CONSTELLATION CHOR* is a vocal performance ensemble comprising composers, singers, dancers and actors, and founded by music-theatre and interdisciplinary choral composer Marisa Michelson. 

The ensemble performs internationally and in New York City, and has expanded organically into the NYC new music community, making their Lincoln Center debut premiering Ashley Fure’s Filament with the New York Philharmonic and Jaap van Zweden in September 2018, and making their Kitchen debut premiering Sarah Hennies’ piece with Claire Chase in March 2019. Since 2016, Constellation Chor has been in residence at the historic Judson Memorial Church, engaging at the intersection of singing, movement, deep listening and music-theatre. They perform interdisciplinary pieces composed by Michelson, as well as collaborating with other composers, choreographers, directors, and mindfulness practitioners. They are currently also in residence at Spectrum in Brooklyn, where they perform monthly.

Currently, the Chor is performing monthly in esidency at Spectrum in NYC. 

Awards: 2019 Foundation for Contemporary Arts; 2018 inaugural Eric Salzman Award for New Music Theatre; 2017 Creative Engagement Award (Lower Manhattan Cultural Council).

Additional projects include: Michelson’s Desire|Divinity Project (Director Ethan Heard; Choreographer: Emma Jaster) developed with Heartbeat Opera, winner of the Salzman Award for Music-Theatre, and supported by the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council; improvised site-specific pieces with Women Between Arts, Crowded Outlet, Alchemical Theatre, Harpa Opera Center in Reykjavik, Iceland. 

Constellation Chor’s internationally and vocally diverse array of talent hails from Greece, Portugal, Hungary, Austria, Korea, and the US, and has been seen on stages from New York to Dubai and BAM to Broadway. Chor members include Marisa Michelson, Chad Goodridge, Nikko Benson, Jen Anaya, Tamrin Goldberg, Shawn Shafner, Kalliope Siamidou, Luisa Muhr, Sarah Beth Pfeifer and Heathcliff Saunders. Orbiting members include Chaesong Kim, Raphael Sacks, and Chanan Ben Simon.  

*Chor from the Latin Cor meaning: heart, soul, mind; and the Greek Khoros meaning: to dance in a circle, chor is also meant to evoke the core, the center and the essence. Chor is in “chorus” and “choreography.” The gestures and impulses we are working with might become voice or they might become movement.