Our colleagues in visual arts, dance, theater, and instrumental music have been utilizing interactive performances to connect with audiences for quite some time, but the practice is still new in the choral world. This session will demonstrate interactive concert elements that are sure to draw your audiences more deeply into the music and endear your organization to your community. Ideas presented here range from very simple to fairly ambitious, but each moves us closer to the goal of giving our audiences “a way in” to the music we perform. Interactive performances allow us to engage the musical aficionados in our audiences while simultaneously offering a radical welcome to novice listeners. Participants in this session will be invited to reflect on the concert norms we often take for granted and to breathe new life into the way we invite new audiences into our choral concerts.

Presentation format: Interactive Demonstration. Participants will experience each strategy from the perspective of the audience, and will discuss benefits for performers, choral organizations, and communities.