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Register by October 17 to Secure Your Spot!
| Registration Type | Member Price |
|---|---|
| Early Bird Registration (Sept. 11-Oct.3) | $750 |
| General Registration (Oct. 4-Oct.17) | $850 |
The next application cycle for professional and professional-core choruses will open on October 7, and applications are due November 21.
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“We must do our part in encouraging the creation and performances of new music for our own ensembles, and hopefully for many other choral organizations. Commissioning and premiering new works should become a way of life.
As enthusiastic, venturesome members of your choirs, every one of those singers should have that special opportunity of bringing a commission into being, including the risks associated with commissioning. Likewise every audience, particularly for special occasions, should have the opportunity to enjoy being part of the sometimes-risky adventure that comes with the new.”
- Dale Warland
Nurturing the “music of our time” was essential to Dale Warland across his 70-year choral music career. Though he himself is an acclaimed composer and arranger, his signature work has been in the creation of the Dale Warland Singers, recognized internationally as one of America’s finest choirs.
Commissioning new music was central to Dale Warland during the Singers’ 32 seasons (1972-2004). In all, Warland initiated the commission of 315 original choral works and arrangements, including dozens of selections by Stephen Paulus, and the landmark Walden Pond by Dominick Argento. Warland’s Choral Adventures program solicited scores from numerous young emerging composers like Eric Whitacre, who was still in college when he submitted the manuscript of his now-iconic Water Night.
To honor Dale, the Singers, and their contributions to the artform, the Dale Warland Singers Commission Grant is presented by Chorus America in partnership with the American Composers Forum. This $10,000 grant supports a chorus entering into an artistically meaningful and mutually beneficial partnership with a composer of their choice to contribute a new work to the choral repertoire. Choruses apply for the grant in partnership with a composer of their choice for a specified commission project.
This grant reflects Chorus America and the American Composers Forum’s commitment to modeling equitable compensation practices for the field. The selected chorus will receive a grant of $10,000. $7,500 of the award is designated towards the commissioning fee (paid to the composer) and $2,500 is designated towards travel to support in-person engagement with the project composer, production costs to present the project, and promotion costs for the concert and work. The project period for all awarded grants may be up to two years, and the new work must be premiered by the chorus within the grant’s project period.
This grant opportunity is made possible by the Dale Warland Singers Fund for New Choral Music, a permanently restricted endowment fund established in 2004 to honor Warland and the Singers. The Dale Warland Singers Commission Award was created in 2008 and became a grant opportunity in 2024.
