Sing With Us
If You Love To Sing, Come Join Us!
Become part of Santa Barbara’s longest running adult chorus made up of about 80 passionate volunteer and professional singers, accepted annually by audition.
Enjoy studying and singing great choral masterworks and diverse modern works, and experience the thrill of performing with an orchestra to appreciative audiences in grand venues such as the Lobero Theatre, the Granada Theatre, and Hahn Hall at the Music Academy of the West, in collaboration with great companies such as the Santa Barbara Symphony and State Street Ballet.
As a Choral Society member you’ll be eligible join the chorus on our international tours. Recent tour stops have included Prague-Vienna-Budapest; Bavaria and Italy, including singing mass at the Vatican (!); multiple venues in Spain; and a second trip to Italy where we sang the works of famed choral composer Morten Lauridsen in the company of the great composer himself!
During the season we rehearse from 7:00pm – 9:30pm every Wednesday evening in Lehmann Hall at the Music Academy of the West.
How to Apply
Auditions are on August 20, 2022 by appointment at The Music Academy. Interested in singing with us? Email: auditions@sbchoral.org to schedule your audition. Paid singer positions are currently open in all voice parts.
All singers must audition with the Conductor initially and annually. Audition requirements include evaluation of pitch, scale singing, multi-part singing, sight reading for notes and rhythm, and basic music understanding.
Regular Membership
Anyone 18 years of age or older may audition to join as a regular member. Once accepted for the season, members make an annual tax-deductible donation of $250 to the Santa Barbara Choral Society, and are eligible to sing in all concerts designated for “full chorus,” vote in all elections, and volunteer to assist with the planning and execution of concerts and events, including the international tours. Payment options and dues scholarships (see below) are available to eligible singers for whom the dues contribution would create financial hardship. Please contact auditions@sbchoral.org for application information for Regular Membership.
Professional Singers
The chorus primarily comprises volunteer singers, with a small core of professional singers, who are employed by the Choral Society as Section Leaders for their voice parts throughout the season. Section Leader positions are filled annually in all voice parts by private audition with the Conductor. These professional singers constitute our Music Staff, and do not have a vote in elections. For more information on auditioning for a paid Section Leader position, please submit a resume via email to auditions@sbchoral.org (Attn: Artistic Committee Chair).
Adjunct Professionals
On occasion, additional professional singers are needed for a particular work in some or all voice parts. These singers typically attend the concert rehearsals for a given concert, and sing in the performances. Please direct your request to become an Adjunct Professional to auditions@sbchoral.org (Attn: Artistic Committee Chair).
American baritone, Ralph Cato has travelled the world extensively, telling stories in song with his warm, clarion baritone voice.
Tenor, Benjamin Brecher has performed over fifty operatic roles with many of the world’s most prestigious opera companies, specializing in the high lying lyric tenor repertoire. He has performed 16 roles with New York City Opera alone. Career highlights include performances with Opera Orchestra of New York, L’Opera de Nice, Rossini Opera Festival in Pesaro, L’Opera de Montreal, Santa Fe Opera, Opera Theatre of St. Louis, among many others. His orchestral solo repertoire includes Mozart, Handel, Orff, Bach, Haydn, as well as many performances of Britten. In 2000 he began performing the great Irish Tenor songs in a concert produced for him entitled A Celtic Celebration, Twenty years later, the show has become a North American hit with performances with 45 Symphonies in North America. Ben continues his discography having added his twelfth recording in 2016 Forgotten Liszt, with pianist Robert Koenig, and will record a new release in 2022 entitled “Three Centuries of Thomas Moore” including the music of Britten, Berlioz, and Sarah Gibson on MSR Classics. He is a Professor of Voice at University of California Santa Barbara, where he has served as the Head of Voice.
Born and raised in Southern California, April Amante is a versatile soprano with expertise and facility in repertoire spanning from early music to contemporary musical theater.
Tracy Van Fleet is pleased to return to the Santa Barbara Choral Society. As a soloist, she has performed with the Los Angeles Master Chorale, Lüneburg Symphony in Germany, Orquesta Filarmónica de Boca del Río in Mexico, Pasadena Symphony, Naples Philharmonic, Los Angeles Bach Festival, San Diego Chamber Orchestra, Colorado Philharmonic, USC Symphony and Chorus, and others. She has had many appearances with the Los Angeles Opera, Los Angeles Philharmonic, Pacific Symphony, Hollywood Bowl Orchestra, Opera Pacific, San Diego Opera and Opera Colorado.