Showcase Concert: SJSU Choraliers
Clinician(s): Dr. Jeffrey Benson
The San José State University Choraliers have been considered one of America’s preeminent chamber choirs for the past 40 years. Currently under the direction of Dr. Jeffrey Benson, the SJSU Choraliers have most recently performed with the Irish Chamber Orchestra, The Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Dionne Warwick, Andrea Bocelli, the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra and the Skywalker Orchestra. In the heart of Silicon Valley, the SJSU Choraliers give four major concerts a year in addition to their annual tours throughout the state of California. The ensemble plans a biennial tour internationally, with recent tours to Spain, Portugal, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Ireland, France, and England. Under the direction of Dr. Charlene Archibeque, the SJSU Choraliers achieved fame in Europe by winning the prestigious “Choir of the World” title at the 1991 International Musical Eisteddfod in Llangollen, Wales. The SJSU Choraliers have performed for over twenty state, regional, divisional and national conferences of ACDA and NAfME. The choir has produced ten critically acclaimed recordings including their most recent, A Choraliers Christmas.
During their seventeen international concert tours, the Choraliers have won first prizes in six of Europe’s most prestigious competitions, including Spittal, Austria; Den Haag, Holland; Tallin, Estonia; Miedzyzdroje, Poland; and six trophies at the Gorizia, Italy International Choral Festival. The Choraliers performance at the International Choral Symposium in Choral Music in Rotterdam, Holland in 1999 received wide acclaim for its distinctive timbre and programmatic diversity. In 2001, the Choraliers were one of only ten choirs selected to participate in the Marktoberdorf, Bavaria International Chamber Choir Competition. In 2003, the Choraliers returned to the Spittal Competition where they took second place in the folk division.
Jeffrey Benson is currently the Charlene Archibeque Endowed Professor of Choral Music and Director of Choral Activities at San José State University. He also serves as Artistic Director of Peninsula Cantare, a community chorus based in Palo Alto, CA. The Washington Post hails his choirs for singing “with an exquisite blend, subtlety of phrasing, confident musicianship and fully supported tone.”
Dr. Benson made his international conducting debut with the Irish Chamber Orchestra and the SJSU Choraliers in Limerick, Ireland in 2016, and he made his Carnegie Hall conducting debut ten years ago. He has served as cover conductor for the Grammy award-winning Washington Chorus, where he helped to prepare the ensemble for Maestros Leonard Slatkin and Marvin Hamlisch.
This season, Benson returns to Carnegie Hall to conduct Elaine Hagenberg’s Illuminare and Mozart’s Requiem with orchestra and chorus, and he recently conducted Craig Hella Johnson’s Considering Matthew Shepard at the Washington National Cathedral with Berkshire Choral International. In the past few years, Dr. Benson’s choirs have been invited to perform with the Rolling Stones, Josh Groban, Andrea Bocelli, Sarah Brightman, the Los Angeles Festival Orchestra and the Skywalker Orchestra.
Dr. Benson is a published composer and arranger, and is the editor of the Jeffrey Benson Choral Series with both Santa Barbara Music Publishing and Gentry Publications. His own compositions are published with Colla Voce Music and Santa Barbara Music Publishing, under the Charlene Archibeque Choral Series.
Benson is Past President of the California Choral Directors Association (CCDA) and currently serves on the National Advocacy and Collaboration Committee for the American Choral Directors Association (ACDA). He received his Master’s degree and his Doctorate in Choral Conducting/Music Education from The Florida State University and his Bachelor’s degree in Music Education from New York University.
SJSU CHORALIERS
Dr. Jeffrey Benson, conductor
Emily Hsu, piano
Sian Wittke, asst. conductor
Sopranos
Samantha Arrellano-Kosmosky
Fatima Blowe
Kailey Daugherty
Gracie Gutierrez*
Sam Michael
Willa Navarro
Sophia Elena Noguera
Emily Stephens
Analysia Yee
Altos
Aro Cherry
Eve Iacovelli Barajas
Jahzara Jones
Megan Kelley*
Cam Seres
Danielle Villa
Mia Weinberger
Sian Wittke
Tenors
Ethan Alfonso
Ricardo Cobian
Theodore Fox
Frank Grenard
Alex Hurley
Jordan Martinez*
Matthias Rowe
Luis Tuyub
Ivan Vielma
Bass
Christopher Abadia
Frankie Castro
Gabriel Frank
Mark Gomez
Morgan Healey
Nicholas Manning
Nate Peters
Thien-An Truong*
Jordan Walker
Nathan Zavaleta
*denotes section leaders”
Session Handouts