Conducting Institute

Elevate your conducting artistry with transformative guidance and real-world experience from one of the most successful and influential choral conductors.

Expert-Led Immersive Workshops

Since its founding in 2014, Dr. Rosenbaum’s institute offers choral conductors—educators, church musicians, and early-career artists alike—a hands-on learning experience under the guidance of a world-renowned maestro.

The Choral Conducting Institute consists of:

  1. One-day live choral conducting workshops
  2. Monthly workshops on zoom, dedicated to score study of selected choral works.
  3. Private conducting lessons live and by zoom

Why Choose This Institute?

  • Learn from a multi award-winning conductor who has led over 1,900 concerts globally.
  • Benefit from his physical conducting technique mastered over a successful 50+ year career.
  • Gain insights into expressive leadership, effective rehearsal strategies, and deep interpretive understanding.

View his instructional video below.

and watch and listen to approximately 150 performances with his choirs on YouTube

Section 1 – Full Day In-Person Choral Conducting Workshop

The next one-day Choral Conducting Workshop is on Saturday, October 17, 2026 from 10-12:30 and 1:30-4 at Kaufman Music Center, 129 W. 67th Street, NYC, room 520.

Who Should Attend:

  • Conductors of all ages and experience levels
  • Church music directors
  • Music educators
  • Anyone pondering or already forging a career in conducting

Workshop Format:

  • Physical conducting technique
  • Running rehearsals from the keyboard
  • Vocal expression, choral articulation (staccatos, tenutos, crescendos, grace notes, glissandos)
  • Working with soloists
  • Score interpretation
  • Effective ensemble placements
  • Plus practical insights: rehearsal planning, audition prep & more

Afternoon session: Each active participant will have a chance to conduct “the choir,” consisting of all present, plus singers brought in. Harold will offer comments and suggestions to each conductor.

Tuition & Certification:

Workshop Repertoire: Please print and bring one copy of each.

Section 2 – 2 hr. Choral Score Study Workshops on Zoom

What the Choral Score Study Workshops are all about:

It all starts with studying the scores. A conductor must make decisions in almost every measure, and anticipate the challenges singers will have, whether they are aware of them or not. Then the conductor must find solutions to every one of them. Teaching general concepts (and there are MANY of them) to singers will expand their thinking and open up new ideas which will delight audiences and lead to more expressive and beautiful performances.

Below is the schedule of workshops followed by the repertoire for each:

Saturday, September 26, 2026 from 10 am-noon EST.
Gibbons: This is the Record of John
Haydn: Creation
Brahms: Sechs Lieder und Romanzen

Saturday, Oct. 31, 2026 from 10 am-noon EST:
J.S. Bach: Singet dem Herrn ein neues Lied
Mendelssohn: Elijah

Saturday, Nov. 21, 2026 from 10 am-noon EST:
J.S. Bach: Cantata #140: Wachet Auf
Vivaldi: Gloria

Monday, Dec. 28, 2026 from 10 am-noon EST:
Tallis: If Ye Love Me
J.S. Bach: St. Matthew Passion

Saturday, January 30, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
J. S. Bach: Cantata #4: Christ Lag in Todesbanden
Brahms: Requiem

Saturday, February 27, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
Mozart: Requiem
Bach: Cantata 106 Gottes Zeit

Saturday, March 27, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
Haydn: Selections from Aus des Ramlers Lyrischer Blumenlese (13 partsongs)
Mozart: C Minor (Grand) Mass

Saturday, April 24, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
Handel: Dixit Dominus
Haydn: Lord Nelson Mass

Saturday, May 29, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
Henry Purcell: Funeral Music for Queen Mary
Beethoven: Mass in C Major

Saturday, June 26, 2027 from 10am-noon EST:
William Byrd: 4-Part Mass
Mozart: Ave Verum Corpus
Brahms: Nänie

Fee per session:
$50 per person. To pay via PayPal, Venmo, Debit or Credit Card:

Click to Pay

Or you can Zelle haroldrosenbaum@gmail.com.

There is no need for you to acquire scores, which will be displayed and discussed at the sessions.

