Chris Munce is an accomplished choral performer, conductor, educator, clinician and arts administrator. As a performer/conductor he is a member of Kantorei KC, as well as its founder and Artistic Director. Under Mr. Munce’s direction, Kantorei has recorded and published three albums, and has been an invited featured performer at National and State ACDA conventions as well as the National American Guild of Organists convention. At Lee’s Summit High, Mr. Munce has lead his choirs to performances at the Piccolo Spoleto Festival in Charleston, SC, the Missouri Music Educators Convention, Alice Tulley Hall at Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall and on aMasterclass with the multiple Grammy Award winning vocal group Chanticleer. Most recently, his school district awarded him with its “Excellence in Teaching” award for 2019.
Media reviews of his directed recordings with Kantorei KC include praise from the KC Star for “Music and Sweet Poetry” for its “lush and full bodied sound…gorgeous singing.” The Observer (London) called “To Bethlehem” one of the best Choral albums of the year and “the most interesting festive album.” He has also performed with the Simon Carrington Chamber Singers, and the Grammy Winning Kansas City Chorale. Chris was fortunate to be a part of the Chorale’s Grammy Nominated album, “Rheinberger: Sacred Choral Works.”
Chris received a Bachelor’s of Music Education and a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from the UMKC Conservatory of Music and Dance. His graduate research focus was the performance practice of early Baroque choral singing in the French and Italian styles. Chris has studied with Eph Eely, Charles Robinson, Ryan Board, William Dehning, Peter Bagley and Jerry McCoy. He also served as adjunct faculty at the Conservatory teaching choral arranging, and at Blue River Community College as a professor of voice.
He has been an active private voice instructor since 1999. Last year Chris launched the Choralosophy Podcast which has quickly become a top rated Fine Arts Podcast reaching the top 25 on the iTunes charts in the US. Chris is married to Beth, a soprano and voice teacher. They live in Lee’s Summit, Missouri with their two children, Clara (14) and Colin (10).
Hello Chris–I’ve written a short book about practicing choral music outside of regular rehearsals, and at the end I include a quotation from the podcast episode you did with Anthony Silvestri. If you would like a free e-book version of it, drop me an e-mail at debisimons@gmail.com and I’ll send you the links.