...a taste of the ksu choral program...





Kansas State University was founded February 16, 1863. Since that time, instruction in music has been a feature throughout the history of the school. From the earliest performance of the "Choral Union" in 1865, Kansas State University Choral ensembles have been a vital and visible entity to the more than 24,000 students at KSU every year.  Currently, the Choral Music Division is led by Dr. Joshua Oppenheim and Dr. Julie Yu - Co-Directors of Choral Activities. Since 1966, the choir has been selected thirty-two times to appear before state, regional and national conventions of the American Choral Directors Association, Music Educators National Conference, Music Teachers National Association and the National Association of Teachers of Singing.  The KSU Choirs have worked with notable conductors: Robert Shaw, John Alldis, Roger Wagner and Aaron Copland.  International performance and travel are an important aspect to the choral program at K-Starte.  We have recently begun embarking on international performance tours every other year. International travel has included: Paris, Vienna, Berlin, London, Salzburg, Wales, England, Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Australia, Netherlands, Belgium, Rome, Florence, and Venice.
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Another successful year closes!
2011-2012 saw many wonderful developments and additions in the choral music division at Kansas State University.  All of the the choral ensembles had wonderful achievements including:

-Tremendously talented new singers added to the ensembles.

-Invited performance by the KSU Men's Choir at KMEA.
-Invited performance by the KSU Concert Choir at ACDA.
-A record number of attendees at All-State Prep Day
-A record number of attendees at Vocal Arts Day
-A record number of auctions for the Summer Choral Institute.
-In•A•Chord makes a big splash around Kansas
-The first "Choral Holiday Concert" in McCain

Next year will be even more exciting with a wonderful group of incoming singers.  Many wonderful performances from all the various ensembles. All will be capped off with a performance tour to France!

2012 SW-ACDA Conference Performance
The KSU Concert Choir recently competed their performance at the Meyerson Dallas Symphony Center.  They received an enthusiastic standing ovation at the 2012 SW-ACDA Conference in Dallas, TX.  The choir was selected by competitive audition to perform at the Southwest Region of the American Choral Directors Association. 

KMEA Conference Performance
The KSU Men's Choir was selected by audition to perform on the "Honor Concert" of the Kansas Music Educators Association Conference in Wichita in February of 2012.  The choir was honored to perform and received a standing ovation form an enthusiastic audience.  This is the ensemble's first invited performance at the conference, and we are honored to be selected for this prestigious performance.

Largest Membership Ever
The 2011-2012 school year marks a significant milestone in the Choral Music Division at Kansas State University.  The program has been growing at an incredible rate over the past 5 years and this year we have seen an increase in student membership in all the K-State choir ensembles.  In addition to the quantity of both the music major and non-music major population; the quality of singer has also shown a significant vertical trend as well.  The collected data indicates that this trend will continue exponentially in the future.  If you are a prospective student, we'd love to have you visit us and share in one of our many experiences.