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.

...why ksu choral music...

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SW-ACDA Conference Performance Invitation
The KSU Concert Choir was selected by competitive audition to perform at the 2012 Southwest Region of the American Choral Directors Association.  Applications were received from elementary, middle school, high school, university, and professional choirs from Arkansas, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, New Mexico, Oklahoma and Texas.  Choirs are required to send three years worth of recordings for the blind audition process.  We are very honored to have been selected in our first year of eligibility and look forward to performing at the Meyerson Dallas Symphony Center in March of 2012.

KMEA Conference Performance Invitation
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.  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.