City Bar Chorus Membership & Auditions

Call for baritones, basses and high sopranos! Are you a legal professional who’s looking for a fresh way to connect with your musical interests and like-minded legal eagles while giving back meaningfully to our community?

Then don’t throw away your shot! The 80+ voice New York City Bar Chorus, now embarking on its 25th season, will conduct a limited number of auditions (brief, private and low-pressure), with primary focus on baritones, basses and high sopranos, for our fall 2017 cycle. We rehearse about three Tuesday evenings per month, from 7:00 to 8:30 p.m., in midtown Manhattan to produce what listeners describe as a professional-quality sound, spanning musical theater, jazz, pop/rock, gospel and classical styles. For example, this fall’s repertoire will include sophisticated arrangements of Tony- and Oscar-winning music from Hamilton, Dear Evan Hansen, The Wiz and La La Land.

The City Bar Chorus changes the public’s perception of legal professionals “For Good,” with audience members often amazed by the end of our shows that we have “day jobs” in the law rather than in music. We have performed for residents of The Salvation Army’s Adult Rehab Center, cancer patients and their caregivers at the American Cancer Society’s Hope Lodge NYC, seniors at SAGE (Service and Advocacy for LGBT Elders), and the visually impaired at Selis Manor. For variety, our singing adventures have also included two appearances in the acclaimed 2015 New York Theatre Workshop production of The Events, as well as collaborations with other choirs (including an exchange with the Chicago Bar Association Chorus) and performances at two American Bar Association Annual Meetings.

We provide a forum for legal professionals to meet and sing together in a warm, fun and supportive environment offering many social and business networking opportunities. Prior choral or a cappella experience is preferred but not mandatory. Music-reading or sight-reading ability is helpful but not required if you have a “good ear” and a voice that blends well in a group, along with dedication to our outreach mission. You also don’t have to be a salesperson — unlike other choruses, we don’t require members to sell tickets, and annual dues are modest. Come help us celebrate our 25th year of spreading musical joy!

If you practice or study law, or otherwise work in a law firm, in-house corporate or government law department, court, law school, legal non-profit or any other legal setting, whether as a lawyer or non-lawyer, and would like to join us, please fill out our easy pre-audition survey here.Please visit the City Bar Chorus on Facebook at www.facebook.com/citybarchorus and on Twitter at www.twitter.com/nycbarchorus.