Many opportunities are available for participation in one of our acclaimed ensembles. All music majors and minors are required to participate in ensemble. Opportunities are also available to the general student population. Membership in the ensembles is by audition, and prospective ensemble members should review the Music Department’s Admissions page for more information about auditions.
Large ensembles include The Philharmonic Society (concert choir), Concert and Marching Bands, Jazz Orchestra, and The Atlanta University Center-wide Symphony Orchestra. Concert and Marching Bands have a number of smaller units, and the CAU Jazz Orchestra has CAU Jazztet. Click on the links to the left for information about each of the large ensembles.
Smaller non-credit performing ensembles are organized through the department’s Performance Seminar courses (CMUS114A/B –CMUS 414A/B).
Philharmonic Society
The Clark Atlanta University Philharmonic Society is a nationally respected choral ensemble that perpetuates a proud century-old tradition of artistic clarity, stylistic authority and brilliant choral tone. The Philharmonic Society includes an international membership of the finest men and women, boasting honor students and student leaders from across the university. Early choral conductors of the Clark experience included Drs. J. DeKoven Killingsworth and Frederick Douglass Hall, among others. Since the early 1990s, the Society has established a stellar reputation under the leadership of its former director, Professor Glynn E. Halsey. It is now poised to build on its rich choral tradition of excellence under the leadership of its current director, Dr. Curtis Everett Powell.
The Society performs the gamut of the choral genre, from major classical literature to popular repertoire. It has a special affinity for performing works drawn from the vast storehouse of the African-American traditions. This includes African Folk songs, spirituals, gospel, jazz, and similar works of African-American composers. It has done special performances in conjunction with such noted figures as Nelson Mandela, Quincy Jones, William Warfield, Roberta Flack, James Moody, Jeffery Osborn, Roy Ayres, and Andrew Young. There have been command performances for the inauguration of the President of Gammon Theological Seminary (now a part of Interdenominational Theological Center in Atlanta), and before the National Convening Body of the United Methodist Church, the church with which the university maintains an affiliation.
During the 1990’s the Philharmonic Society experienced a formidable list of successes. It appeared with the Louisiana Symphony Orchestra during the 1993-1994 season in a nationally televised performance of African Portraits, an intense, gripping work by Hannibal (formerly known as Hannibal Peterson); it presented five concerts at the world-class Spivey Hall of Clayton State College and University, one which aired on National Public Radio’s “Performance Today;” and it was featured with mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves in a professional CD recording produced by National Public Radio.
More recently, over 4 million viewers saw and heard the Society on “Chasing the Dream: Exploring Black History” on a live CNN web cast. Along with a number of other select choirs from across the country, the Philharmonic Society was heard in New York City at Carnegie Hall in the world premiere performance of The Nativity, a contemporary work by composer Ernestine Robinson.
Jazz Orchestra
The Clark Atlanta University Jazz Orchestra (CAUJO), composed of some twenty young musicians and directed by James H. Patterson, is considered to be one of the finest university jazz organizations in the world. Numerous jazz greats – Kenny Burrell, Regina Carter, Freddy Cole & Trio, Duke Ellington, John Faddis, Frank Foster, Dizzy Gillespie, Art Farmer, Panama Francis, Lionel Hampton, Jimmy Heath, Illinois Jacquet, Hubert Laws, Chuck Mangione, Branford Marsalis, Ellis Marsalis, Wynton Marsalis, James Moody, Jimmy Owens, Max Roach, Charlie Rouse, Joe Sample, Billy Taylor, Clark Terry, Charles Tolliver, Mary Lou Williams, and Kai Winding, among others – have performed as soloists with the orchestra. Having appeared as the opening orchestra for Nat Adderly, Cab Calloway, Betty Carter, Ray Charles, Dexter Gordon, Al Jarreau, Billy Taylor, and Sarah Vaughn, the group is also featured in the outstanding film In Search of Improvisation: The Essence of Virtuosity in Jazz with Dizzy Gillespie, Max Roach, Mary Lou Williams, and others.
The CAUJO has performed at the Montreux International Jazz Festival, Montreux, Switzerland, with Dizzy Gillespie; the North Sea Jazz Festival, Den Hague, Holland; the Grand Parade du Jazz Festival, Nice, France; the Umbria Jazz Festival, Perugia, Italy; the Newport/Kool Jazz Festival, New York, NY; the Atlanta Jazz Festival, Atlanta, Georgia; the Fletcher Henderson Jazz Festival, with Lionel Hampton, Cuthbert, Georgia; the World’s Fair, New Orleans, Louisiana; and the Ozone Jazz Festival, Neuchatel, Switzerland. The jazz orchestra also features a smaller offspring ensemble, the CAU Jazz Quintet, which has performed in Banjul, The Gambia and Dakar, Senegal – both in Africa – and in Barbados, West Indies. With seven recordings to its credit, the CAUJO has also won gold awards at MusicFest USA, the competition for the nation’s best, hosted by Down Beat magazine.
AUC Symphony Orchestra
Atlanta University Center-wide Symphony Orchestra was formed in 1997 and it is comprised of students from each of the undergraduate institutions within the Atlanta University Center – Clark Atlanta University, Spelman College and Morehouse College.
The AUC Orchestra emphasizes development of performance skills and study of a variety of styles and periods from the symphony orchestra literature.
The purpose of this symphony orchestra is to provide students with the skills needed to participate in large ensemble playing, to teach correct phrasing, interpretation, ensemble rehearsal technique, and to obtain knowledge and skills sufficient to work as a leader.
For more information visit the AUC Symphony Orchestra’s website:
