Chicago Master Singers to hold auditions

Chicago Master Singers, under the direction of John C. Hughes, is planning a three-concert season in 2021-2022. Dates, venues and programs will be announced soon.

Serious singers are invited to audition for the season July 27, 28, 29 and Aug. 2 between 6 and 10 p.m. in Palatine. Singers who wish to be considered for solo opportunities must return for a second audition on Aug. 10. Auditions are by appointment only.

Information about the audition process and audition appointments are available at chicagomastersingers.org/sing-with-CMS.

Singers pay dues of $120 for the season and are responsible for buying their own copies of the music. Rehearsals are held from 7 to 10 p.m. Mondays beginning Aug. 16 at Countryside Unitarian Church, 1025 N. Smith Road, Palatine.

Rehearsals are also held on the Tuesday and Thursday evenings of concert weeks.

Hughes became the music director of Chicago Master Singers in 2020 after a career at Ripon College in Wisconsin, where he was assistant professor of music, director of choral activities and chairman of the Department of Music.

He is also conductor of the Composer Residency program at the Green Lake Festival of Music in Green Lake, Wisconsin. During his first season with Chicago Master Singers, he created CMS University, a popular series of weekly online seminars about a broad range of choral music topics.

Chicago Master Singers (www.chicagomastersingers.org) is an auditioned chorus of about 100 volunteer singers from Chicago and many suburban communities. The chorus has performed choral masterworks in collaboration with professional soloists and orchestras in the Chicago area since 1979 and on tour in Europe.