OUR VALUES • Innovation: We fearlessly explore and bring new possibilities in choral music to our members and audiences. • Excellence: We pursue the highest standards in preparation, performance, and repertoire. • Collaboration: We foster and celebrate diverse partnerships with composers, conductors, and organizations to expand our reach in the community we serve. • Enrichment: We strive to touch the lives of our audiences, while preserving fun and gratifying experiences for our performers . • Education: We are committed to providing mentorship and practicing the care of the musician as whole person. OUR STRATEGIC IMPERATIVES • Commission new work every season. • Bring audiences a dynamic blend of musical genres and art forms. • Nurture artistic growth of all singers, conductors, and composers. • Encourage fun, openness, and joy in the process of learning. and performing. 2
THE ACTIVITIES OF CHORAL CHAMELEON, INC.
Choral Chameleon Ensemble A professional group of 12 singers that champions new music within amalgamated programming to inspire creative collaborations. Chameleonic Chorus An auditioned volunteer choir of 30 to 40 people that provides an environment of learning and exploration for singers, composers, and conductors alike. Choral Chameleon Institute An intensive 8-day workshop for conductors and composers of choral music held annually in June, which culminates in a public performance of premieres of the music written and developed during the session, sung by Choral Chameleon and recorded live.
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PRESIDENT’S NOTE Welcome to our second Choral Chameleon annual report and to this report on Season 8: 2015-2016. If Season 7 saw an unprecedented level of time and energy from the Board put into large-scale, site-specific productions and establishing a strong online presence across social media, Season 8 was a period for the Board to invest more time internally on fundraising and administrative fundamentals. In a lot of ways it felt like a home renovation. These fundamentals included: • A concerted return to grant-writing • Production of our first publicly available Annual Report • Historical analysis of board composition, budgets, and income from ticket sales and donations • Consolidation of our archive to enable new volunteers and staff to easily get up to speed • Update of our bylaws and contracts to reflect the size and scope of the current organization. The Board’s choice to focus energy and resources on internal administrative and artistic house-building this Season gave us breathing space to understand what our minimum and stretch-level budgets should look like going forward—seasons balancing programs that are alternately production-heavy and musically more complex, to continue to allow us to have a Composer in Residence in Season 9. Fundraising also became a lot more exciting for both The Board and our supporters, with Choral Chameleon’s first ever Benefit event, held at St. Paul’s Carroll Street. We were heartened by the turnout and enthusiasm of the audience, and we hope to organize more social events in the future like this.
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We also began the Season by hosting a Summer Sing at St. Paul’s (see our calendar of events). It was a pleasure to open our doors and welcome singers from other choirs in New York for this festive evening. The Board welcomed 3 Institute alumni this season: Composers Rob Mosher and Brian Rosen, and conductor Jacob Stensberg. This spurred the overhaul of Summer Institute communications to be more student and alumni friendly and enriched the Board beyond an all-singer POV—all of which resulted in a full house of students and wider catchment this year. • Artistic Director Vince Peterson took advantage of the production-light logistics to invest in house-building of his own: • Bringing in an Associate Conductor for the first time, Jacob Stensberg, to share the conversation about artistic planning • Professional Ensemble – a small-scale foray into audio and video recording to test the waters on working without live audience and to compare the outcome with our live performances; known for their warmth and audience rapport • Chameleonic – sharing the podium with 4 different guest conductors to build the musicianship, flexibility and genre-savviness of the singers to be more in line with our professionals Strategic Planning in April 2016 asked: “How can we make commercial recordings when our sound and financial support are almost 100% driven by delivering live experiences and hands-on education?” Our conclusion was that without dedicated grant support or a scaling up in donations, our 8-year live recording archive and unpublished commissions are an untapped goldmine for the choral community that should be made available. Work will begin in Season 9 to identify music for future release in Season 10. Thank you to all the Board members and volunteers of Season 8 for their service, advice, and time. Nicole Belmont President
