Feature
Encore Performance
| USF News
Members of the USF Chamber Singers, several of whom performed on the Grammy-nominated CD, perform at the USF Showcase, an international student recruitment event held in the Marshall Student Center Ballroom.
Photo by Aimee Blodgett | USF News
Not bad for a first-time collaboration.
A CD recording produced at the USF School of Music's new concert hall earned a Grammy nomination for "Best Choral Performance."
The recording of the Brahms German Requiem was produced as part of the Professional Choral Institute, a two-week-long intensive summer training program put on by USF and Miami-based professional choral ensemble Seraphic Fire. Competition for the nomination was stiff, with a pool of contenders including the London Philharmonic and the Los Angeles Master Chorale.
"This is huge for us," says USF professor James Bass, who served as choral master.
Bass, director of Choral Studies in the School of Music and artistic director of the Master Chorale of Tampa Bay, and Brad Diamond, assistant professor of voice, sang on the CD along with nine USF students among the 30 voices.
Diamond and Bass designed the summer training program to prepare singers to break into the growing and very competitive field of professional choral singing. The nation's top graduates of conservatories and university music programs compete for spots that allow them to work side-by-side with the professional musicians of Seraphic Fire.
"Professional choruses are on the rise in the United States," Diamond says. "We do more than work on singing technique. The Professional Choral Institute shares the tools, the information and even the personal contacts that are so important to breaking into a truly successful career."
Although the group did not bring home a Grammy, the nomination was a huge honor.