Central Connecticut State University and Voce

Voce is pleased to have an extraordinary educational partnership with the men and women of the Central Connecticut Sate University Singers. Through shared concerts, fellowships (conducting and vocal) and combined choir events, Voce and the University Singers foster a commitment to pedagogy and professional development. CCSU is committed to providing their singers with real world, practical, professional experiences. We at Voce are proud to share in this endeavor. The University Singers and Dr. Pamela Perry, conductor, offer one of the finest programs for choral training in all public Universities in the state of Connecticut. We are honored to share the stage with the future members of Connecticut’s professional ensembles. Learn more about Central Connecticut State: www.music.ccsu.edu

The University Singers is a group of 18 auditioned singers. Many of the students are music majors at CCSU, but several students come from other schools and departments within the University. The group rehearses together four hours per week. The repertoire performed by University Singers is purposefully varied, encompassing some of the great chamber choral music from five centuries. Because several of the Singers will eventually be music educators, this ensemble provides important experience in singing a variety of literature with appropriate styles. Often students take on leadership roles within the group, serving to develop both musical and organizational leadership skills important to their future.

In the fifteen years that University Singers has been in existence, they have given concert tours in Germany (1994), Puerto Rico (1996), Hungary (2000), France (2006), and China (2009). They have been invited to perform at CMEA In-Service Conference several times, and at the ACDA State Conference. They have given several concerts and choral workshops in Connecticut high schools, and for the past three years have hosted an Invitational Choral High School Festival on campus. They have joined forces with the professional choirs CONCORA and Voce for special concerts, the most recent being this April as they were part of a Morten Lauridsen concert – working closely with this award-winning composer in preparation for the event.

Pamela J. Perry is a professor of Music at Central Connecticut State University, where she teaches graduate and undergraduate courses in choral music education, directs the CCSU University Singers, and was (through 2010) the Director of the Summer Music Institute. From 1985 to 1990 she was the Director of Choral Activities at the Hartt school, University of Hartford, directing the Hartt Symphonic Choir and the Hartt Collegiate Singers. Dr. Perry attended the Eastman School of Music and Wheaton College. She holds a Master of Science in Music Ed. degree from the University of Illinois, and a Doctor of Music Arts degree from the Hartt School of Music in Hartford CT.

Dr. Perry is a frequent guest conductor at regional and all-state choral festivals, and serves as an adjudicator and clinician throughout the counrty. One of many special highlights include 1993 when she served as a guest conductor of the International Schools Honors Choir Festival in Dusseldorf, Germany.