Special Announcement
4/20/2022
The Master Chorale is sad to share that Brett Karlin will be stepping down as Artistic Director at the conclusion of our 2021-2022 season in June. Brett has been an integral part of our organization taking the artistic helm during our 40th Anniversary in 2018 and providing unwavering support and leadership through the challenges presented by the pandemic. Brett is like family to us and we will miss him dearly in the rehearsal hall and on the concert stage. We wish him the absolute best always.
"Brett has made a positive and lasting impact on our singers and our chorus. Brett helped us survive the pandemic, and leaves us in a strong position both artistically and financially. We will miss Brett's infectious enthusiasm, and offer our best wishes for all his future endeavors." - Tate Garrett, Chair, Master Chorale Board of Trustees
The Master Chorale's Board and staff will now undertake a search to identify and secure our next Artistic Director. Our primary goals will be to maintain our high standard of artistic excellence, and to continue to nurture our principal institutional relationships, as Artists in Residence at USF and as Principal Chorus of The Florida Orchestra.
"Working with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay has been one of the greatest joys of my professional life, and I will deeply miss making music with this remarkable group of singers. The Tampa Bay community is so fortunate to have this extraordinary musical organization, which will continue to present some of the most profoundly moving and important performances in the area for many more years to come." - Brett Karlin
Highlights of Brett Karlin's Artistic Director tenure with The Master Chorale include:
Masterworks:
MCTB Produced Concerts:
Education in the Community:
Pandemic Challenges & Successes:
Commissions:
The Master Chorale is sad to share that Brett Karlin will be stepping down as Artistic Director at the conclusion of our 2021-2022 season in June. Brett has been an integral part of our organization taking the artistic helm during our 40th Anniversary in 2018 and providing unwavering support and leadership through the challenges presented by the pandemic. Brett is like family to us and we will miss him dearly in the rehearsal hall and on the concert stage. We wish him the absolute best always.
"Brett has made a positive and lasting impact on our singers and our chorus. Brett helped us survive the pandemic, and leaves us in a strong position both artistically and financially. We will miss Brett's infectious enthusiasm, and offer our best wishes for all his future endeavors." - Tate Garrett, Chair, Master Chorale Board of Trustees
The Master Chorale's Board and staff will now undertake a search to identify and secure our next Artistic Director. Our primary goals will be to maintain our high standard of artistic excellence, and to continue to nurture our principal institutional relationships, as Artists in Residence at USF and as Principal Chorus of The Florida Orchestra.
"Working with The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay has been one of the greatest joys of my professional life, and I will deeply miss making music with this remarkable group of singers. The Tampa Bay community is so fortunate to have this extraordinary musical organization, which will continue to present some of the most profoundly moving and important performances in the area for many more years to come." - Brett Karlin
Highlights of Brett Karlin's Artistic Director tenure with The Master Chorale include:
Masterworks:
- Preparing The Master Chorale for 11 concert programs with The Florida Orchestra, including masterworks and other special concerts.
- Repertoire for the 33-plus concerts featured Handel's Messiah, Beethoven's Symphony No. 9, Tippett's A Child of Our Time, Gershwin's Porgy and Bess, Holst's The Planets, Ravel's Daphnis et Chloe, Mozart's Requiem, Bach's St. John Passion, and Haydn's The Creation.
MCTB Produced Concerts:
- 40th Anniversary Concerts: "Christmas with The Master Chorale" and "Awake and Sing"
- 40th Anniversary Performance Tour to NYC including performances at Carnegie Hall (Poulenc's Gloria) and the Cathedral of St. John the Divine
- Faure Requiem Mass
Education in the Community:
- Mentoring an Assistant Conductor graduate student through USF
- Presenting music education programs for elementary students locally and producing new supplemental digital music education videos for elementary, middle, and high school music programs available to schools state-wide.
Pandemic Challenges & Successes:
- Production of eight virtual choirs including the National Anthem for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers use at all 2020-21 season home games leading up to their Super Bowl win
- Hosted seven live "Measure by Measure" Concert Experiences, and two Virtual Concerts (Cocktails & Carols and American Voices)
Commissions:
- Launched a series of four commissions over the course of four years beginning with "This, Too, Shall Pass" by Sydney Guillaume, with three more in the works.
Brett Karlin - Biography
Leading performances praised as “intense, richly detailed…polished and well-crafted” (Miami Herald), “finely nuanced and expressive” (South Florida Classical Review), and “integrating choral and instrumental sonorities with clarity and impact” (Palm Beach Arts Paper), Brett Karlin is quickly establishing himself as a dynamic conductor of choral-orchestral masterworks. Having worked with a wide variety of ensembles, Karlin is a passionate performer of large-scale symphonic masterpieces, while equally at home with historically informed performances of distinctive Baroque repertoire.
As the artistic director of The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and The Master Chorale of South Florida, Karlin leads hundreds of singers through choral-orchestral masterworks and regularly prepares the choirs for self-produced and collaborative performances with other artists and ensembles, such as The Florida Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Andrea Bocelli to name a few.
In addition, Karlin guest conducts with many choral and orchestral ensembles, including The Symphonia, and has held the positions of Artistic Director for the Broward Symphony Orchestra, chorus master for Florida Grand Opera, and artistic director for Florida’s Singing Sons (an internationally renowned, award-winning youth choir).
In 2009, he became the assistant conductor for Seraphic Fire, where he assisted with the critically-acclaimed and 2012 Grammy-nominated CD, “A Seraphic Fire Christmas.” Karlin also served as assistant chorus master and singer for the Professional Choral Institute's recording of the London version of Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem, which received a 2012 Grammy nomination for "Best Choral Performance."
Karlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Voice from Florida State University and Master of Music from University of South Florida. An avid lover of music from the Baroque era and historically informed performance (HIP), Karlin can be found tuning harpsichords and listening to J.S. Bach when not working with ensembles.
As the artistic director of The Master Chorale of Tampa Bay and The Master Chorale of South Florida, Karlin leads hundreds of singers through choral-orchestral masterworks and regularly prepares the choirs for self-produced and collaborative performances with other artists and ensembles, such as The Florida Orchestra, The Cleveland Orchestra, and Andrea Bocelli to name a few.
In addition, Karlin guest conducts with many choral and orchestral ensembles, including The Symphonia, and has held the positions of Artistic Director for the Broward Symphony Orchestra, chorus master for Florida Grand Opera, and artistic director for Florida’s Singing Sons (an internationally renowned, award-winning youth choir).
In 2009, he became the assistant conductor for Seraphic Fire, where he assisted with the critically-acclaimed and 2012 Grammy-nominated CD, “A Seraphic Fire Christmas.” Karlin also served as assistant chorus master and singer for the Professional Choral Institute's recording of the London version of Brahms' Ein Deutches Requiem, which received a 2012 Grammy nomination for "Best Choral Performance."
Karlin holds a Bachelor of Arts in Voice from Florida State University and Master of Music from University of South Florida. An avid lover of music from the Baroque era and historically informed performance (HIP), Karlin can be found tuning harpsichords and listening to J.S. Bach when not working with ensembles.
