Choral Sketches Workshop

Deepening composers’ understanding of choral music.

A one-of-a-kind mentorship

Modeled on the highly successful Choral Sketches project at Chamber Choir Ireland, Pacific Chorale presents this unique professional development opportunity for composers who wish to develop their skills in writing choral music, with mentoring from renowned composer Tarik O’Regan. The purpose of the Choral Sketches initiative is to provide a creative and open environment for composers to deepen their experience writing for voices in a choral context. Choral Sketches is open to composers at any career stage who are currently residing legally in the U.S.

The title and concept of Choral Sketches was developed by Tarik O’Regan in collaboration with Chamber Choir Ireland and the Contemporary Music Centre, Ireland.

Come see creation in action!

Have you ever wanted to see inside the compositional process? How do composers develop and refine their ideas? This is your chance to see creation in action as composer-in-residence Tarik O’Regan, Artistic Director Robert Istad, and 16 Pacific Chorale pros take composers’ experimental ideas for a test drive.

Saturday, October 26, 2019
Clayes Performing Arts Center at Cal State Fullerton, Room 119
10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.
This is a FREE event. Seats are limited, so reservations are recommended. 
​​​​​​​Reserve here.

What is a “sketch”?

The workshop is intended to be a safe space for experimentation and feedback, in order to deepen composers’ understanding of choral writing. It is not an adjudication or “read-through,” and there is no expectation of a finished product. Thus, sketches will be 1 to 30 seconds long, and can be multiple iterations of a same idea, different ways of handling the same material, or other ideas about which you have questions or with which you want to experiment. During the workshop, the singers, conductors and composers will engage in discussion on ways to take the piece forward.​​​​​​​

Notes for applicants:

  • Composers chosen to participate will be informed by e-mail by September 1, 2018.
  • Participating composers will be compensated for airfare/ground transportation to Orange County
    and hotel costs up to $600.
  • There is no age restriction for applicants. Applicants must currently reside legally in the U.S.
  • Submitted scores and recordings are presented to the selection panel without the applicant’s name      or other identifying features.
  • The selection panel includes the mentor composer, the Artistic Director, and members of the Pacific      Chorale staff.
  • The panel’s decision is final.

Congratulations to our 2019 workshop participants!

Saunder Choi
Joseph Rubenstein
Ursula Kwong-Brown

Choral Sketches is the next step in our commitment to developing composers and replaces our Young Composers Competition. Past winners of this competition include:

  • Michael Eglin: Barter
  • Zachary Wadsworth: Fantasy on a Theme of William Billings
  • Joseph Gregorio: Love, thricewise
  • John Orfe: Fire!
  • Michael Rickelton: Pentecost
​​​​​​​  • Christian Guebert: The Untold Want

A one-of-a-kind mentorship