Shorter Chorale selected to perform at Southern American Choral Directors Association

July 15, 2011 - The Shorter Chorale, Shorter University’s nationally recognized premiere performing ensemble, has been selected to perform at the 2012 Southern Division American Choral Directors (ACDA) Association Conference in Winston-Salem.

More than 100 choral ensembles auditioned for the prestigious honor and only 18 were selected to perform. “This is a signal honor for the Shorter Chorale, Shorter University and for Shorter’s School of Fine and Performing Arts,” said Dr. Alan Wingard, dean of the School of Fine and Performing Arts. “To be recognized by our peers as having one of the best collegiate chorales in the southeast is truly an honor. This achievement validates what I have known about the quality of our chorale for years and highlights the quality of our director and our professors, and showcases the amazing talent of our students.”

The repertoire for the performance features music from different periods including a Baroque cantata movement of Bach, a Renaissance motet of William Byrd and a romantic chanson by Dutch composer Henk Badings. There will also be more contemporary compositions of György Ligeti, David Childs and Moses Hogan.

Martha Shaw, director of the Shorter Chorale and professor of music, said the invitation to perform at the conference is a great mark of distinction. “To me, this is great confirmation of a job well done. Our acceptance was based on recordings from the past three years, so to be selected to perform at the ACDA is a reflection of not only our current work, but shows a pattern of consistently excellent performance.”

This will mark the first time that the Shorter Chorale has been asked to perform at the regional ACDA conference.

The Shorter Chorale


The Shorter Chorale, founded in 1968, is widely regarded as one of the southeast’s finest collegiate choral ensembles. In May 2009, the Chorale recorded its second nationally released CD, Beautiful River, a compilation of hymns and anthems of the church. Their first CD, A Savior From On High, was touted as an “exemplary” recording by critic Alan Swanson in Fanfare Magazine. The Chorale performed the Christmas portion of Messiah with the Rome Symphony Orchestra in December 2009 and in May 2010 they performed Durufle’s Requiem. This exceptional choir continues its tradition of excellence year-round with many guest appearances throughout the United States and with triennial summer concert tours to countries such as France, Yugoslavia, Romania, Greece, Russia, and England, to resounding critical acclaim.

The 2007-2008 season featured a tour of Italy during which the Chorale sang mass in the Basilica of St. Mark in Venice and at the high altar in the Vatican in Rome.  For the 2010-2011 summer tour, the Shorter Chorale presented performances in Spain both in and around Madrid, Burgos, and Barcelona. The Chorale has also been featured at the Georgia Convention of the American Choral Directors Association, at Georgia Music Educators In-Service Conferences, as well as at the Georgia National Association of Teachers of Singing Convention.  

Founded in 1873, Shorter University is a Christian university committed to excellence in education. Since 2003, U.S. News & World Report has ranked Shorter among the South’s best baccalaureate colleges, and the Princeton Review annually includes Shorter on its lists of best value and best Southeastern colleges. The university offers traditional bachelor’s degrees in 48 major areas as well as undergraduate degree programs for working adults, the Master of Business Administration, the Master of Education and the Master of Arts in Leadership. General education and calculus courses are offered in an online format, and Shorter recently launched online programs that lead toward the Associate of Science, the Bachelor of Business Administration, and the Master of Accountancy degrees. For more information, visit www.shorter.edu.


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