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ARTISTIC DIRECTOR’S NOTE Many people have asked me why I didn’t go to postgraduate school and study for a doctoral degree. This question always makes me reflect on what I was doing at the time I would have been doing that. What I was doing was founding Choral Chameleon. At that time, there would have been no way I could have known the tumultuousness of the journey we were about to take together. At this time, there is nothing in the world for which I would trade it. Choral Chameleon is a living, breathing, ever-evolving dissertation on choral music as an art form: what it can be, what it would be in the world, and also, what the experience of co-participation in it needs to be from all perspectives. Season Eight was no exception when it comes to this noble mission. Of particular artistic significance this year were: our revival of the TEMPUS program, our two-concert study on the restlessness of New York: SLEEPLESS and WAKEFUL & WINTRY, and the whimsical IF I LEFT THE ZOO program, which brought significant experimentation opportunities. Also of significance was our collaborative performance with fellow ASCAP Award-winning chorus, The Cecilia Chorus of New York and its pioneer conductor, Mark Shapiro (see the feature article). We began the season by reviving one of our favorite concert programs, TEMPUS, as a fall benefit event. This was a special treat, not only because the program is rife with meticulously crafted, harmonically edgy, and thought-provoking music, but also because this program represented the moment when everyone in the room knew that Choral Chameleon was coming into its own. It was especially important and heart-warming to stand on the stage with Katie Zaffrann, our co-founder, performing Cyndi Lauper’s “Time After Time” in an arrangement written for us years ago. The members of the ensemble and Katie showed their incredible generosity and love for CC by performing the concert pro bono, affirming their commitment to seeing us thrive. Our chorus Chameleonic grew in size and scope, experiencing wonderful collaborative leadership from several guest conductors who shared the podium with me. It was, as
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always, particularly gratifying to hear how the sound changed and how other conductors interacted with the sound and responded viscerally. This group is a first-rate avocational chorus, to be sure. They presented two concert sets in the season: WAKEFUL AND WINTRY and SLEEPLESS—both studying the excitement and restlessness of the human spirit in different times of the year. It turned out that these programs were greatly cathartic for the singers and the conductors alike: exactly the intention. Some years ago, I heard a song called “If I Left the Zoo” by the Christian rock band, Jars of Clay. I decided to re-spin the meaning behind the original title into a concert about the spirituality of animals. It morphed into a greenhouse of a concert where several ideas began to rapidly grow. Highlights were a new venture in choral improvisation (inspired by our previous year’s interaction with the group Voces Nordicae and its director, Lone Larsen). We called it “devised choral music”, and it was made spontaneously as a reaction to audience-selected animal videos from the internet. As is always the case with these things, it was a risk that could have flown or burned. Fortunately, it flew! We also performed a significant marriage of two wonderful choral music staple pieces: Britten’s profound work “Rejoice in the Lamb” and Ivor Davies’ “Prayers from the Ark”. By interrupting the normal flow of the Britten with Davies pieces as interjections, the storyline and sensibilities of an already-beloved work were dilated to the fullest possible extent. Many listeners commented to us afterwards that Davies’ masterpiece only made them love the Britten even more deeply, as if that were possible. I couldn’t agree more. The ensemble, in true Choral Chameleon fashion, did a superlative job presenting these works. All in all, Season Eight showed us many things, artistically. There was tremendous growth in both the ensemble and the chorus. Premieres were given at all concerts. Risk-taking was creed. Perhaps, above all, when the Artistic Director went to sleep each night, he dreamed of the faces and voices of these wonderful artists and woke up each day without doubts, but with determination and delight, and with a deeper understanding of the work to come which he is continually compelled to do: a living, breathing dissertation on this thing called “choral music.” Vince Peterson Artistic Director
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2015-2016 SEASON: OUR MISSION IN ACTION A year of artistic growth and learning, more guest projects, and building our community.
JULY
First Associate Conductor Vince Peterson created a new artistic role, Associate Conductor, which was filled for Season 8 by Choral Chameleon Summer Institute alumnus Jacob Stensberg, who moved from Wisconsin to New York to work with us for the year.
