CLINICS & RESIDENCIES
Ensemble Altera offers immersive, high-level choral clinics and residencies for ensembles seeking artistic growth, refined technique, and a firsthand experience of professional choral artistry.
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These engagements are designed for college and university choirs, summer festivals and camps, advanced high school programs, community choirs, and church choirs, and can be customized to fit a wide range of schedules and goals, from a single intensive session to a multi-day residency.
Each clinic is tailored to the host ensemble. Examples of what a clinic can include are:​​​
Rehearsals led by Artistic Director Christopher Lowrey
Coaching on blend, tuning, ensemble precision, and musical style
Performance practice and interpretation (as appropriate to the repertoire)
A professional quartet of Ensemble Altera singers embedded within the rehearsal process
Side-by-side singing with participants to model sound, technique, and ensemble cohesion.​
A professional development session or Q&A, covering topics like:
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Preparing for collegiate study and conservatory programs
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Auditions, career paths, and professional ensemble singing
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Building vocal stamina, musical leadership, and artistic identity
POSSIBLE FORMATS
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CLINIC INTENSIVE (one day)
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A focused rehearsal and coaching session designed to create measurable results immediately.
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MULTI-DAY CLINIC or RESIDENCY (two to five days)
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A deeper dive into sound, technique, and repertoire, allowing for more sustained progress and refinement.
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CLINIC + COLLABORATIVE PERFORMANCE​
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Ensemble Altera singers join the host ensemble for a culminating performance, creating a powerful side-by-side experience.
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CLINIC + ENSEMBLE ALTERA CONCERT (optional add-on)​
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Some hosts pair a clinic with a performance by Ensemble Altera, offering participants a chance to experience the ensemble in full.
Clinics and residencies can be scheduled within driving distance of Providence, Rhode Island, or In conjunction with Ensemble Altera touring engagements throughout the United States. If you are a presenter or organization hoping to bring Ensemble Altera to your region, clinics can also be planned as part of a broader visit or concert engagement.
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Clinics and residencies are fee-based and created in collaboration with each host organization.
Sing Out
IN SCHOOLS!
Sing Out! In Schools is Ensemble Altera’s educational outreach program, bringing professional singers into schools for an engaging introduction to choral music and musical life. These visits are designed to be lively, accessible, and interactive, inviting students to connect with the human experience behind performance and to imagine what music-making can become in their own lives. Most recently, Altera has visited Westerly High School, North Smithfield High School, Goff Middle School in Pawtucket, Blackston Valley Prep Upper Elementary School, Nuestro Mundo Charter School in Providence, RI, Riverside Middle School in Riverside, RI, Tolman High School in Pawtucket, RI, and Nicholas Ferri Middle School and Johnston High School in Johnston, RI. The students were left with a new enthusiasm for choral music and were thrilled to join with us in song on a classic favorite, Danny Boy.
A Sing Out! visit typically includes:
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A performance by a small group of Ensemble Altera singers
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An introduction to voice types and choral singing
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A guided look at how choral music can change across time, style, and culture
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A candid, student-friendly Q&A about:
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What it means to be a professional musician
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How singers train
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College music programs and pathways into the field
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The real day-to-day life of performers
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This program can be adapted for elementary, middle, or high school audiences depending on the needs of the school.
Sing Out! visits are scheduled based on availability, travel logistics, and funding. When grant support is available, Ensemble Altera may be able to subsidize school visits, particularly for under-resourced schools. We also offer fee-based visits for schools, districts, and community partners seeking to schedule independently. If your school is interested in hosting Sing Out!, we would love to hear from you.
This activity is made possible in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly and a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
Music
A HEALING POWER
Ensemble Altera is proud to partner with Forefront Living, a continuing care facility in Dallas, Texas, to whom we provide our recordings of choral music as music therapy for residents. Altera's music is used to soothe hospice patients, rehabilitation patients, memory care patients, and the general residents of the facility. Most recently, Forefront used the recordings as part of their "Music and Movement" program at Camp Faith, where participants were asked to move and dance as each song played and answer meaningful questions regarding how it made them feel.
“I am so moved by the number of people, regardless of age, that Ensemble Altera has touched with their music.”
Jennefer Dixon, Music Therapist, Faith Presbyterian Hospice
Real TESTIMONIALS
“I have been a fan of choral music all my life. As a massage therapist working in hospice care, I’ve seen firsthand the potential for this genre to elevate, move, and soothe our patients. I have used the Choral Music by Ensemble Altera both as an accompaniment to gentle massage, and to provide connection with the human voice for our patients who are dying alone. While preferences are individual, selections with slow tempo, consistent volume, and simple arrangements appear to be the most calming, particularly for people in the later stages of the dying process. The Altera playlist has a number of selections that fit this description. I’m very grateful to have choral music as a tool in our repertoire of comfort care!”
- Cindy Spence, Massage Therapist, Faith Presbyterian Hospice