Charleston County Children's Chorus
OVERVIEW
The Charleston Children’s Chorus is a Gifted & Talented arts program sponsored by the Fine Arts Department of the Charleston County School District. It was founded in August of 1995 by Jean Breza. The purpose of the choir is to give children in grades 5 and up an opportunity to perform quality choral music while growing in vocal skills and music literacy, and to help instill a lifelong passion for singing.
DIRECTOR AND ACCOMPANIST
Todd Monsell (Director) holds a B.A. from Hamilton College (Clinton, NY) and an M.A.T. in music education from the University of New Hampshire. He relocated from New York to Charleston with his wife Jessica in 2006. Todd is currently Director of Music at St. John’s Lutheran Church, where he serves as Organist and leads the St. John Chorale and Handbell Choir. He also teaches Lower School music at Porter-Gaud School and directs the 85-student Lower School Chorus. This is his second season as director of the Charleston Children’s Chorus.
Jesus Manuel Toro (Accompanist) is from Caracas, Venezuela. There he studied piano and at the same time attended law school, graduating as a lawyer two years ago. Currently he is studying piano with Enrique Graf in the Artist Certificate program at the College of Charleston School of the Arts.
REHEARSALS
The chorus rehearses weekly during the school year. Rehearsals take place at St. John’s Lutheran Church in downtown Charleston and are held Tuesdays from 6:15-7:30. Excellent attendance is required from all singers.
CONCERTS
The chorus performs yearly winter and spring concerts at St. John’s Lutheran Church, also appearing at two St. John’s Sunday services. Additionally, The chorus is frequently invited to take place in other performances. In December 2001, the chorus sang in the Charleston Ballet Theatre’s production of Carmina Burana. In 2006, the chorus sang in the Charleston Symphony Orchestra’s concert version of Hansel and Gretel. For the past several years the group has been invited to perform as part of the Charleston Symphony’s Holiday Pops Concert under the direction of Scott Terrell. The chorus also performs yearly at Piccolo Spoleto’s Youth Music Festival. Other recent performances have included appearances for the Children’s Museum of the Lowcountry Gala and Charleston Music Club Awards Recital.
AUDITIONS
Auditions are held yearly prior to summer break. Students who have been designated Gifted and Talented in vocal music by CCSD are sent invitation letters in early May. These students may then schedule auditions with Mr. Monsell, typically held the last Saturday in May. Students are asked to come prepared to sing the first verse of “America” (“My Country, ‘Tis of Thee”) and are assessed in the areas of tone, range, intonation, breath control, and projection. Students are notified of their results the following week. Successful applicants will be placed in either the alto or soprano section and are expected to make a full school-year commitment to the chorus and attend all rehearsals and concerts barring illness or unavoidable conflict. Three alternates per section are selected; if a student leaves the group mid-year, the first alternate will be called, followed by the second, and third.
REPERTOIRE
The Charleston Children’s Chorus stresses much variety in repertoire. Students can expect to sing choral music in a wide variety of styles, including Classical, jazz, folk, world music, and African American spirituals. Students sing literature that is unison, 2-part, 3-part, and sometimes divided further. In the past two years alone, students have sung in English, French, German, Spanish, Italian, Latin, Yiddish, and Swahili!