AUGUST
We Hosted a Summer Sing This Season we joined the ranks of the handful of choirs in New York City which host open sings during Summer Break for choristers outside of their own ranks. Choral Chameleon offered a refreshing alternative to the ‘greatest hits’ repertoire with the choice of Ariel Ramirez’s “Misa Criolla” at St. Paul’s Episcopal Church in Carroll Gardens, complete with band and all washed down with cold beers from Brooklyn Brewery.
JULY 2015: ASSOCIATE CONDUCTOR
JULY 2015: SUMMER SING
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SEPTEMBER
OCTOBER
The Christians at Playwrights Horizons Our chorus singers could not believe their luck that there would be a second off-Broadway theatrical production requiring a full on-stage choir in the same calendar year as The Events (see our Season 7 report). A large number of our singers played the part of the church choir at an evangelical mega-church, singing gospel songs. Weekend Recording Exploratory The professional ensemble gathered at St. Paul’s to explore how they would sound in a controlled recording environment without audience and on camera with staged music video. We recorded the full-length version of Liz Hanna’s 2015-6 “The Story of Jumping Mouse” as well as her as-yet unperformed version of “O Magnum Mysterium” and “Stars” by Jeffrey Parola (commissioned in 2009). The video exercise netted a music video for “Stars” and “O Magnum Mysterium”.
SEPTEMBER 2015: THE CHRISTIANS
OCTOBER 2015: MUSIC VIDEO RECORDING
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NOVEMBER
Benefit Concert: Tempus Supporters were treated to our first live fundraising event, which was held as a gala concert and reception by our professional ensemble at St. Paul’s. Vince Peterson brought back one of his favorite programs ‘Tempus’ and co-founder and first Board President Katie Zaffrann reunited with us to join the ensemble to sing a solo. It was a lovely evening and we look forward to hosting more dedicated supporter events in the future alongside our online efforts.
DECEMBER
Holiday Concert: Wakeful and Wintry The first of the chorus’ two concert programs dedicated to New York City saw a dazzling array of genres, vocal styles, and an unprecedented number of guest conductors to keep our singers on their toes, including ensemble singer Bill Heigen whose piece “Wintry and Wakeful” was premiered. Other guest conductors were Associate Conductor Jacob Stensberg, and Summer Institute alumna Tiffany Anne Chiang.
NOVEMBER 2015: TEMPUS
DECEMBER 2015: WAKEFUL & WINTRY
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JANUARY
The Institute Gets an Online Facelift After years of word-of-mouth recruitment to The Choral Chameleon Summer Institute, we invested in producing a more comprehensive online presence in January to make it easier for students to find us and learn about us online (which they did!).
FEBRUARY
First Full-Day Rehearsal Retreat Season 8’s artistic initiative to invest in our chorus’ musicianship and community saw our first full-day retreat at St. Paul’s Carroll Street. It was a refreshing change of pace from rehearsing solely at night after work. Singers enjoyed guided meditative improvisations and music theory exercises alongside rehearsal of our Spring concert material.
MARCH
Guest Performance with The Cecilia Chorus of New York Choral Chameleon professional ensemble were guests of The Cecilia Chorus of New York, performing the first part of a join-program for a 900+ capacity crowd at The Church of the Holy Trinity on E 88th St. See Feature Story.
FEBRUARY 2016: ALL-DAY CHORUS RETREAT
MARCH 2016: GUEST OF CECILIA CHORUS
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MAY
Spring Concert: Sleepless After months of practice, our chorus Chameleonic presented the second New-York Themed concert at St Luke in the Fields in The West Village and had a lastminute emergency venue change to Christ Church in Cobble Hill. Once more, the sheer variety of genres, styles, and guest conductors made for an exhilarating program for packed houses. This concert featured the US premiere of Ann-Sofi Söderqvist’s “What is Life?” Guest conductors were Associate Conductor Jacob Stensberg, Summer Institute alumna Michelle Coladonato and ensemble singer Alex Canovas. Spring Concert: If I Left The Zoo The ensemble performed a very special program celebrating the spirituality of animals at St. Paul’s Carroll St, showcasing the ensemble accompanied by the magnificent pipe organ. Vince Peterson programmed the core of the concert as an ingenious mash-up of Britten’s “Rejoice in the Lamb” and Ivor R. Davies “Prayers From the Ark”—where the movements of each piece alternated with those of the other. The concert ended with the results of an experiment devising choral accompaniment to YouTube animal videos nominated by our Facebook followers!
