Choirs
Any UVA Wise student, staff, faculty, or local community member can join a choir on campus. Regardless of your background or level of experience, we have a choir for you!
Voice placements are quick (10 minutes) and simple. Hannah Wunsch Ryan, Director of Choral and Vocal Activities, will help guide you through a simple process and discuss any previous singing experience you have. You don’t need to prepare anything!
Our choirs perform approximately two concerts per semester, and often collaborate with the Symphony of the Mountains and other instrumental ensembles. Our choirs participate in outreach and community performances throughout Wise and southwest Virginia.
Ensembles
UVA Wise Concert Choir
Hannah Wunsch Ryan, director
Our premiere mixed-voice choral ensemble, Concert Choir is comprised of select undergraduate singers. Concert Choir sings literature from all style periods and cultures, and has travelled extensively, and recently premiered Reflections on a Mexican Garden in Carnegie Hall, NY, in 2018. Concert Choir often performs regional and national tours, including through North Carolina, Tennessee, and Kentucky, and has been invited to perform in Portugal in 2019. Audition required for participation.
UVA Wise Highland Chorale
Hannah Wunsch Ryan, director
This ensemble is comprised of students, staff and faculty members, and community members from the surrounding area. This ensemble performs a wise range of SATB choral literature. Highland Chorale accepts all students through enrollment, and does not require an audition.
UVA Wise Madrigal Singers
Hannah Wunsch Ryan, director
The UVA Wise Madrigal Singers is a small ensemble of mixed voices, with one to two voices per part. This ensemble focuses on unaccompanied singing of music from the Renaissance and Medieval periods. This ensemble performs both on campus and throughout the area in invited performances. Membership is by audition only, and members must be co-currently enrolled in either Concert Choir or Highland Chorale to participate.
