The American Music Performance Invitational for Mixed Choirs refers to a series of music festivals for top

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

choirs. The festivals are more commonly referred to as the AMP Invitationals. Produced by Choirs of America (COA), the inaugural AMP Invitational took place in Long Beach and Los Angeles on April 29–30, 2011. COA's stated mission is "to ''engage, inspire'' and ''educate'' choirs across the country." COA was recently named a "Citizen Musician" as part of the Citizen Musician Initiative fronted by the

Chicago Symphony Orchestra The Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) was founded by Theodore Thomas in 1891. The ensemble makes its home at Orchestra Hall in Chicago and plays a summer season at the Ravinia Festival. The music director is Riccardo Muti, who began his tenure ...

, music director Riccardo Muti and Yo-Yo Ma. Wenger Corp is COA's title sponsor.

Inaugural AMP Invitational

COA's first AMP Invitational took place on April 29–30, 2011. Clinicians and adjudicators included

Jo-Michael Scheibe Jo-Michael Scheibe (born 1950) was the former chair of the Department of Choral and Sacred Music at the Thornton School of Music at the University of Southern California. Following an unplanned and unannounced sabbatical in Fall of 2022, Scheibe r ...

, Cheryl Frazes-Hill (assistant conductor of the

Chicago Symphony Chorus The Chicago Symphony Chorus began on September 22, 1957, when the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) announced that Margaret Hillis would organize and train a symphony chorus. The music director Fritz Reiner's original intent was to utilize the choru ...

, Jonathan Talberg, William Belan and Bruce Mayhall. Workshop presenters included Broadway producer

Ken Davenport Ken Davenport (born Kenneth Anjum Hasija, August 23, 1972) is a two-time Tony Award-winning theatre producer, blogger, and writer. He is best known for his production work on Broadway. Early life and career Davenport was born in Phoenix, Arizo ...

, motivational speaker Norm Hull, David Sears (senior director of education at the GRAMMY Foundation) and Terry Knowles (president and CEO of the Los Angeles Master Chorale). The event culminated in a massed choir benefit concert with master conductor

Eric Whitacre Eric Edward Whitacre (born January2, 1970) is an American composer, conductor, and speaker best known for his choral music. In March2016, he was appointed as Los Angeles Master Chorale's first artist-in-residence at the Walt Disney Concert Hall. ...

leading over 630 high school singers from three different states in a program that raised over $3,600.00 for L.A.'s Harmony Project. Participants included top mixed high school choirs from Branham, Calabasas,

Chino Hills The Chino Hills are a mountain range on the border of Orange, Los Angeles, and San Bernardino counties, California, with a small portion in Riverside County. The Chino Hills State Park preserves open space and habitat in them. Geography The C ...

Highland Highlands or uplands are areas of high elevation such as a mountainous region, elevated mountainous plateau or high hills. Generally speaking, upland (or uplands) refers to ranges of hills, typically from up to while highland (or highlands) is ...

, Monte Vista, Porterville, Sprague,

Thomas Downey Thomas Joseph Downey (born January 28, 1949) is an American attorney, lobbyist and former politician who served as a U.S. Representative for New York's 2nd congressional district from 1975 to 1993. Early life and education Downey was born in Q ...

, Tualatin, Westwood and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

. Highland High School from Gilbert, Arizona earned the coveted top rated choir slot (Monte Vista came in second, with Sprague placing third).http://www.facebook.com/pages/AMP-Invitational/129015030469109

Future AMP Invitationals

2013 AMP Nationals for Top Choirs - New York City & Carnegie Hall (April 11, 12 & 13, 2013)

Day one is a bonus day for subsidiary ensembles to have adjudicated performances and faculty reviews. Day 2 will feature adjudicated performances for primary ensembles, full one-hour clinics with Master Clinicians and Adjudicators Andre Thomas, Jerry Blackstone, Jeffrey Douma, and Gene Peterson. Vocal master classes with Matthew Oltman (music director emeritus of Chanticleer) and other workshops are also scheduled for all choirs. Day two will occur at

Carnegie Hall Carnegie Hall ( ) is a concert venue in Midtown Manhattan in New York City. It is at 881 Seventh Avenue (Manhattan), Seventh Avenue, occupying the east side of Seventh Avenue between West 56th Street (Manhattan), 56th and 57th Street (Manhatta ...

and will feature a massed choir rehearsal and prism concert led by Master Conductor,

Anton Armstrong Anton Eugene Armstrong (born April 26, 1956) is the conductor of the St. Olaf Choir as well as the Harry R. and Thora H. Tosdal Professor of Music at St. Olaf College of Northfield, Minnesota, in the United States. Armstrong became the fourth di ...

San Francisco, California (March 23–24, 2012)

Featured clinicians and adjudicators include Jo-Michael Scheibe, Sharon Paul, Joshua Habermann (director of the Dallas Symphony Chorus), Timothy Seelig, and Susan McMane. Matthew Oltman will run the vocal master classes and Roger Treece will lead workshops in circle song improvisation. Day two will take place in

Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall Louise M. Davies Symphony Hall is the concert hall component of the San Francisco War Memorial and Performing Arts Center in San Francisco, California. The 2,743-seat hall was completed in 1980 at a cost of US$28 million to give the San Francisco ...

with master conductor Grant Gershon.

Washington DC area (March 30–31, 2012)

Day one will take place at the

University of Maryland The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of M ...

in College Park, Maryland and will feature Jerry Blackstone, Karen Kennedy and Jameson Marvin as clinicians. Day two will occur at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and will feature a massed choir benefit concert led by master conductor, Simon Carrington.

References

External links

Official Website

2013 AMP Nationals Website

Harmony Project

Citizen Musicians
{{Choral festivals Classical music festivals in the United States Music competitions in the United States Choral festivals Music education organizations