Music at Hamilton
Choral Ensembles
The Hamilton choral program welcomes singers from all concentrations and vocal backgrounds, and builds on a long-standing tradition of music excellence, community, and life-long friendships.
The flagship ensemble, Hamilton College Choir, studies and performs music across a broad range of styles, periods, and cultures, and often represents the College on campus, or off-campus both domestically and internationally. Hamilton Voices meets only in the spring, and presents an annual multimedia choral theater production. The College Choir, and Hamilton Voices are made up entirely of student singers. The program also welcomes other members when its community choir is in session.
College Choir
The Hamilton College Choir serves the Hamilton community through repertoire that embraces tradition, inclusion, and innovation. In addition to regular performances on campus and in neighboring communities, the 50-voice choir tours annually during the spring recess; recent tours have ranged as far as Chicago, Boston, Montreal, and Asheville. The choir also tours internationally every four years. The next tour will be to Ireland and Scotland will take place in Spring 2025.
Conductor: Charlotte Botha
Rehearse Monday and Wednesday (7-8:45pm in the Fall and 7-9pm in the Spring)
Earn 0.25 credit per semester
Membership determined by audition
Apply for an audition here
Hamilton Voices
Hamilton Voices is a flexible vocal ensemble that studies and performs a selection of music based on a specific time period, vocal technique, theme, or style. The group seeks to respond to, create awareness of, or engage with current issues through interdisciplinary artistic expression.
Conductor: Charlotte Botha
Rehearse 1.5 hours per week (Monday and Wednesday 8:45-9:30pm in the Spring only)
Earn 0.25 credit per semester
Membership determined by audition
Director of Choral activities
Charlotte Botha serves as Director of Choral Activities and Assistant Professor of Music at Hamilton College, where she conducts the Hamilton Voices and the College Choir, and teaches courses in music theory and cultural musicology.
Her research interests include foreign-language choral diction, multimedia choral performance, and equitable practices for including the music of and by marginalized communities in choral programs. Her recent guest conducting invitations include the Twin Ports Choral Project (MN), the University of Johannesburg, Ball State University (IN), and All-State choirs in Alabama, Missouri, and Texas. Her Choral Ubuntu and Nguni diction research was recently featured at the NY-ACDA, Westminster Choir College, and Chorus America conferences. She holds a DMA from The University of North Texas, an MMus from Nelson Mandela University, and a BMus from the University of Pretoria. An ardent collaborator, she believes in the power of music to deepen understanding and respect between people.
Repertoire
Spring 2024
College Choir
(Visiting conductor Victoria Nieto)
In addition to a selection of repertoire from fall 2023
- I’ll Be Seeing You — arr. Phil Mattson
- I’ll Be On My Way — Shawn Kirchner
- I’m Building Me A Home — arr. Anthony Trecek-King
- Serenade to Music — Ralph Vaughan Williams
- Magnificat, RV 610 — Antonio Vivaldi
Fall 2023
College Choir
(Visiting Conductor Victoria Nieto)
- Doxa Patri — Alberto Grau
- To The Mothers in Brazil: Salve Regina — arr. Gunnar Eriksson
- Imaginary Creatures — Andrea Ramsey
- The Rose — Ola Gjeilo
- “Unclouded Day” from Heavenly Home: Three American Songs — Shawn Kirchner
- Tchaka — Sydney Guillaume
- Niño Dios d’amor herido — Francisco Guerrero
- Domine, ad adjuvandum me festina — Giovanni Battista Martini
Hamilton Voices
- Canto de las lavanderas — Traditional Venezuelan
- Bring me a little water, Silvy — arr. Moira Smiley