For further information please feel free to email Haroldrosenbaum@gmail.com.

Testimonials:

Everything you said was vital, on point, and ENJOYABLE !!!  Interesting today to hear you apply what might seem baroque or classical ideas to Byrd… but then you’re always considering ratio/balance of what the text and what the music expresses, and how to articulate it.

John Reinebach

I have been conducting for 30 years and have attended many conferences, etc. Even so, during your workshop I filled 5 pages of notes with your piece-specific tips as well as general tips to enhance my singers’ rehearsal experience. Thank you so much!

Allison Beavan

Greatly enjoyed the virtual master class on choral score preparation. The time went by so quickly, I could easily have gone another hour or two. Dr. Rosenbaum is always a treat to work with, and this session was particularly engaging. It was very helpful to hear from Dr. Rosenbaum’s personal experiences and skillful insight on this topic. It’s the kind of practical, useful, instruction that always gives me something to take home to use in my own work with my choirs. My thanks and admiration to Dr. Rosenbaum.

Bud Epstein

The talk on Saturday morning was accessible even for amateurs like myself. Maestro Rosenbaum is a meticulous craftsman: every bar of a score is analyzed — preferred execution is suggested — even breathing places are pointed out. —I will now be able to appreciate a choral performance more having witnessed its construction — the building blocks —from the inside.

Albert Rosenblatt

Section 3 – Private Conducting Lessons

Email haroldrosenbaum@gmail.com to discuss live or zoom lessons.

Addendum:

Harold Rosenbaum, the conductor of the Canticum Novum Singers, is a gifted musician and an excellent technician. His singers are well trained and respond enthusiastically with vibrant performances of a most skillfully selected, varied repertory. This group is a valuable addition to our concert life.

William Schuman

Harold Rosenbaum is a superb musician, and his advice is of great importance to young composers.

John Corigliano

Harold Rosenbaum is a passionate, dedicated, resourceful and extraordinarily skilled musician.
The performance of my Sonnets to Orpheus by his New York Virtuoso Singers was one of the best experiences I’ve had in my long life as a composer. These are “virtuosi” in the richest sense of the term, which goes far beyond the question of technical mastery.

George Perle

There is no choral group which has been more able and willing to perform responsibly the most demanding contemporary works than The New York Virtuoso Singers, under the guidance of a sophisticated and understanding conductor.

Milton Babbitt

Harold Rosenbaum and the New York Virtuoso Singers have sung so many of my pieces so beautifully that each encounter with them renews my enthusiasm for choral music.

John Harbison

…the impeccable Harold Rosenbaum… Your Schuman concert was a unique perfection.

Ned Rorem

Your performance was everything it should have been musically, but it was clear that you also really “got it” at the human level and communicated your understanding to the listener powerfully and with great feeling.  (bravo Harold!). I feel I am still walking a little bit on a cloud. Last Sunday’s concert was such a happy, deeply gratifying experience. I can’t thank you enough for your fantastic work of preparing the chorus. They sang splendidly, and were a joy to collaborate with.

Shulamit Ran

It is always such a pleasure to work with Harold Rosenbaum and his New York Virtuoso Singers, What sheer professionalism and dedication!

Thea Musgrave

My gratitude for the incredible performance.

Osvaldo Golijov

Harold Rosenbaum (was) a favorite choral conductor of (William) Schuman’s

Joseph Polisi, former President, Juilliard School of Music

The US premiere of Krenek’s monumental setting of Lamentations was beautifully complemented by Harold Rosenbaum’s stunning performance with his excellent chorus. The work is exceptionally difficult to sing, and it is a tribute to Rosenbaum that he brought it off so compellingly.

Charles Wuorinen

Dear Harold, Your concert was fantastic! I loved every piece on the concert – every one!!! And the performances were spectacular. You are SOOO talented!!! You are a force of nature! So many, many, many thank you’s

Augusta Read Thomas

Performing with Harold Rosenbaum and his New York Virtuoso Singers, whose artistry is as exemplary as their professionalism, was a profound and memorable experience. Their invaluable contribution to contemporary music deserves wide recognition.

Michael York