Chapter News

June 30, 2010

The West Towns Chorus is very pleased to announce the appointment of Bruce Hall as its new Music Director.

Bruce Hall is a conductor, singer, and teacher with international credits and accomplishments. He is currently a member of the Northwestern University music faculty.

As a conductor, he has served as Director of Choirs at Virginia Tech, where among other ensembles, he conducted the men’s glee club, touring with them nationally and in Europe, and as Director of the Auburn University Opera program. Additionally, he has conducted choirs at Northwestern University and founded Voices of the Academy, a choral program for high school aged singers, which placed 3rd in the 2007 International Musical Eisteddfod Chamber Choirs division in Llangollen, Wales.

As a singer, Bruce Hall has sung a variety of genres all over the world, most notably in opera. He has performed with some of the best companies in Europe and America, including the Lyric Opera of Chicago, Grant Park Symphony, and recently with the Chicago Sinfonietta at Orchestra Hall as soloist in Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony.

He co-produced the world premier opera production, “Under the Arbor,” which was broadcast hundreds of times on Public Broadcast television. His background in Barbershop goes back to his school days when he performed with several groups, even forming his own quartet, “The Jacks,” which performed extensively in Michigan.

As a teacher of singing, Bruce Hall has produced some of the best new singers in opera. His students can be found singing in the largest opera companies and music theater companies in the world, and they have won international singing competitions including the Metropolitan Opera auditions. Many other students have gone on to become very successful choral conductor-educators.

While at Northwestern University he has also taught courses in opera, opera production, conducting, chamber music, and foreign diction. He is a member of Who’s Who in America and Who’s Who in American Business and is a member of Mu Phi Epsilon and Pi Kappa Lambda music fraternities.

Our search team is proud and humbled by the response to our request to the singing community for applications to direct our storied chorus. We had excellent candidates and feel blessed that we had so many fine choices. We are excited that our chosen director is a man of such wonderful humor, experience and enthusiasm. We very much look forward to sharing our renewed singing with our barbershop friends and with our community at large.

The West Towns Chorus is a Barbershop Harmony Society member organization which has existed for over 60 years. Based in Downers Grove, Illinois, the chorus is a frequent competitor on the International Contest stage, a former Gold Medal-winning chorus, and a favorite of audiences in the western suburbs of Chicago, Illinois. The chorus is renowned for its annual Christmas Show, which gathers an enthusiastic audience of thousands of fans. Its web site is www.westtowns.org, where information about singing with the chorus, upcoming shows and other chorus information can be found.