W&M Choir

About the W&M Choir

The William & Mary Choir, under the direction of Daniel Parks, is an undergraduate ensemble of sixty-five members majoring in a wide array of disciplines. Their repertoire includes music from the Western European choral tradition as well as from choral traditions around the world. American music, particularly folk music of the southern United States, and new works commissioned especially for the W&M Choir are regular features of our programs.

Each year the Choir makes more than thirty appearances. It sings at most of the formal events of the College, including Convocation, Homecoming, Sunset Ceremony, Yule Log, Charter Day, and Commencement. Additional major events are the Winter and Spring Concerts at the end of each semester shared with the Barksdale Treble Chorus and the Botetourt Chamber Singers. Every third year the Choir performs a work from the choral/orchestral repertory. Past performances include Orff's Carmina Burana, J. S. Bach's Passio Secundum Joannem (St. John Passion) as well as Joseph Haydn's Die Schöpfung (The Creation) and Missa in Angustiis (Lord Nelson Mass) and Lars-Erik Larsson’s Förklädd Gud (A God Disguised).

The Choir undertakes an annual six-day regional Spring Tour in mid-March and also sings abroad every third year. Since 1999 the Choir has performed in Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Lithuania, Latvia, Italy, Austria, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Romania, Slovenia, Croatia, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Italy, Greece, Turkey and in 2017 traveled to South Africa. The Choir has performed twice for Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II—most recently in 2007—and was one of four choirs invited to perform in concert with the United States Marine Band at the 1997 Presidential Inaugural on the Capitol steps in Washington, D.C. The Choir has released five CDs since 1998.