The Southern Kentucky Choral Society is holding open auditions to sing with the ensemble for the 2025-2026 season.
Originally known as the WKU Choral Union, the Southern Kentucky Choral Society has been making music in South Central Kentucky for over 40 years. The group is open by audition to community members and WKU students alike. The community portion of the ensemble truly represents a cross-section of our area: educators, merchants, doctors, homemakers, lawyers, postal workers, retirees, entrepreneurs, administrators, staff members, executives, salespeople, retirees… and even high school students! These folks join WKU students from all degree paths to rehearse and perform choral masterworks, usually with orchestra. They have performed a variety of music, including timeless choral masterpieces (Mozart’s Requiem, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Brahms’ Requiem), fresh and unique works (Ramsay’s Bluegrass Mass and the Robert Ray’s Gospel Mass), and brand new music (including Richard Waters’ The Courage for Love and several commissioned compositions and arrangements of Dr. Matthew Herman).
Along with concerts in Bowling Green, members of the ensemble have performed by invitation at Carnegie Hall, once under the baton of Artistic Director Paul Hondorp, who has conducted the ensemble for more than 20 years. Other outreach events have included National Anthem performances for the Bowling Green Hot Rods and caroling at various locations around Warren County.
Prior to the pandemic, the ensemble numbered well over 100 for each concert and is steadily working back to these numbers. 85 singers participated last season, some driving from Glasgow, Franklin, Scottsville, Owensboro and Elizabethtown.
“Truly, there is nothing that compares to the sound of human voices raised in harmony,” said Hondorp in a recent conversation. “It transcends demographic barriers. It builds community. It gives people a different sense of self. We have no instruments to unpack and no music stands to hide behind; we stand side-by-side and share the experience of soul-baring and collective music-making. And something happens in this process, in both rehearsal and performance… people become closer. I’m convinced that the regrowth of this ensemble, as well as my church choir, since the pandemic is a clear sign of this singular fact: people NEED community. I have had several occasions when people who met in the waiting room for auditions are now lifelong friends. And, gratefully, AI will never replace this human-to-human experience!”
So – dust off the pipes, start singing in the shower and at stoplights – and come audition for the Southern Kentucky Choral Society. Rehearsals are Monday nights from 6:30pm-8:30pm on the WKU Campus. Auditions are held twice each year, in mid-August and mid-January. Audition information and samples of past performances can be found at the organization’s website – www.sokychoir.org.
-by Melinda Whitfield
