CHORAL INSTITUTE
Volti’s Choral Institute for High School Singers provides intensive, content-rich training and performance opportunities for 100 or more high school students over the course of one concentrated, enjoyable weekend. Watch a brief video below:
The Choral Institute is back! After a hiatus due to the pandemic and smaller retreats as live singing started coming back, we are excited to announce a full retreat for mixed SATB choirs again over the weekend of September 27 – 29, 2024. We invite interested high school choirs to come participate!
If you are a high school choir conductor interested in exploring this collaborative learning experience with other dedicated men and women in your field and their choirs, please contact us for more information at barbara@voltisf.org or 415.771.3352.
Together with Artistic Director Robert Geary and the high schools’ choir conductors, Volti’s singers serve as faculty. The students have the opportunity to work closely with these outstanding young professional singers, who sing with the students during rehearsals as well as leading sectionals, offering private voice lessons, and directing seminars designed to challenge and inspire each student. Each participating choir performs for one another and receives constructively critical evaluations from the Volti singers. Throughout the weekend, students rehearse side by side with members of Volti, and on Sunday they perform the music learned for an open audience (including parents and friends!) at the Camp in Occidental.
In some years we work with composer-in-residence on a new piece commissioned especially for these choirs; in other years we concentrate on repertoire selected by each choir’s director. The choirs often reunite later in the school year for a public performance, at which each choir will perform separately and then the massed choirs will join to showcase the music studied at the Choral Institute.
Email info@VoltiSF.org or call us at 415.771.3352 for more information.
Comments from students after recent Choral Institutes:
“I have to say, our trip to Occidental was by far one the best field trips I’ve ever taken at any school. The experience not only gave me the opportunity to bond with my classmates, but also helped me learn the techniques of singing properly. The Volti singers were fantastic, each and every one of them. Thanks to these teachers, I’ve learned so many different methods of improving the voice. Now I feel I’m singing better than ever!”
“It was a really awesome experience to work with the Volti singers. They were all very talented, knowledgeable, and confident. I liked to hear them talk about their paths to where they are today because it is difficult but it is an option for a career. They have lots of experience to share with us to help us learn.”
“I really enjoyed the Choral Institute experience. I felt that I personally, as well as our choir as a whole, benefited from the more advanced singers there, both professionals and higher level choirs. I thought that the Volti singers had a very unique viewpoint on singing because it is their career. They were very motivated and enthusiastic about singing, from the vocal aspect, to the posture, to the breathing, and I could feel the joy they got from singing and that joy radiated to all of us who had the opportunity to learn from them. They were also very good singers and hearing what they could accomplish with their voice because of their level of singing made me want to work more to improve my own vocal technique. I felt that they were especially motivated to teach high schoolers, many of whom have recently started singing with a choir.”
CYO Camp
The CYO Camp & Retreat Center in Occidental is set amidst the majestic redwoods of northern Sonoma County. Participants are housed in groupings of heated rustic cabins, each of which sleeps eight boys or girls. A list of essential items to bring (sleeping bags, etc.) will be provided upon registration. Rehearsals and meals take place in the main lodge, just a few hundred feet away, with its roaring fireplace and green lawns. The camp is equipped with full bathroom facilities, a basketball court, and numerous easy hiking trails.
Additional Benefits
Choral Institute students have the opportunity to perform major choral works with professional orchestras and soloists as members of the San Francisco Choral Society. Tuition is specially waived and music is provided at no cost. Participants are also entitled to complimentary tickets to Volti and San Francisco Choral Society concerts.
Tuition is $325 per student, which includes instruction, room, and board. There is a sliding scale for larger choirs (40 or more). For further information, or to register your choir (individual students are also welcome), please contact us at barbara@voltisf.org or 415.771.3352.