Composers don't exist in a vacuum; they are continually influenced by their predecessors and peers, their culture and society. Here, we look at some of the influences (and influencers) reflected in Verdi's Requiem.

What is our responsibility as singers and as choruses when historic choral works are offensive, even hostile, to a whole group of people? Tom Hall, music director of the Baltimore Choral Arts Society, discusses Bach's St. Matthew Passion and St. John Passion.

Much in the same way you might stop and get to know your neighbors during a snowstorm, a difficult piece can draw singers together in solidarity amdist the flurry of notes.

Performances of Verdi's Requiem by Jewish prisoners at the Terezín concentration camp inspire a present-day concert drama that explores the profround relationship between music and its performers.

Choral conductor Tom Hall pulls back the veil on several well-loved choral works in this interview.

Cellists hang out with the other cellists, singers hang out with other singers, but conductors—who do they hang out with? Stephen Czarkowski and 31 other conductors hung out together for four days in May 2006 to share with each other, explore some of the great works in the choral-orchestral repertoire, and learn from some of the nation's finest choral conductors.

Vance George, former director of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, reflects on a lifetime of musicmaking.

Thanks to a residency program, one composer spends time with three high school choirs, creating new music, new singers, and audiences for the future.

We have created an elitist culture around classical music, about clothes and small talk and polite applause, and then we wonder why those who "don't have tuxedos" don't come to our concerts. Should we be working to change this? How can we do it?

Chorus America's Conducting Masterclasses give conductors valuable podium time. Offered in 2004, this was the first workshop of its kind to specifically invite conductors of children's choruses to advance their professional training by working with the Chicago Children's Choir and orchestra.