MAY 2016: SLEEPLESS
MAY 2016: IF I LEFT THE ZOO
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JUNE
Performance at the Lycée Français de New York Once again, our chorus Chameleonic was invited to perform at the end-of-year concert with the children of this bilingual school in Manhattan, led by Associate Conductor Jacob Stensberg. Make Music New York: ‘The Gauntlet’ on The Highline Members of Chameleonic participated in composer Sxip Shirey’s choral experiment as part of this oneday celebration of music performed in public spaces around the city. Our location was the Highline Park at the Meatpacking District end. Singers stood in pairs on stools and hocketed phrases back and forth while a large and curious crowd were led through this passageway of singers by Sxip in order to hear the whole piece. The Choral Chameleon Summer Institute This was our sixth year hosting an 8-day educational initiative for emerging composers and conductors of choral music. See Feature Story.
JUNE 2016: LYCÉE FRANÇAIS DE NEW YORK
JUNE 2016: ‘THE GAUNTLET’
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EDUCATION: CHORAL CHAMELEON SUMMER INSTITUTE 2016 The sixth Institute welcomed more international students and was documented for the first time by a camera crew. We also welcomed new faculty members to the charge. The result was a wonderful feast of new contributions to choral music and more hearkening to the art form on the parts of singers, composers, conductors, and listeners alike. As usual, St. Paul’s Carroll Street in Brooklyn set the scene perfectly. This year, students came from Hawaii, California, Connecticut, Maryland, the United Kingdom, the Czech Republic, and the NYC metro area. The wonderful and generous singers of Choral Chameleon were in great form and offered their candid feedback lovingly and respectfully throughout. FACULTY & CURRICULUM HIGHLIGHTS Matt Oltman Conductor emeritus of Chanticleer, continued to lead Choral Chameleon in the reading and rehearsals of our composers’ brand-new works and provided feedback for conductors in rehearsal and group lessons. Rex Isenberg (also slated to be the 2016-2017 Composer-In-Residence) Rex offered private lessons in composition and gave a great ear training session. Dr. Mark Shapiro Mark, with his true and unparalleled musicianship, lent his ears, his hands, and his heart to both the conductors and the composers, bringing with him decades of musical experience and wisdom to enrich the thoughts and choices of our students. Joseph Stillwell A standout composer and teacher and member of the faculty at San Francisco Conservatory of Music also joined the faculty this year, teaching composition and ear training.
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Writing for TTBB A highlight Masterclass this year focused on the under-served TTBB market for choral music. We replaced our SATB lab choir with a semi-chorus from Empire City Men’s Chorus (currently directed by Vince Peterson and formerly by Matt Oltman). Having these guests enabled our faculty to demonstrate the nuances of writing for all-male choruses. COMPOSITIONS Twelve world premieres were given. They spanned many genres and areas of musical thought including both sacred and secular sensibilities. They encompassed tonal and atonal, homophonic and polyphonic textures. They represented a variety of styles, both popular and obscure. CONDUCTORS This track tackled the staple choral works of Randall Thompson, Claude Debussy, Ivor Davies, and Francis Poulenc. Rubbing shoulders with our composers provided an excellent platform through their music upon which our three student conductors could try new things and think outside of the box about their gesture and interpretation.
