Sacramento Master Singers is in its 42nd year of presenting dynamic and diverse choral concerts, under the direction of Dr Ralph E Hughes for most of them. The season of 2025-26 marks Hughes’ final concert and 40th season as Artistic Director with a concert on May 14th, 2026 @ 7:00pm at Harris Center for the Arts in Folsom, CA. Next season or 2026-27, the choir is happy to welcome our incoming Artistic Director, Dr Brett D Epperson, Assistant Director of Choral Music at UOP in Stockton.
The 53-member ensemble has grown considerably in size and reputation since it incorporated in 1984. Thanks to Hughes' steadfast leadership beginning in 1986 and the singers' commitment to achieving artistic excellence in a myriad of musical styles, SMS is renowned for performing an ever-expanding repertoire that includes works by upwards of 360 composers. The auditioned chorus includes music teachers, choral directors, music students and a wide array of Sacramento-area professionals, homemakers, laborers, and retirees. Bound by their love of choral singing, our members volunteer countless hours in service to the Master Singers motto: "Advancing the art, lifting the soul."
SMS invites its audiences on ever-changing musical journeys that span continents and a thousand years of choral artistry. Depending on the season and concert theme, a program might include soaring a cappella motets, Medieval or African chants, American spirituals, pleas for world peace, odes to love, Scandinavian jazz, Celtic folk tunes, newly commissioned songs, or beloved master works re-imagined for Sacramento audiences. Local premieres have included Benjamin Britten's A.M.D.G., Alfred Schnittke's Requiem, and compositions by more than a dozen contemporary composers including Eric Whitacre, David O, Cecelia McDowall, Jake Runestad, Ken Medema, Ron Kean, Rosephanye Powell, Larry Shackley, Jared Pierce, and Sir James MacMillan. Its most recent attempts to encourage young audience members to appreciate and enjoy singing choral music have been particularly successful in springtime outreach training sessions and performances with guest choirs from local schools. (YouthSING! is tentatively planned for next year, 2027.)
SMS has hosted numerous internationally acclaimed guest conductors and artists, including Venezuelan choral conductor Maria Guinand, Argentine composer Oscar Escalada, Vance George of the San Francisco Symphony Chorus, Joseph Jennings of Chanticleer, Alice Parker, Moses Hogan, and Grammy-winning Native American flutist Mary Youngblood. The choir proudly collaborates with local performers including the Harley White Jr Orchestra, Men of Worth, Sacramento Philharmonic Orchestra, Sacramento Children's Chorus, Folsom Symphony, ARC Jazz Bands, Capital Jazz Project, R.S.V.P., Celebration Arts, the Sac State Percussion Ensemble, the Sacramento Youth Symphony, and area instrumentalists. The ensemble performs joint concerts with college and high school choirs, and encourages young vocalists through its annual Sacramento Master Singers Scholarship for Young Choral Singers, which has awarded around $45,000 in music scholarships and hours of mentoring to area youth for singers ages 14-22.
The Master Singers has recorded multiple CDs: Sing a New Song was recorded live during gala concerts in May of 2016, and includes Ola Gjeilo's Sunrise Mass; Celtic Memories showcases collaborations through the years with Scottish/Irish duo Men of Worth. Most recently, to commemorate the choir's 40th year, 40+ pieces were recorded to represent those 40 years with a special 3-CD set was issued in December 2023.
The choir’s tour history includes concert performances in the Carolinas, Hawaii, Scotland, and South America. In summer of 2017, SMS toured and performed joint concerts with the Cascadian Chorale in Seattle and Vancouver, British Columbia. The choir and friends toured Eastern Europe (Austria, Hungary, Czech Republic) in summer of 2022. A tour in summer of 2025 involved concerts in England, Wales & Ireland. Talks have begun for a tour in 2027 to, possibly, Spain & Portugal or Finland & the Baltics.
During the social isolation of COVID-19, SMS remained active with virtual performances and a special virtual advent calendar for December 1 through 25 in both 2021 and 2022. With the guidance of epidemiologist Dr Neha Nanda of USC's Keck School of Medicine and the preferences of our patrons, the masked choir rehearsed in person and performed live for patrons who were socially distanced, masked and vaccinated. Additionally, SMS successfully conducted their scholarship online during those years.
An ongoing commitment to high quality choral singing and creative programming has earned the loyalty of thousands of local fans. Audiences are slowly rebounding since the pandemic. Sacramento Master Singers strives to sing with passion and to express the full range of human emotion; they treasure their connection with audiences.