Music Education Outreach Programs
MASTERWORKS PROJECT
The Masterworks Project, Cor Cantiamo’s largest annual educational outreach program, is designed to introduce high school choral students to choral/orchestral masterworks in a professional setting.
Throughout the course of this project, high school choral students have the opportunity to rehearse and perform a large choral/orchestral work side-by-side with the professional musicians of Cor Cantiamo, and work under the direction of the ensemble’s founding artistic director, Dr. Eric A. Johnson.
Recent Masterworks Project performances include Edward Elgar’s Sea Pictures, arranged by Donald Fraser (Yorkville High School, 2020), The Seven Heavens by James Whitbourn (Oak Lawn Community High School and Alan B. Shepard High School, 2019), The Lord Nelson Mass by Franz Joseph Haydn (Vernon Hills High School, 2018), and Requiem by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart (Lasalle-Peru High School and Mendota High School, 2017).
If you would like your high school ensemble to participate in the Masterworks Project, or if you are interested in hosting a clinic with Cor Cantiamo’s artistic director, please contact Dr. Eric Johnson at: eric.a.johnson@corcantiamo.org.
ILMEA DISTRICT 8 AUDITION WORKSHOP
Cor Cantiamo’s annual ILMEA District 8 Audition Workshop gives high school students the opportunity to rehearse and refine all the skills needed to pass the very selective ILMEA audition process. Cor Cantiamo offers this workshop as part of their educational mission to promote the creation, performance and appreciation of choral music in young musicians.
This one-day workshop offers guidance, constructive criticism, skill refining and encouragement. The workshop includes a rehearsal of the District 8 musical selections with the members of the ensemble, as well as sectionals and additional help with scales, triads and sight-singing. Each participant is also given the opportunity to run through a mock audition modeled after the formal audition process.
