Not only is it a start to a new school year for the Singing Hoosiers, but the group also has a new director this semester, Chris Albanese, who is also joining the Jacobs School of Music faculty as an assistant professor of music in choral conducting.
Albanese said he always knew about the great reputation of the Jacobs School of Music, but once he was on campus, he said he could feel how invested the Singing Hoosiers students were in the program.
“The group has a tremendous history, and the students have a good knowledge of that, and there’s so much pride in their work,” he said. “I could feel that, and I wanted to be a part of it.”
Before accepting the position as the director of the Singing Hoosiers, Albanese said he started a doctorate in choral conducting at the University of Cincinnati. After two years, he said he was contacted to join the all-male a cappella group Chanticleer, and he spent a year touring nationally and internationally with the ensemble.
Albanese said he heard about the opening for the positions at IU from one of his colleagues at the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati. He said he feels confident in his ability to work well with the Hoosiers, given the level of support he has received from both the students and faculty.
“The reputation of the Singing Hoosiers is so big, so something like that can be intimidating, but I feel really confident in the direction we’re going and in the direction that we will go,” he said.
Senior Ahona Mazumder, the student manager of the Singing Hoosiers, said the group has been in a transition period since the previous director, Dr. Steve Zegree, died in March 2015. She said the associate director, Ly Wilder, became the interim director for two years, but the group had been looking for a new director.
“It’s a big transition, and no matter who the director is, there’s a lot of change that comes with the ensemble,” she said. “We always call our new director the ‘era’ of the group.”
Mazumder said Albanese has a lot of exciting ideas for the Singing Hoosiers and he is open to upholding many traditions of the group while adding his own flair. Albanese said for the Singing Hoosiers’ fall program, they will be telling a story through music.
“The program I’ve put together this year kind of looks at American music as a product of many different influences and traces the journey of many different people to America,” Albanese said. “I think that will be different in terms of the programming and telling that kind of story. It’s something that I think the students are excited for, too.”
Albanese said his main role as director of the Singing Hoosiers will be to empower students to be their best selves academically, intellectually, artistically and creatively.
“For me it’s about finding the right balance between communicating a vision but not so much that I’m micromanaging the process,” he said. “I facilitate, and I, in many ways, hold the candle as they walk the path, but they have to walk the journey themselves.”
