Director, University Chamber Orchestra University of Chicago

Department AHD Staff:
Music SP Student Performance

For nearly 90 years, the University of Chicago Department of Music has been a leader in the academic study as well as the creation of serious music. With leading scholars in the relevant fields, the Department offers graduate degrees in Composition, Ethnomusicology, Music History, and Music Theory, as well as an undergraduate Bachelor of Arts degree in Music. Beyond the classroom, the Music Department hosts a thriving co-curricular Performance Program that involves 750+ musicians and encompasses four choirs, two orchestras, a wind ensemble, two jazz ensembles, a percussion ensemble, as well as a South Asian, a Middle East, Early Music, and Afro-Cuban Ensemble, plus specialized programs in chamber music, piano, and vocal studies.

Open to all undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral students at the University as well as faculty, staff, and community members, this wide-ranging Performance Program offers an exceptional environment for artistic inspiration and musical growth. For students in the Music Department, it serves as a meaningful complement to their academic studies.

The University Chamber Orchestra (UChO) is an intergral component of the instrumental wing of the Performance Program, which includes the University Symphony Orchestra, University Chamber Orchestra, University Wind Ensemble, and UChicago Percussion Ensemble. The UChO Director provides artistic leadership, musical instruction, performance guidance, and occasional individual coachings for student, faculty/staff, and community musicians interested in developing their musical proficiency and deepening their musical understanding through ensemble performance.

Specific duties involved include: planning 2 or more well-balanced concert programs, appropriate to the technical and musical capabilities of the ensemble members, for the autumn and spring quarters; training and rehearsing the UChO as well as the cast and chorus chosen by the Gilbert and Sullivan Opera Company for the annual G&S production at the end of the winter quarter, which includes three public performances;

leading all weekly rehearsals and all public performances of the ensemble; providing instructional materials and specific assignments to the student musicians; assessing and documenting the progress of those instructed. In addition, the UChO Director provides relevant technical and musical feedback to individual student musicians, as well as advice on supplemental opportunities and advanced musical studies, as appropriate. The UChO Director works with students to help them improve their musical skills and deepen their understanding of chamber orchestra repertoire and ensemble performance, and to nurture their life-long involvement in the musical arts.

In recent years the University Chamber Orchestra has included approximately 30-40 undergraduate, graduate, faculty/staff, and community musicians. Membership in the University Chamber Orchestra is determined by the Director of Performance Progams on the basis of competitive auditions for all interested instrumentalists held at the beginning of each academic year. The UChO Director assists with recruitment for substitute or supplemental musicians as needed throughout the course of the season.

• Screening and phone interviews to be completed by early July.
• In-person interviews and conducting auditions, with student ensemble, will be scheduled during the second half of July.

• Programs well-balanced and engaging concert programs for the University Chamber Orchestra, featuring repertoire that is both suitable for the available instrumental forces and appropriate for the technical level of the musicians. Incorporates collaborations, joint performances, and special projects with other Music Department ensembles or community music groups into the UChO season, insofar as possible. Schedules guest artists or Concerto Competition winners to appear with the ensemble periodically, as both budget and circumstances allow.
  
  Recommended concert length: 50-60 minutes.
• Prepares sheet music and other resources in advance of the first ensemble rehearsal each quarter. Collects sheet music at the end of each concert cycle and returns it to the appropriate library.
• Makes parts assignments, section assignments, and seating charts appropriate to the current skills and future development of the ensemble members.
• Leads weekly ensemble rehearsals as scheduled, Monday evenings from 7:00-9:30 pm, in preparation for quarterly concert performances. Arranges additional sectional rehearsals, workshops, and individual coaching sessions as needed to promote the maximum artistic growth of the ensemble and its members.
• Creates and distributes supplemental instructional materials to members of the ensemble, in order to help build their basic musical skills, broaden their musical understanding, and promote their enthusiasm for the repertoire at hand.
• Offers individual…