Columbus Symphony Chorus

 Superbly balanced, well-rehearsed, and confident.

The Columbus Symphony Orchestra Chorus was established in 1960 to perform large-scale choral-orchestral works with the symphony each season at the historic Ohio Theatre. The 130-member Chorus, composed entirely of skilled volunteer singers drawn from across the Central Ohio region, performs major works from Bach through the twenty-first century. Critics have consistently lauded the chorus’ performances, including the New York Concert Review: “This was choral singing of impeccable realization and subtle shading.”

Past performances have included the requiems of Brahms, Verdi, Fauré, Mozart, and Duruflé; the Bach B Minor Mass; Mozart's Grand Mass in C Minor and Coronation Mass; Haydn's Lord Nelson Mass, Harmonie Mass, Creation, and The Seasons; Paul Moravec's Sanctuary Road; Orff's Carmina Burana; works by Rossini, Walton, Britten, and Prokofiev; and concert performances of operas, including Bizet's Carmen and Puccini's La Bohéme. In 2013, the chorus premiered Stephen Paulus' Of Songs and Singing!

The 2023-24 season will be a dynamic experience as the chorus performs 'Neptune, the mystic' from Gustav Holst's orchestral suite The Planets (1917), Gabriela Lena Frank's Conquest Requiem (2017), our annual Holiday Pops Concerts, and W.A. Mozart's Great Mass in C Minor (1783)! 

Stephen Caracciolo is the newly appointed Chorus Director of the Columbus Symphony Orchestra, preparing the CSO Chorus for appearances in the Masterworks concert series and conducting community performances of the CSO Chamber Choir. Dr. Caracciolo, who has performed choral masterworks with Zubin Mehta, Riccardo Muti, Kurt Masur, Robert Shaw, James Levine, and Erich Kunzel is a professional conductor recognized for his passionate artistry and creative leadership in interpreting an expansive range of the choral repertoire. Dr. Caracciolo is a published choral composer and arranger and serves concurrently as Artistic Director of LancasterChorale, Central Ohio’s professional chamber choir.

Casey Cook is the chorus’ accompanist. Lauren Grangaard serves as the chair of the very active CSO Chorus Board. The Chorus rehearses every Tuesday evening from 7:00-9:30 p.m. commencing in late August through May with an occasional summer event. Auditions are held each August and January. More information may be found at www.columbusymphony.com.

A few excerpts from reviews in the press:

• Darrel Rosenbluth, New York Concert Review critic remarked of the Chorus after their April, 2001 performance of Prologue in Heaven from Mefistofele, "This was choral singing of impeccable realization and subtle shading that carried the celestial paradise of Boito's text to earthly ears."
• Of Carmina Burana, Dispatch music critic Barbara Zuck wrote, "The chorus cleanly and clearly led us all through the work's many colors and temperaments."
• In the Beethoven, the chorus was acclaimed for its “glorious delivery” and in the Haydn, the chorus was given “top billing for its hushed entrance and exquisite, buoyant beauty achieved again and again, and most-consistently conveying the qualities of naiveté and sweetness.”
• The Symphony Chamber Chorus presented Faure’s Requiem of which music critic Zuck wrote, “Faure’s setting of this mass requires just the right approach, which Jenkins and his musicians found to perfection.”

For information about auditions click here.