Monmouth Civic Chorus
Joy. Commitment. Passion.
At Monmouth Civic Chorus, we sing together because choral music makes for a happier, healthier, more connected humankind. When the world feels fractured, we know how lucky we are to gather each week and chase the thrill of a room shimmering with overtones, hearts beating in sync.
We want nothing more than to share that power with you.
Close to perfect, close to home.
We are a community chorus in Monmouth County, New Jersey dedicated to artistic excellence. But our pursuit of a crisp cutoff or an aching phrase is only a means to an end. When you experience an MCC performance, it’s the joy, love, and pride we pour into our music-making that will leave you changed.
Critics have called MCC “close to perfect” and “among the very best in the entire Northeast” (Asbury Park Press). We engage soloists heard in major concert halls in New York and around the world. Hand-picked professional instrumentalists accompany the chorus and play orchestral works.
In addition to singing locally, Monmouth Civic Chorus has brought the finest in choral music to audiences around the world since 1949. Our most memorable performances include those at Carnegie Hall, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, St. Thomas Church on Fifth Avenue in New York City, St. Peter’s Basilica at the Vatican in Rome, and St. Stephen’s Cathedral in Vienna with members of the Vienna State Opera Orchestra.
Past performances
Here’s a list of our past performances beginning in the early 1990s. Read more on Wikipedia.
Artistic Director Kevin Vondrak
Monmouth Civic Chorus welcomes Kevin Vondrak as our new Artistic Director for the 2026-27 season.
Kevin brings to the position extensive experience as a conductor, collaborator, recording producer, and composer/arranger.
He is Associate Conductor of The Crossing, a Philadelphia-based professional chamber choir, where he has collaborated on dozens of world premieres with many of the world’s leading composers and orchestras at venues such as Carnegie Hall, Disney Hall, and Kimmel Center. As a recording producer with The Crossing, he has won two Grammy Awards for Best Choral Performance and co-produced the ensemble’s studio releases since 2020.
Community is an important aspect of Kevin’s work, and he has served on the board of the cooperative choir the Chestnut Street Singers, assistant music directed David Lang’s the mile-long opera for 1000 singers staged on The High Line in NYC, and for six years directed a choir of senior citizens at The Beaumont at Bryn Mawr in suburban Philadelphia. He is an experienced church musician, most recently serving as interim choirmaster at St. Mark’s Church on Locust Street in Philadelphia.
He is an award-winning pop a cappella music director, has arranged 100+ titles for high school, collegiate, and community ensembles across the globe, and has been commissioned to compose and arrange music for The Crossing, Northwestern University, Constellation Men’s Ensemble, and the Chestnut Street Singers.
Kevin comes to Monmouth Civic Chorus after finishing residence as a Doctorate of Musical Arts candidate in Choral Conducting at the Yale School of Music and Institute of Sacred Music, where he is assistant conductor of the Yale Glee Club and conductor of the Chamber Singers. He holds a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from Northwestern University’s Bienen School of Music and a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Washington University in St. Louis.
Past Artistic Directors
1949-1962 Founder, W. Gordon Pagdin
1962-1966 William R. Shoppell, Jr.
1966-1973 Felix Molzer
1973-1991 William R. Shoppell, Jr.
1992-2012 Dr. Mark Shapiro
2012-2026 Dr. Ryan James Brandau
Our Vision
The vision of Monmouth Civic Chorus is to be a community chorus of the highest standards of artistic excellence.
Our Mission
The mission of Monmouth Civic Chorus is to offer a diverse repertoire of choral music to the community in an environment that promotes individual and collective artistic growth and encourages mutual support and camaraderie.
Our Core Values
Our mission is guided by our commitment to the following beliefs:
- Excellence. We believe in the continuous improvement and artistic growth of each individual member and for the chorus as a whole.
- Participation. We encourage, we value and we recognize the involvement of volunteers who serve in any capacity to achieve the mission of the chorus.
- Inclusiveness. We value an environment that welcomes a diverse membership, that provides a sense of camaraderie for all who participate and fosters a long term commitment to the chorus.
- Financial Stability. We strive to maintain a financially viable organization with integrity and transparency in all operations.
- Community Engagement. We are committed to effective partnerships with other arts organizations and seek to promote choral music through partnerships in the public and private sectors.
- Innovation. We are committed to performing choral music of varied genres, from the classics to the contemporary, in order to attract a large and diverse audience.
Awards
- 2021 American Prize. MCC congratulates our Artistic Director Ryan Brandau, third-place winner of the 2021 American Prize for Choral Conducting, community chorus division.
- 2018-19 American Prize. MCC was a third-place winner of the 2018-19 American Prize Ernst Bacon Memorial Award for the Performance of American Music, community choral division. We received this award for our March 11, 2018 performance of John Corigliano’s Fern Hill at Our Lady Star of the Sea in Long Branch, with guest soloist Kate Maroney, mezzo-soprano.
- 2010 Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture. We are proud to be the 2010 winner of the Spinnaker Award for Arts and Culture from the Eastern Monmouth Area Chamber of Commerce.
- 2008 Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award. We are proud to be the 2008 winner of the Chorus America/ASCAP Alice Parker Award, given to only one chorus in North America each year.
Memberships
- Chorus America. Chorus America is the advocacy, research, and leadership development organization that advances the choral field.
- NJ Choral Consortium. The New Jersey Choral Consortium is an association created to help choral organizations in New Jersey develop and grow by sharing information, fostering cooperation and supporting choral arts education.
- Monmouth Arts. Monmouth Arts enriches the community by inspiring and fostering the arts.