveling to the Balkans with the William and Mary Concert Choir. The Choir and Botetourts will tour Italy and Greece in May/June 2011.

In November 2006 the Botetourt Chamber Singers was a featured ensemble at the Virginia Music Educators Association conference in Norfolk. In 2007 they released their first CD.

For more information, see the Botetourt's web page or contact contact [[jcbart, Jamie Bartlett]] director.