Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus
Established in 1987, the Northwest Indiana Symphony Chorus has performed with the Symphony in everything from Requiems to Reggae. This talented group is the choral component of the Symphony Society, providing added texture and versatility to the Symphony's performance repertoire. The Chorus performs regularly for the Halloween and Holiday Pops Concerts, and joins the Orchestra for major works on the Maestro Series. Recent repertoire includes Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, Bernstein's Chichester Psalms, Requiems by Faur Durufl and Verdi, Holst's The Planets, Orff's Carmina Burana, and Strauss' Die Fledermaus and Bizet's Carmen with the Lyric Opera Center for American Artists. The Chorus presents an annual Sing-Along Messiah in November at Saint Michael the Archangel Church, and occasionally presents its own concerts of Choral Masterworks.
During the regular season, the Chorus boasts over 100 singers drawn from all over the Northwest Indiana and South Chicago area. This fun group is spirited as well as talented, described as a "big family" by many members. Singers 17 years of age older are eligible to audition during September and January auditions.
Rehearsals are held on Tuesday evenings from 7:30 until 10:00 p.m.
Click here for the Chorus Roster
Dr. Nancy Menk, Director
Chair of the Department of Music, Saint Mary's College
Nancy Menk holds the Mary Morris and Judd Leighton Chair in Music at Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, Indiana. She holds the B.S. and the M.A. in Music Education from Indiana University of Pennsylvania, and the M.M. and the D.M.A. in Choral Conducting from the University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music. Dr. Menk is founder and conductor of the South Bend Chamber Singers, an ensemble of 28 select singers from the Michiana area. The Chamber Singers were featured regularly on National Public Radio's weekly series, The First Art, and they have performed before state and division conventions of the American Choral Directors Association. Winners of the 2004 ASCAP/Chorus America Award for Adventurous Programming, the Singers were also finalists for the prestigious Margaret Hillis Award, given annually by Chorus America, in 2000.
At Saint Mary's College, Dr. Menk conducts the Women's Choir, the Collegiate Choir, and prepares the Madrigal Singers for the annual Christmas Madrigal Dinners. Under her direction, the Women's Choir has performed on tour throughout the United States, and it regularly commissions and performs new works for women's voices. In February 2005 they were invited to perform for the ACDA National Convention in Los Angeles, CA. The choir also hosts the annual Saint Mary's College High School Women's Choir Festival in which choirs from four states perform for each other and a panel of commentators.
Dr. Menk has been a conducting participant in the National Conductor's Symposium with the Vancouver Chamber Choir and the Oregon Bach Festival. She is Editor of the Saint Mary's College Choral Series, a distinctive series of select music for women's voices published by earthsongs of Corvallis, Oregon. Along with Dr. James Laster of Shenandoah Conservatory, she has prepared an annotated bibliography of women's choir resources, which has been published by the American Choral Foundation.
Dr. Menk has conducted four concerts of music for chorus and orchestra in Carnegie Hall, and she serves regularly as a guest conductor and choral adjudicator throughout the United States.