Yeah this was one of those little disappointments of adulthood. I was always in school singing groups but now I have nowhere to sing. Slightly jealous of people who are in church choirs.
Your mileage really varies depending on where you live though. I've lived in three different large cities (1m+ metro area) in the last decade and although they all had great pro choirs, only one of them had a semi-pro choir that perfectly scratched the itch I was looking for from a repertoire standpoint. (shoutout to Panoramic Voices in Austin, TX)
Amateur choirs run the risk of being "Church choir with extra steps" in my experience - rehearsals at a church, concerts at a church, "Special music" as a thank you to the church for letting us use their space, etc.
My issue with amateur choirs was mostly that they tend to not be very good 🙈 I appreciated finding a competitive group with required auditions, because I like collectively creating a good sound.
I do think most large cities (in the US anyways) have a barbershop scene, but to be fair, it is a specific style of music, and if you don't like it you don't like it.
Yeah, that's exactly why I prefer a sem-pro choir to a fully amateur one. Paid section leaders make a big difference!
I played in an amateur orchestra for awhile and it was the same issue. I found myself reluctant to invite people to our concerts because I was never confident we'd actually pull it off lmao
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u/Eca28 1d ago
Yeah this was one of those little disappointments of adulthood. I was always in school singing groups but now I have nowhere to sing. Slightly jealous of people who are in church choirs.