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FEATURE: CHORAL CHAMELEON ENSEMBLE AS GUESTS OF THE CECILIA CHORUS OF NEW YORK
This Season saw Choral Chameleon’s first foray into making guest appearances under our own name, and what a way to start! Vince Peterson was truly flattered to receive an invitation from his former conducting teacher at Mannes School of Music, Dr. Mark Shapiro, to have Choral Chameleon perform as guest artists at the March concert of The Cecilia Chorus of New York, of which Mark is currently Music Director. The concert took place on Sunday March 6th at The Church of the Holy Trinity on E 88th St in Manhattan. This more than century-old New York choral stalwart of around 150 singers, which presents concerts at Carnegie Hall every season, has a large following, and it was an invitation we were thrilled to accept in only our 8th season. The event centered on the recently composed and impressive large-scale work: “Messiahs False and True” by composer Rex Isenberg, which had been premiered the previous year by Mark Shapiro’s chamber choir Cantori New York. (We were so impressed with Rex’s work that we invited him to join the composition faculty of The Choral Chameleon Institute and to be our Composerin-Residence for Season 9!)
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Choral Chameleon began the concert with a complementary set of music featuring Orlando Gibbons’ “What is Our Life?”, Alex Stein’s “As I Grew Older” (commissioned by Choral Chameleon in 2012), Pete Seeger’s ‘Turn, Turn, Turn’ and both parts of Liz Hanna’s “The Story of Jumping Mouse” which the ensemble had premiered separately in Season 7. Responding to the palpable energy of a sold-out 900-person audience of new faces at Holy Trinity, the ensemble rose to the occasion and many audience members were clearly moved by the beauty of Liz Hanna’s piece. This experience has given us thirst to pursue more guest appearances in addition to our own productions in future, especially if they can allow us to showcase music we have written and our members’ openness to adventurous programming.
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FEATURE: GROWTH IN THE CHORAL CHAMELEON CHORUS (CHAMELEONIC) The volunteer chorus of Choral Chameleon, which began as “Chameleonic” in the fifth anniversary season has only seen positive growth and progress since its inception. We set out to build the best volunteer chorus in NYC. We wanted to provide a great “user experience” for avocational singers as well as a platform for composers and conductors in our wheelhouse to try new things. We have done just this. If word of mouth is the strongest form of advertising, then this accounts for much of the growth we have seen in the membership in this chorus over the last year. Nothing can accurately and fully describe the experience of singing with the chorus better than the accounts of the singers, themselves. There seems to be a good balance between keen focus on artistry and technique and the social component of the experience, which is often a much larger draw for prospective singers in a chorus of this ilk. This season, Chameleonic participated more than ever in the cultivation and premiering of new works, giving the world premiere of Bill Heigen’s holiday work “Wintry and Wakeful”, as well as the US Premiere of “What is Life?” by Ann-Sofi Söderqvist. With a generous nod to both the ensemble and to Vince Peterson, each of the two chorus concerts included significant works of meaning to Choral Chameleon’s history. In the holiday concert, they performed Vince’s arrangement of the spiritual “Rise Up Shepherd, and Follow” which was the first arrangement of its kind ever written for Choral Chameleon and was premiered on the very first concert of the very first season. In the spring, they tackled his original work “Metropolis” and taught him many things about this work in the process. In the area of singing and musicianship technique, the chorus certainly pushed the envelope and pushed themselves. Programs included very challenging music by the likes of Irving Fine, Conrad Susa, Eric Whitacre, and John Corigliano. These works, in particular, forced the singers to move more quickly
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past the stage of learning notes and rhythms, and to shift their focus to musical matters sooner—in some cases, right from the start of the rehearsal process. The result was a palpable change in the sound and unified performances with deeper technical precision. If this season were a foreshadowing of what is to come for the chorus, there is definitely a bright future ahead of them.
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TREASURER’S REPORT 2015-2016 FINANCIALS FY 2016 featured more traditional concert presentations vs. FY 2015 season; which had called for greater resources to stage. After several years of remaining flat, the tuition fees for the Institute were raised in line with faculty salaries, increasing our Institute revenue by 65%. We are pleased to report a surplus this year, which will be carried over to FY 2017 to cover start-of-season expenses and continued debt abatement.
