Camarillo, Calif. (Jan. 17, 2023)—Auditions are now open for singers who would like to join the CSU Channel Islands (CSUCI) University Chorus and be part of the Spring 2023 “Choral Spectacular!”

Anyone wishing to audition is invited to send an email to University Chorus Artistic Director KuanFen Liu at [email protected] to make an appointment for an audition from now until January 20.

Auditions are open to singers of all vocal ranges, ages 18 and up, and anyone on the CSUCI campus or in the surrounding community is welcome to audition. Liu is especially hoping to add more male singers to give the chorus more tenor, bass and baritone.

This spring’s “Choral Spectacular!” will be a performance of seven musical movements in seven different languages called “Jubilate Deo” by American composer Dan Forest. Forest holds a doctorate in musical composition from the University of Kansas and considered a prominent composer by choirs around the world, hailed by the NY Concert Review as having “an undoubted gift for writing beautiful music…that is truly magical.”

“The composer uses Mandarin Chinese, African Zulu, a movement in Spanish accompanied by a Spanish guitar, to name a few,” Liu said. “Each movement brings the essence of the different sounds in different cultures, and using instruments from the different countries creates color and texture.”

The movement in Chinese, for example, is accompanied by the erhu, a two-stringed bowed instrument native to China, Spanish guitar and the hammered dulcimer

Liu, who holds a doctorate in Musical Arts, had planned to do this piece for the Spring 2020 show until the pandemic shut everything down, so this performance has been a long time coming. The choir will be joined by singers from Santa Paula High School and Rancho Campana High School.

Audiences were offered a preview of the spring concert during the December winter concert, “De Colores,” in which the choir performed two movements from “Jubilate Deo,” including one piece in which Hebrew and Arabic are spun together in harmony—a musical unification of two cultures at odds with each other politically.

“I feel like people are at war with one another because they don’t understand the other culture,” Liu said. “If we keep opening doors a little at a time with music, little by little, seeds can grow into big trees.”

To audition, contact Liu at [email protected] through Friday, January 20.

For more on the CSUCI University Chorus, visit the Channel Islands Choral Association at www.cicachoir.org.