College Choir

About College Choir

The Middlebury College Choir is a community of undergraduate singers of diverse musical backgrounds and interests who value choral music performance as a substantial part of their education and development as global artistic citizens. Conducted by Jeffrey Buettner, Christian A. Johnson Professor of Music at Middlebury, the Choir sings music from and inspired by different global traditions, including American music and new compositions and arrangements, as well as music of the Western European choral canon. College Choir performs several concerts and events each year, including the annual Lessons and Carols in December and Senior Week Choral Concert in May.

College Choir performs choral-orchestral works with student and guest instrumentalists, and student and alumni soloists are featured frequently. Favorites include extended works by Raffaella Aleotta, Claudio Monteverdi, Benjamin Britten, Tarik O’Regan, Johannes Brahms, Gabriel Fauré, G. F. Handel (including the oratorio Esther in 2017), Wolfgang Mozart, Leonard Bernstein, and several cantatas and major works by J.S. Bach.

College Choir enjoys exploring new music and new ways that choral music can reflect individual and ensemble identity, including new choral compositions and commissions. Projects include We Are Phoenix by Timothy Takach (2025) and, And I Shall Sing by Christina Whitten Thomas ‘01, with text by Maria Partee developed in part with Choir student ideas and reflections on the meaning of ensemble community.

College Choir enjoys singing music and arrangements by alumni, including Annie Beliveau ‘18, Ronnie Romano ‘20, Kai Fukuda ‘24, William Mortell ‘26, as well as by conductor Jeffrey Buettner.

Recordings

College Choir performs concerts each semester, including the Middlebury Bach Concerts, Lessons and Carols, and annual College services. College Choir has also performed several semi-staged operas with the Opera Company of Middlebury.

For links to recorded performances, please visit our YouTube channel.

Touring

College Choir tours domestically and internationally, including Denmark (2026), Morocco and Spain (2022), Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania (2018), Berlin, Leipzig, Prague and Vienna (2014), and Montréal (2013). The Choir has toured domestically to New York, Brooklyn, and Boston (2009, 2016, 2019, 2022), Washington, DC (2015), and Monterey and San Francisco (2011), and in the state of Vermont.

Auditions

Please see audition information on go/choirauditions

Auditions are by appointment with the conductor, and typically take place each semester during the first week of classes. All voice parts are welcome! After the first week, auditions may be closed, but you are always welcome to inquire.

Auditions are about 20 minutes long and consist of a brief conversation about the commitment to the choir, a vocal warm-up, and singing a few excerpts. A prepared solo is not part of the audition. In semesters when the choir tours, new singers may be required to commit rather quickly about cost and logistics of choir travel.

Choir members are expected to commit firmly to rehearsal and performance schedules and to prioritize Choir events. Familiarity reading music is expected and some experience in choirs previously is desirable but not necessarily required. Auditions ensure that all singers are reasonably comfortable with music notation in the context of ensemble rehearsals, and that the commitment to the choir and the singer’s musicianship is comparable to the present roster.

Contact

For more information and to schedule your audition time, please email or call director Jeffrey Buettner at buettner@middlebury.edu or (802) 443-5938.