EIU Department of Music

EMC Choir Camp

The Choir Camp is open to students entering the 6th through 12th grades. This camp is designed to meet the needs of those students who are interested in singing choral music, providing an instructional and educational experience for both beginners and more advanced students in a collaborative, supportive and interactive environment. Students will perform a wide variety of choral compositions by significant composers from early classics to notable contemporary works.

Vocal Placement

While Choir Camp singers do not audition, they do have a vocal placement on registration day. Singers will be checked for vocal range, timbre, and sight-reading skills. No one should worry about the vocal placement. It is designed to make sure singers are placed on the choral part that is best for their vocal production. While singers are not expected to bring a solo, you may do so. If you desire to sing a solo please remember to bring the piano accompaniment along with you to the vocal placement.

Classes

Campers may choose from several workshops and clinics. 

• Jazz Appreciation

• Music Theory

• Music Technology

• World Music

• Performance skills

• a complete list can be found in the application

 Faculty

A native of Oyster Bay, Long Island, New York, Richard Robert Rossi grew up in Virginia Beach, VA, where he began to carry on a family tradition of making great music. Presently, he is Director of  Choral Activities at Eastern Illinois University where he directs the  Concert Choir, Camerata Singers, Oratorio Society and teaches both graduate and advanced undergraduate conducting and organ.

In addition to his extensive conducting schedule, Dr. Rossi continues to perform recitals as a concert pianist, accompanist and organist. In addition, he has had an extensive singing career as a countertenor. Solo performances include the Peri/Caccini opera L’Euridice, a historical performance, Handel’s Messiah, Bach’s Christmas Oratorio, Purcell’s Ode to St. Cecilia and Come Ye Sons of Art and Orff’s Carmina Burana. Richard has also appeared as a vocal and harpsichord soloist including appearances on WILL’s Second Sunday Concerts. Richard also sang professionally as the countertenor soloist at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Pittsburgh. He can also be heard as one of the soloists in the recording of Leonardo Balada’s Torquemada, nominated for a Pulitzer Prize recorded while attending Carnegie Mellon University.

Richard Rossi holds a DMA in Conducting from the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign, an MFA in both orchestral and choral conducting from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA, a BM in music education with a concentration in piano and organ from Saint Vincent College in Latrobe, PA, and a Master of Divinity from Saint Vincent Seminary. Over the years, Richard has studied with many renowned maestros including (in alphabetical order): Vance George, Juan Pablo Izquierdo, Dennis Keane, Don Moses, Robert Page, Donald Schleicher, Fred Stoltzfus, and Sandra Willetts.