Chamber Choir
Chorale
Chamber Ensembles
Jazz Ensembles
Percussion Ensemble
Wind Ensemble
Chamber Choir (MUS 313)
Schedule: M/W/ 2:00-3:30pm; F 2:00-3:00pm
Location: Rockwell 106
Credits: 1
Director: Thomas Witakowski
Audition Required
The Buffalo State Chamber Choir is an auditioned vocal ensemble for singers to perform a wide variety of challenging choral repertoire at the highest artistic level. They have made three concert tours to Europe, including a Summer 2005 tour to Poland and the Czech Republic where they joined the Czech Philharmonic Chorus and Orchestra in a spectacular performance of Carl Orff's Carmina Burana. The Chamber Choir performs choral music from the Medieval Ages and Renaissance (often in original notation) to contemporary art music, pop, and jazz. They are not only a performing ensemble, but also a scholarly one—given assignments ranging from score and historical background preparation of their music to essays on the particular aesthetics of the composers whose music they are performing. The Chamber Choir is always in demand for many ceremonial and community events on and off campus, and regularly performs for Naturalization Ceremonies, the Honor's Convocation, the annual Day of Remembrance, and Commencement.
Chorale (MUS 335)
Schedule: T/R 1:40-2:55
Location: Rockwell 106
Credits: 1
Director: Thomas Witakowski
Audition not required
The Buffalo State College Chorale is a campus-wide chorus made up of students from all majors and backgrounds. Many members have had excellent high school experiences singing in choirs and want to continue performing significant choral repertoire in college even though their major is not in music. The Chorale regularly performs community outreach concerts that have recently featured such masterworks with orchestra as the Mozart Requiem, the Faure Requiem, the Rutter Magnificat, Ives' The Celestial Country and Schubert's Miriam's Song of Triumph, in addition to popular smaller pieces such as spirituals and contemporary pop music. In Spring of 2005 they premiered Peter Gorecki's powerful Stabat Mater in a joint appearance with the Chopin Singing Society and the Cheektowaga Symphony Orchestra. In addition to performing, members of the chorale work in sectionals to improve their music reading and vocal technique so that they can go on after college to perform in other community, theatre, and church choirs.
Chamber Ensembles
String Ensemble (MUS 337)
Brass Ensemble (MUS 338)
Woodwind Ensemble (MUS 339)
Schedule: TBA
Location: TBA
Credits: 1
Directors: Crystal Reinoso, Rick Fleming
Audition Required
Small performing groups such as the woodwind, brass, and string ensembles give students the opportunity to explore the wealth of repertoire that has been written for smaller instrumental combinations. Typical ensembles include the Buffalo State College Saxophone Quartet, Clarinet Choir, Flute Trio, Brass Quintet, and String Quartet, all of which play music from a broad spectrum of styles, by composers as various as Mozart, Villa-Lobos, Beethoven, Lennon-McCartney, Nelhybel, Bach, and Jobim. Students in these groups enjoy the challenge and rewards of playing one-on-a-part, and perform not only in concert situations, but also for college and community events such as receptions and awards ceremonies.
Jazz Ensemble (MUS 326)
Schedule: Fall T/Th 9:25 - 10:40
Spring T/Th 3:00 - 4:40
Location: Rockwell 21
Credits: 1
Director: Rick Fleming
Audition Required
The Buffalo State College Jazz Ensemble is one of the most visible ensembles in the Department of Music. In addition to performing concerts, the Jazz Ensemble performs for several campus and community events each semester. The Jazz Ensemble's mission is to introduce students to the great American art form of Jazz. Performing traditional jazz music as well as contemporary jazz ensemble arrangements affords the student an opportunity to learn a myriad of styles that will develop their individual and collective musicianship. As the instrumentation is fixed, membership in this ensemble as at the discretion of the instructor.
Percussion Ensemble (MUS 334)
Schedule: M/W 4:30 - 6:30 p.m.
Location: Rockwell 21
Credits: 1
Director: Bradley Fuster
Audition Required
The mission of the Buffalo State College Percussion Ensemble is to expose students and the Buffalo community to sophisticated repertoire written or transcribed for percussion instruments. The group commonly makes use of standard percussion instruments such as timpani, mallet keyboard instruments, tom toms, cymbals and gongs, but also employs sounds generated by found or constructed instruments such as car parts, architectural elements and household furnishings. An emblematic list of composers surveyed by the group include works by Karel Husa, William Kraft, Warren Benson, Christopher Rouse, Gareth Farr, Frank Zappa, Edgard Varese, Henry Cowell, Lou Harrison, Pauline Oliveros, John Cage and Joan Tower. The group endeavors to provide students with a learning experience which addresses the performance skills, performance practice, historical context, and compositional appreciation required to represent cutting edge percussion music of the 20th and 21st centuries.
Wind Ensemble (MUS 314)
Schedule:M/W/F 12:00 - 1:30 p.m.
Location: Rockwell 21
Credits: 1
Director: Rick Fleming
Audition Required
The Buffalo State College Wind Ensemble is one of the premiere performing ensembles on campus. The Wind Ensemble performs works in the traditional wind band repertoire as well as contemporary works of various styles. While the ensemble is open to any instrumentalist enrolled at Buffalo State College, there is a placement audition at the beginning of the Fall semester. The ensemble endeavors to expose students to the artistry and performance demands of large ensemble performance. The Wind Ensemble can be heard in performance twice each semester and often performs additional concerts and clinics at high schools throughout Western and Central New York.
