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The St. Stephen's Episcopal School Madrigal Singers is a select chamber group of 12-18 Upper School students. They perform a variety of repertoire including: Baroque, Classical, Contemporary, Broadway, Jazz/Pop and World Cultural music. The Madrigals perform in numerous annual concerts including December's Lessons and Carols services, seasonal concerts, arts festivals, Modern Voices pop show and Baccalaureate ceremonies.
The Madrigal Singers are a touring ensemble that have performed extensively around the world in famous chapels, cathedrals and concert halls in the United Kingdom, Puerto Rico, Canada, China, The Netherlands, Germany, Hungary, Austria, Poland, Ireland, Carnegie Hall and other various U.S. cities. In 2019, they were a "featured choir" at Carnegie Hall where they performed the world-premiere a new work by Sam Lipman that was commissioned by the Amatius Foundation and included text from WWII Holocaust survivor and memoirist, Zenon Neumark.
SSES welcomed Kendra Welton-Lipman as the Director of Choral Music in 2013. Prior to SSES she taught for 10 years at West Ridge Middle School in the Eanes District and most recently at Westwood High School in the Round Rock ISD, both in Austin, Texas. While at West Ridge she was named "Teacher of the Year" and was twice invited to showcase her girls' choir at the Texas Music Educators Association Conference, a great honor for any choral group in the state; her choirs have consistently won top honors at state and national competitions. Welton-Lipman has done graduate work and conducted research at UT in speech-language pathology in an effort to better understand the science of voice training. Most recently, she serves as an alto singer and section leader for Grammy-winning Conspirare Symphonic Choir since 2005. Welton-Lipman is a frequently sought-after guest clinician and has performed and/or conducted at world renown performing facilities such as Carnegie Hall, NYC, St. Patrick's and Christ Church cathedrals in Ireland, St. Peter's Church in Vienna, St. Thomas Cathedral in London, and the Sydney Opera House in Australia. She is an active member of the American Choral Directors Association, Texas Music Adjudicators Association, and Texas Choral Directors Association.
To book the Madrigals for your holiday reception or company event please contact SSES Director of Choral Music, Kendra Lipman at klipman@sstx.org or 512-327-1213. Donations towards our annual performance tour are always welcome and greatly appreciated.
Audition Information
Below are pdfs including audition information, guidelines, and practice sight-reading examples. Incoming new students interested in auditioning should contact Ms. Lipman at klipman@sstx.org
Criteria for admission into Madrigals:
Auditions are open to any 9th-12th grade student at St. Stephen's with previous singing experience. While the Madrigals are comprised of mostly upperclassmen, there is the occasion of admitting 9th and 10th graders who show exceptional abilities.
Madrigals selected are evaluated on: vocal abilities (maturity of tone, breath control, flexibility of range, musicality/phrase shaping, agility, diction and harmonization skills), sight-reading skills (have the ability to accurately read simple melodies on the spot and quickly learn advanced music in rehearsals), citizenship (strong work ethic, positive attitude, and collaborates well with others), and dependability (minimal absences from choir and other academic classes, passing all classes, regularly on time to rehearsals, and prepared with necessary materials at all rehearsals).
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