Bruce Tammen wins Luther College Weston H. Noble Choral Award

Chicago Chorale Artistic Director Bruce Tammen was honored with the Weston H. Noble Choral Award, from his alma mater Luther College, over the school’s homecoming weekend in early October.  The Weston H. Noble Award has been given annually since 2004 to a Luther College alum for outstanding service in the field of vocal music education. The award is named after Weston Noble, a 1943 Luther College graduate, professor emeritus, and director of the Nordic Choir for 55 years. Professor Noble is recognized as one of the world’s outstanding choral conductors and music educators, and Luther College is home to one of the largest collegiate music programs in the world with seven choirs, three orchestras, three bands, four jazz groups and nearly 1,000 student musicians. Luther students perform in large ensembles, faculty-coached chamber groups, private lessons and master classes. More than 350 music majors study music theory, ear training, history, education, composition, church music and performance. At Luther, Tammen was a music education major and a voice student of David Greedy, and a member of Nordic Choir for three years.

After graduating magna cum laude from Luther, Tammen went on to receive a Master of Arts Degree in 1974 from the University of Chicago, specializing in English Language and Literature, and a Master of Music Degree in Vocal Performance and Pedagogy from Northwestern University in 1981. He has taught on the faculties and coached choirs at Luther College, University of Chicago, and University of Virginia.
After returning from Virginia, Bruce formed the Chicago Chorale in 2001, a community-based choral ensemble.  Four years later, in 2005, he founded Chicago Men’s A Cappella, a 45-voice ensemble that functions as the University of Chicago’s Glee Club. The Chicago Chorale is now recognized for its distinguished literature, and has assumed broad recognition for its choral excellence. The Chorale has appeared with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra at the Ravinia Festival twice and will return in the 2013 season.

The staff, board, and members of Chicago Chorale are proud that Bruce Tammen has been honored in this way, and wish him many more successful years of music making.