Upcoming Concerts

Please join us in September for our season opening concert of Orff's Carmina Burana with the CSO, September 29 at 7:00.  See the CSO website for more information.

Auditions

We will start our new season rehearsals early in August.  If you'd like to audition, please send your name and phone number to auditions@cso-chorus.org, and we'll contact you when we setup the schedule.

About Us

The Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) Chorus is a dedicated group of auditioned, volunteer singers drawn from the greater Charleston, SC, area. The CSO Chorus provides the choral component for concerts by the Charleston Symphony Orchestra, as well as provides its own programs of great choral literature as part of the CSO Choral Series.  The CSO Chamber Singers, a division of the CSO Chorus, also provides a smaller ensemble to perform works in the chamber repertoire.

The CSO Chorus is open to all interested singers upon completion of a satisfactory audition by the Director. Interested singers are encouraged to explore this site and to request additional information, if needed.  Talk to any member of the chorus, or contact us by e-mail, for more information.

History of the CSO Chorus

The CSO Chorus was founded by Emily Remington in 1978 as the Charleston Symphony Singers’ Guild.  Prepared by Mrs. Remington, the chorus performed in the CSO Masterworks Series under Maestros Lucien deGroote and David Stahl. Also, under her direction, the Singers’ Guild performed Spring and Fall concerts, the annual Holiday Concerts, and the popular “Songs of the South in Miss Emily’s Garden.”

The all-volunteer chorus has sung under many notable guest conductors, including Joseph Flummerfelt, Christian Badea, John Nelson, and Arpad Darasz.  After Mrs. Remington’s retirement in 1995 the organization’s name was changed to the Charleston Symphony Orchestra Chorus.  The current director, Dr. Robert Taylor, began his tenure with the chorus in August 1999, and in his first year prepared the Chorus for highly acclaimed performances of Handel’s Messiah and Mozart’s Requiem with David Stahl in the Masterworks Series.

In May 2000, in the first of their own concerts incorporating Symphony players, the Chorus performed Barber’s Prayers of Kierkegaard under the direction of Dr. Taylor. The concert also included the performance of a number of shorter works by the revived CSOC Chamber Choir. The CSO Chorus has also performed Stravinsky’s Symphony of Psalms during the 2001 Piccolo Spoleto Festival USA to rave reviews.

The CSO Chamber Singers were founded in 1999 by Robert Taylor. Its inception was purposed to celebrate the genre of Chamber Music by the Masters. They have performed such masterworks as Mozart’s Mass in C Major, Stephen Paulus’ Mass, and Vaughan Williams’ Flos Campi, Serenade to Music, and Dona Nobis Pacem. They are also dedicated to performing works by contemporary local composers such as David Maves, Edward Hart, Trevor Weston, and Richard Moryl. They have been annually featured in the Piccolo Spoleto Festival’s Festival of Churches and Choral Artists Series.

More about the performances of past CSOC seasons

CSO Chorus
Charleston, SC, USA
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Updated 06/15/2007