THE MASTER CHORALE OF TAMPA BAY
Recognized as the premier choral ensemble in
Tampa Bay and praised by music critics from both
the Tampa Bay Times and The Tampa Tribune as
“one of the country’s finest choirs,” “an amazing
instrument,” and a “cultural treasure,” The Master
Chorale of Tampa Bay has consistently delivered
some of the most profoundly moving music
performances in the area. The Master Chorale is
an auditioned, highly select 150-voice volunteer
chorus embracing a broad representation of singers
from the entire Tampa Bay area. The Master Chorale
serves Tampa Bay and west central Florida with
a mission to advance the art of choral music by
performing great works of the past, commissioning
and performing new literature, and sharing the joy
and power of choral music with new and existing
audiences and singers.
With internationally distributed recordings
and important commissions from renowned
composers, the Master Chorale is consistently
advancing the choral art form. Since its founding by
Dr. Robert Summer in 1979, the Master Chorale has
produced at least one major choral-orchestral work
each year. These performances include J.S. Bach’s
Passion According to St. Matthew, Beethoven’s
Missa Solemnis, Felix Mendelssohn’s Elijah, and
Mahler’s Symphony No. 8, which was performed
with the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra and Chorus
and others under the direction of Robert Shaw. The
Master Chorale has regularly commissioned some
of the most important contemporary composers
including Eric Whitacre (Lux Aurumque), Paul Basler
(Missa Kenya), Alice Parker (The Rock and the River),
René Clausen (Jubilate Deo), and Jake Runestad
(We Can Mend the Sky), to name a few.
In addition to traditional concerts, the Master
Chorale performs a variety of outreach activities
throughout the Tampa Bay community. The Master
Chorale of Tampa Bay is designated as the principal
chorus of The Florida Orchestra and artist-inresidence
at the University of South Florida College
of the Arts School of Music.
THE FLORIDA OR CHESTRA | 2017-2018 55
DOREEN RAO
Visiting Artistic Director
Doreen Rao
is celebrated
internationally for
her moving concerts
and inspirational
teaching. Linking
the standards of
performance and the
goals of education
with the values of
diversity and social
r e s p o n s i b i l i t y ,
Rao’s seminal work
teaching children to sing inspired a generation of
conductors and teachers to lead young choirs in
schools and communities around the world.
Rao is committed to global-style programming,
intergenerational performance projects, and
innovative collaborations. She founded The Rao
Center for Choral and Contemplative Arts to mentor
emerging conductors, singers and music educators
in the practice of mindfulness-based conducting and
choral teaching. Rao holds the University of Toronto
Elmer Iseler Chair in Conducting Emeritus, and during
her tenure as director of choral programs, she founded
Toronto’s International Bach Festival with Bach
conductor-scholar Helmuth Rilling. She led the Faculty
of Music’s graduate program in choral conducting with
Canada’s Elmer Iseler Singers as University Artists-in-
Residence. Her award-winning MacMillan Singers
and Bach Festival Singers performed and broadcast
regularly with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra under
the direction of Maestros Rilling, Peter Oundjian,
Gianandrea Noseda, and Bernard Labadie.
During Rao’s association with the Chicago Symphony
Chorus and Orchestra, she prepared the Glen Ellyn
Children’s Chorus for concerts and four Grammy
Award-winning recordings. She also served as
assistant conductor to Margaret Hillis, preparing the
Symphony Chorus for Sir Georg Solti, Claudio Abbado,
James Levine, and the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.
Rao is the founder-director of CME Institute for Choral
Teacher Education and editor and choral advisor
to music publisher Boosey & Hawkes. She received
her degrees from the University of Illinois, where her
teachers were Harold Decker and Colleen Kirk, and
Northwestern University, where she was mentored by
Margaret Hillis and Robert Shaw.