Performance Opportunities

Student Concerts and In-House Concerts
Students soloists are invited to perform in Student Concerts twice each term. Over 500 students participate in the private music lesson program, studying 26 instruments with 48 instructors.  Students prepare pieces for informal In-House concerts and the most complete and well-prepared performances are selected to perform in the public Student Concerts.  The programs reflect the wide range of styles, instruments and genres studies by students in the music department. 

Chamber Music
10-12 chamber music groups rehearse and perform works from the Baroque period to the 20th century. Ensembles ranging from trios to quintets study masterworks by composers such as Mozart, Beethoven, Brahms and Haydn. Chamber music ensembles perform each term as part of the Concert Series.

Chamber Orchestra
This ensemble draws on the most advanced instrumentalists to perform works which require smaller forces, particularly works of the early classical and Baroque periods, such as Mozart symphonies and Bach and Handel concerti grossi. The Chamber Orchestra also performs with the Glee Club in major choral works.

Symphony Orchestra
A full symphony orchestra performs several times throughout the year. Repertoire ranges through the symphonic literature from Schubert and Beethoven to Tchaikovsky and Shostakovich. Opportunities also exist for students of outstanding accomplishment to appear as soloists with the orchestra.

Symphonia
This small, intermediate-level string orchestra studies Baroque and classical repertoire and performs several times each year. Programs include works by Bach and Corelli, as well as favorites such as Pachelbel’s Canon and Handel’s Water Music.

Concert Choir
This ensemble of  students selected by audition sings a full spectrum of  choral music with a primary focus on a cappella literature. The choir tours regularly, has premiered several new works, and has released three compact disc recordings, including the world premiere recording of Robert Convery’s Songs of Children, a cantata in memory of all children who perished in the Holocaust. 

Glee Club
This mixed-voice choral ensemble of students, faculty, staff and Academy family members performs major works of choral literature, often with the Chamber Orchestra and soloists.  Recent works performed include Vivaldi Gloria, Orff Carmina Burana, and Faure Requiem.  The group is open to all members of the Exeter community interested in learning about choral singing.

Women's Chorus
This ensemble is a chamber choir open to all female students. The ensemble sings a variety of repertoire in many languages and performs several times throughout the year.

Concert Band
The Concert Band performs music from the entire range of wind ensemble literature, including marches, brass ensembles, classical arrangements, and contemporary music. Open to all woodwind, brass, and percussion players without audition, this group performs several times throughout the year.

Stage Band
This jazz ensemble studies classic, big band repertoire by Count Basie, Duke Ellington, and Woody Herman as well as by more recent composers and arrangers. It is open to students without audition and performs several times throughout the year.

Percussion Ensemble
Students in this ensemble perform on a variety of percussion instruments used in the 20th century literature, including the marimba, xylophone, vibraphone, orchestra bells, gong, timpani, snare and bass drums, and cymbals. The Percussion Ensemble performs independently, as well as with the Concert Band and Symphony Orchestra.

West African Drumming Ensemble
Group lessons are offered in West African drumming. Students learn basic playing techniques of the hand drumming traditions of West Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil and the African Diaspora. The Drumming Ensemble performs several times throughout the year, including collaborations with the Glee Club and the dance department.

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