Music at Hamilton
Choral Ensembles
With three choirs open to all students regardless of your concentration, there is a place for everyone in our program. With musicians involved with every academic discipline on campus, our program is proud to champion the values of musical excellence, community, diversity, and multiculturalism.
Depending on local conditions and at the discretion of the instructor, masking and some social distancing may be required in department ensembles and lessons. See the Music Department's Covid-19 page for more information.
Current COVID-19 protocols for singing require that unvaccinated students and employees must be masked at all times. The College's current COVID-19 policy requires students and employees to be fully vaccinated, unless they have an approved religious or medical exemption, and to be up to date on booster shots for which they are eligible. For information about COVID-19 protocols for singing and choral ensembles that were followed during 2020-2021, see the COVID-19 page.
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.
Conductor: Charlotte Botha
Rehearse 3.5 hours per week (Monday and Wednesday 7-8:45pm)
Earn 0.25 credit per semester
Membership determined by audition
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 8:45-9pm)
Earn 0.25 credit per semester
Membership determined by audition
Director of Choral activities
Charlotte Botha is director of choral activities at Hamilton College. She received her DMA in Choral Conducting (Music Theory as related field) from the University of North Texas, where she served as conductor of the Women’s Chorus and assistant conductor of the University Singers over the past three years. More recently, Charlotte worked as assistant conductor of the Dallas Symphony Chorus. Since her tenure as conductor of the Drakensberg Boys Choir, Charlotte’s approach to rehearsal, performance and group vocal discovery has become permeated by the principles of Choregie and the choral artist’s role in the pursuit of social justice. Charlotte’s research interests include the study of choral text-painting and equitable practices for the inclusive programming of music by and for marginalized members of the music community.
Repertoire
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
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 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 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 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 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