- Be like the bird — Abbie Betinis
- One note samba — arr. Roger Emerson
- What happens when a woman takes power? — Alexandra Olsavsky
- Where the light begins — Susan LaBarr
Spring 2023
College Choir
Bring Joy to the Dawn
in addition to a selection of repertoire from fall 2022,
- Here — Joshua Rist
- Messe Solennelle in C-sharp minor, Op. 16 — Louis Vierne
- Seek Him that Maketh the Seven Stars — Jonathan Dove
- Alleluia — Elaine Hagenberg
- Akekho ofana noJesu — arr. Charlotte Botha
Additional repertoire
- Simple Gifts arr. Ryan Murphy
Fall 2022
College Choir
SONGS OF LOVE: A CHORAL MIXTAPE FOR THE HEART
- Muié Rendêra — arr. Carlos Alberto Pinto Fonseca
- Halcyon Days — Melissa Dunphy
- "Dieu! Qu’il la fait bon regarder!" from Trois Chansons de Charles d’Orléans, L 99, no. 1 — Claude Debussy
- Amor de mi alma — Z. Randall Stroope
- Why I Do Not Weep — Christopher H. Harris
- Ndandihleli — arr. Charlotte Botha
- “Ubi caritas” from Quatre Motets sur des thèmes grégoriens, op. 10, no. 1 — Maurice Duruflé
- "I Love my Love" from Six Choral Folksongs, op. 5 — Gustav Holst
- Fair Phyllis I Saw Sitting All Alone — John Farmer
- Mitä Kaikatat Kivonen — Mia Makaroff
Hamilton Voices
HEAVENLY BODIES: MUSIC OF MYSTICS, MUSES, AND GODS
- “Hymn to the Waters” from Choral Hymns from the Rig Veda: Third Group, no. 2 — Gustav Holst
- "Grausam erweiset sich Amor" from 13 Kanons für Frauenstimmen, Op. 113, no. 2 — Johannes Brahms
- “Le Tre Grazie Venere”, from Il primo libro de madrigali, 2–5vv — Barbara Strozzi
- Uyinkosi yamakhosi — arr. Zamile Mzizi
- A Prayer for Peace — Paula Foley Tillen
- Antiphon for Divine Wisdom, R 466rb “O Virtus Sapientie” — Hildegard von Bingen
- I Himmelen — Karin Rehnqvist
Spring 2022
College Choir
American Soundscapes
in addition to a selection of repertoire from fall 2021,
- “Her Beacon Hand” from To the Hands — Caroline Shaw
- When Jesus Wept — William Billings
- Aloha 'Oe — Queen Liliuokalani arr. C. Botha
- TaReKiTa — Reena Esmail
- “Over Hill, Over Dale” Op. 39, no. 1 from 3 Shakespeare choruses — Amy Beach
- Hands — Jocelyn Hagen
- Water Fountain —Merrill Garbus arr. Kristopher Fulton
Fall 2021
College Choir
CLOSERTOGETHER
- Bonk'abaphandle — arr. Mbuso Ndlovu & Michael Barrett
- Ambe — Cory Campbell, arr. Andrew Balfour
- Wer will mir wehren — Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel
- Lift Every Voice and Sing — J. Rosamund Johnson
- "Together at Last" from Quarantine Madrigals — Reena Esmail
- Bogoroditse Devo — Sergei Rachmaninoff
- I'm Gonna Sing 'til the Spirit Moves in My Heart — arr. Moses Hogan
- Earth Song — Frank Ticheli
- In Meeting We are Blessed — Troy Robertson
- Light of a Clear Blue Morning — Dolly Parton, arr. Craig Hella-Johnson
- Kaikki maat te riemuitkaatte — Mia Makaroff
Hamilton Voices
Forgotten Voices — Katie Kring
Spring 2021
College Choir
Their Kingdom, the Air
- Winter Wind - Brandon Williams
- O Virtus Sapientiae - Hildegard
- Arise, Beloved! - Rosephanye Powell
- Music Down in My Soul - Moses Hogan
- Be like the Bird - Abbie Betinis
- Air - Katerina Gimon
- Il Est Bel Et Bon - Pierre Passereau
- Tuba - arr. Michael Barrett
- Die Nachtigall - Felix Mendelssohn
- Luk luk lumbu - Budi Susanto Yohannes
- Musica animam tangens - Joshua Shank
Hamilton Voices
Feeling / Floating / Flying
- Ave Generosa - Hildegard / Ola Gjeilo
- Three Shakespeare Choruses: Come Into These Yellow Sands - Amy Beach
- A Day with Mae - RaShonda Reeves
Fall 2020
Hamilton Voices
Non-idiomatic choral music by Black composers
- Umoja - Zanaida S. Robles
- We Shall Walk Through the Valley - arr. Undine S. Moore
- Why I do not Weep - Christopher H. Harris
- Ella's Song - Bernice Johnson Reagon
- Incipient Sonority - Mason Bynes
Additional repertoire
- Peze Kafé - arr. Sten Källman
- TWENTY / TWENTY - Scott Ordway