Choral Programs

The Green Lake Festival of Music is pleased to offer two choral programs for adults, which will run concurrently in June 2023. Singers may participate in either program or both!

choral institute -Festival Chorus

Tuesday, June 20 - Friday, June 23, 2023

The Choral Institute is a beloved tradition at the Green Lake Festival of Music and welcomes anyone who loves to sing! Each season, this Festival Chorus rehearses and performs significant works from throughout the choral repertory. In 2023, the Choral Institute will feature Carl Orff’s thrilling Carmina Burana with professional soloists in a concert at the First Congregational Church, 220 Ransom St., Ripon, on Friday, June 23.

Cost is $150 ($125 if also participating in the Composer Residency). Participants are responsible for meals, housing, transportation, and music purchase.

John C. Hughes

Director of Choral Programs & Conductor

Composer Residency - Chamber Choir

Thursday, June 22 – Sunday, June 25, 2023

The Green Lake Festival of Music is pleased to welcome Reena Esmail as its featured artist for the 2023 Composer Residency. Rehearsals of Esmail’s works by the Chamber Choir will begin the morning of Thursday, June 22, culminating in an afternoon performance on Sunday, June 25 at the First Congregational Church, 220 Ransom St., Ripon.

Chamber Choir participants work at a high artistic level. They are expected to have advanced reading and vocal skills, and a screening recording is required for participation. 

Reena Esmail

Green Lake Festival of Music’s
Composer-in-Residence for 2023

GLFM is also pleased to partner with The Boys & Girls Club of the Tri-County Area to offer a four-day afternoon Chorus Camp for youth ages 10-15 in mid-June.

Chorus Camp is four afternoons of free musical learning and fun for youth ages 10-15 at the Rodman Center for the Arts at Ripon College, June 12-15. The Green Lake Festival of Music in partnership with The Boys & Girls Club of the Tri-County Area presents this opportunity for youngsters to explore the joys of singing, dancing, and games from different cultures, guided by director Magdalena Delgado and pianist Sarah Wheeler. Chorus Camp culminates in a free concert at Ripon College on Thursday, June 15. The deadline for registration is May 12. There is no charge to participate in this program.

Choral Conducting Apprentice program

The Green Lake Festival of Music (GLFM) is pleased to announce a Choral Conducting Apprentice Program for the 2023 season. This new initiative will select one apprentice and is designed for career-track singers, choral conductors, composers, and music educators enrolled in undergraduate or master’s degree programs. Doctoral students or very recently graduates may also be considered. 

Click here for more information

**The Green Lake Festival of Music is committed to creating and maintaining a diverse and inclusive experience. Black, Latinx, Asian/Pacific Islander, Indigenous, and LGBTQ+ emerging professionals are strongly encouraged to apply.**

Reena Esmail, Composer-in-Residence

Indian-American composer Reena Esmail works between the worlds of Indian and Western classical music, and brings communities together through the creation of equitable musical spaces. 

Esmail’s life and music was profiled on Season 3 of PBS Great Performances series Now Hear This, as well as Frame of Mind, a podcast from the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Esmail divides her attention evenly between orchestral, chamber and choral work. She has written commissions for ensembles including the Los Angeles Master Chorale,  Seattle Symphony, Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and Kronos Quartet, and her music has featured on multiple Grammy-nominated albums, including The Singing Guitar by Conspirare, BRUITS by Imani Winds, and Healing Modes by Brooklyn Rider. Many of her choral works are published by Oxford University Press.

Esmail is the Los Angeles Master Chorale’s 2020-2025 Swan Family Artist in Residence, and was Seattle Symphony’s 2020-21 Composer-in-Residence. She also holds awards/fellowships from United States Artists, the S&R Foundation, the American Academy of Arts and Letters, and the Kennedy Center.

Esmail holds degrees in composition from The Juilliard School (BM’05) and the Yale School of Music (MM’11, MMA’14, DMA’18). Her primary teachers have included Susan Botti, Aaron Jay Kernis, Christopher Theofanidis, Christopher Rouse and Samuel Adler. She received a Fulbright-Nehru grant to study Hindustani music in India. Her Hindustani music teachers include Srimati Lakshmi Shankar and Gaurav Mazumdar, and she currently studies and collaborates with Saili Oak. Her doctoral thesis, entitled Finding Common Ground: Uniting Practices in Hindustani and Western Art Musicians explores the methods and challenges of the collaborative process between Hindustani musicians and Western composers.

Esmail was Composer-in-Residence for Street Symphony (2016-18) and is currently an Artistic Director of Shastra, a non-profit organization that promotes cross-cultural music connecting music traditions of India and the West.

Magdalena Delgado
Children’s Chorus Director

Choral conductor, singer and music educator from the Dominican Republic, Magdalena Delgado currently serves as the conductor of the Hyde Park Neighborhood Choir as well as school programs at the Chicago Children’s Choir. 

Prior to her move to Chicago, Magdalena served as Artistic Director of the children and youth choir, Voces del Mar, based in Veracruz, Mexico, and was the Founder and Artistic Director of Audimus, a professional chamber ensemble based in Xalapa, Mexico. While in Mexico, she also worked as an adjunct faculty member on the choral and voice faculties of Instituto Superior de Música Esperanza Azteca and the Centro de Estudios de Jazz of the Universidad Veracruzana (JazzUV), where she taught voice and voice techniques classes, courses in choral literature and conducted the preparatory vocal jazz ensemble. 

In 2014, Magdalena earned her Master of Music in Choral Conducting, with distinction, from Westminster Choir College where she studied with Drs. Joe Miller, James Jordan and Amanda Quist. During her master’s studies, she served as Assistant Conductor of the Westminster Chapel Choir, was an integral member of the Westminster Symphonic Choir and served as a section leader for the world-renown Westminster Choir. While at Westminster, she performed on tours throughout the U.S., and alongside some of the greatest orchestras in the world under the direction of conductors of the highest stature. 

Prior to her master’s studies, Magdalena studied vocal performance at the Conservatory of Music of Puerto Rico and has served as a guest conductor for choirs of all ages throughout the United States, Mexico, Puerto Rico and the Dominican Republic. Magdalena received her bachelor’s degree in music education from the Universidad Autónoma de Santo Domingo where she graduated magna cum laude. 

As a native of Santo Domingo, Magdalena began her musical study at age five where she studied piano, recorder and most importantly was a member of the children’s choir at her area music school, which served as her initial inspiration for her career path.

Sarah Wheeler
Collaborative Pianist

Sarah E. Wheeler enjoys collaborating in musical theater, vocal, choral, and instrumental music. She currently serves as a staff pianist at the Lawrence University Conservatory of Music, accompanies area choirs and theater, and freelances in the Fox Valley. She is also a certified pharmacy technician. 

Sarah has held staff positions at Boston Ballet School, Interlochen Arts Camp, and College Light Opera Company. While based in New York City, she worked with New York Opera Exchange, Village Light Opera Group, Adelphi University music department, and several Manhattan voice studios. She has worked as a pianist with regional theaters including Rocky Mountain Repertory Theatre and The Little Theatre On The Square. She has also performed in many student vocal and instrumental recitals at Lawrence and Boston Universities. 

Originally from Waterville, Maine, Sarah received her Master of Music in Collaborative Piano from Boston University in 2010. She received her Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance and Bachelor of Arts in Chemistry from Lawrence University in 2007. Sarah lives in Appleton with her husband, Aaron, and her dog, Lacey.