UMS Choral Union

Auditions & Rehearsals

The next auditions will take place on Monday, August 26 and Tuesday, September 3 in Palmer Commons. Appointments are required. To schedule an audition appointment or for more information about chorus membership, please email Johanna Grum, manager of the UMS Choral Union, at jcgrum@umich.edu.

Plan to arrive at least ten minutes before your audition. Bring a copy of your prepared solo in the correct key for the accompanist; the accompanist is not expected to transpose. Singers are notified of results after all auditions are completed.

Audition Content

Vocalization: A series of vocalization exercises to determine the range and color of the voice.

Prepared solo: Select a composition in any language that best demonstrates the timbre of your instrument. The prepared work may be an aria, lieder, or excerpt—either solo or choral—from a major work, musical theater piece, or hymn. In the interest of time, please perform 16-20 measures of your piece. We advise you not to pick music that tests the limits of your range or vocal technique; rather, bring a work that you can sing confidently and expressively.

Sightreading: We provide a short excerpt and ask you to sing your part while the other three parts are played by an accompanist.

Rehearsal Schedule

Download 24/25 Rehearsal Schedule as a PDF

Upcoming Season

The 24/25 season will include the following performances. Rehearsals will occur on Monday evenings from 7-9:30 pm.

Toledo Symphony Orchestra
Ludwig van Beethoven Symphony No. 9
Alain Trudel, conductor
Friday, September 27, 2024
Saturday, September 28, 2024

Handel’s Messiah
Scott Hanoian, conductor
Saturday-Sunday, December 7-8, 2024

Prokofiev’s Alexander Nevsky
Scott Hanoian, conductor
Saturday, March 22, 2025

About the UMS Choral Union

Music Director Scott Hanoian

Scott Hanoian is the Music Director and Conductor of the University Musical Society Choral Union where he conducts and prepares the Grammy Award-winning chorus in performances with the world’s finest orchestras and conductors. Choruses prepared by Mr. Hanoian have sung under the batons of Yannick Nézet-Seguin, Leonard Slatkin, Ivan Fischer, Dennis Russell Davies, and Osmo Vänskä.

Mr. Hanoian is active as a conductor, organist, lecturer, continuo artist, accompanist, choral adjudicator, and guest clinician. He is the Director of Music and Organist at Christ Church Grosse Pointe, where he directs the church’s four choirs and oversees the yearly concert series. Mr. Hanoian has served on the faculty of Wayne State University and Oakland University and was the artistic director and conductor of the Oakland Choral Society from 2013–2015.

As an organist and conductor, Mr. Hanoian has performed concerts throughout the US and has led choirs on trips to Great Britain, Ireland, Italy, France, and Spain. Most recently, Mr. Hanoian led the Christ Church Choirs during weeklong residencies at York Minster, Durham Cathedral, Salisbury Cathedral, Wells Cathedral, and Westminster Abbey.

Before moving to Grosse Pointe, Mr. Hanoian was the Assistant Organist and Assistant Director of Music at Washington National Cathedral where he played the organ for many services including the funerals for Presidents Ronald Reagan and Gerald Ford.

Mr. Hanoian has recorded the complete organ works of Johannes Brahms for the JAV label.

Learn more at scotthanoian.com

Choral Union History

Formed in 1879 by a group of local university and townspeople who gathered together for the study of Handel’s Messiah, the UMS Choral Union has performed with many of the world’s distinguished orchestras and conductors in its 139-year history. First led by Professor Henry Simmons Frieze and then conducted by Professor Calvin Cady, the group has performed Handel’s Messiah in Ann Arbor annually since its first Messiah performance in December 1879. Based in Ann Arbor under the aegis of UMS and led by Scott Hanoian, the 150-voice Choral Union is known for its definitive performances of large-scale works for chorus and orchestra. In addition to its annual performances of Handel’s Messiah, the UMS Choral Union’s 2024–25 season includes performances of Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with the Toledo Symphony Orchestra and a screening of the 1938 film Alexander Nevsky with the Ann Arbor Symphony Orchestra playing the live score written by Sergei Prokofiev.

The UMS Choral Union was a participant chorus in a rare performance and Grammy Award-winning recording of William Bolcom’s Songs of Innocence and of Experience under the baton of Leonard Slatkin. Other recent highlights include a Grammy-nominated recording project of the rarely heard Oresteian Trilogy by Darius Milhaud conducted by Kenneth Kiesler and collaborations with the San Francisco Symphony, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Minnesota Orchestra, Detroit Symphony Orchestra, and New York Philharmonic. The ensemble received The American Prize in Choral Performance (community division) for its 2017 performance of Beethoven’s Missa Solemnis.

The UMS Choral Union strives to create an environment that is accessible, diverse, equitable, and inclusive of all. Participation in the Choral Union remains open to all students and adults by audition.