Statements of Financial Positions A SSETS
Cash and Cash Equivalents Accounts Receivable
Total Assets
LIABILITIES 2016
2015
$20,115.00
$9,959.66
$3,501.00
$2,075.00
$23,616.00
$12,034.66
2016 Accounts Payable
$13,500.00
$5,400.00
Credit Card Payable
$12,994.00
$12,913.75
$26,494.00
$18,313.75
Total Liabilities
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2015
Operating Revenue
Operating Expenses
DONATIONS We gratefully acknowledge the generosity and support of everyone who donated money and time to us this year. Institutional Donors
In-Kind Not-for-Profit Support Programs
In-Kind Donationa of Professional Services
AmazonSmile Foundation Anonymous Cecilia Chorus of New York Union Street Builders Association, Inc.

Brooklyn Brewery Google Slack Canva
Nicole Belmont, Marketing Kelly Baxter-Golding, Graphic Design Rob Mosher, Information Technology 

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PATRONS: JULY 2015 – JUNE 2016 $1000+
$100 TO $199
Alan Ahles Nicole Belmont Jack and Helen Gorelick Robyn & Vince Caponi Michael Squitieri
Kimberlee Auletta David and Joan Bredthauer Scott Brown Rita Coladonato Daniel Falotico Kathleen Fernandez Barbara Gilbride Joseph Gilbride Abner Greene Winnie Lee Carole Leibner John Maclay James Mendell John Olsen Lynn Peterson Shawn Sandler Gloria Schaefer Mark Shapiro Lizabeth Squicciarini Kathryn Squitieri Joanne Tuck Nanci Tuck
$500 to $999 Anonymous Brian Rosen Tracy Winters Jessica Wong $200 TO $499 Alex Canovas Jeremy Davidson Tony Falotico Donald Gergel Janet Griffin Donna Lee Rebecca Morales-Crespo Rob Mosher Vince Peterson Robert E. Randall Cathy Solomon Frances Squitieri James Taylor Stephanie Tuck Joe and Teresa Wong
UP TO $99 Jason Asbury Joseph Barbosa Joe Barros Geoffrey Belmont Alex Boostrum Andrew Caponi Cara Caponi Cynthia Caponi Michelle Coladonato Dean DeCarlo Lauren DeMarco
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Teresa Dooley-Smith Kevin Duffy Josef Faller Matthew Geaghan Leo Glickman John Greenstein Kristin Gregory Michael Gross Rufus E. Hallmark Jr. Laura Kauffmann Michael Koff Steve Leamer Pam and Rocky Levkulich Deborah Lokin James Melino Laurence Mengin Clayton L. Morris Brian Nash Sarah Nguyen Randel Orzano Linda Ostrow The Parnaby Family Carole Paul Matthew Penning Kyle Randall Josh Rivera-Torres Gerald Rosen Virginia Rusch Steven Sachs Andrew Scharf Boreta Singleton Daniel Smith Kathleen Taylor Howard Tichler Laura Tichler Mia Tortora Elena Tulloch
BOARD & STAFF BOARD OF DIRECTORS Nicole Belmont President Vince Peterson Founder and Artistic Director Michael Squitieri Treasurer Alex Canovas Secretary and Professional Ensemble representative Cara Caponi Member and President of Chameleonic Rob Mosher Member Brian Rosen Member Jacob Stensberg Associate Conductor (Ex Officio) PAID ADMINISTRATIVE STAFF LaMarcus Miller
Chorus Manager
ARTISTIC ADVISORY BOARD Vance George Symphony Chorus Director Emeritus, San Francisco Symphony Matthew Oltman Music Director Emeritus, Chanticleer Bruce MacIntyre Musicologist; Director, Brooklyn College Conservatory of Music Emily Keeler Artistic Director, San Francisco Arts Education Project Stephen Goldstine Photographer; Consultant David Conte Composer; San Francisco Conservatory of Music Conrad Susa Composer; San Francisco Conservatory of Music (In Memoriam) MEMBERSHIPS New York Choral Consortium, Chorus America
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