Education at Art Song Chicago
VCMF
What is the
Our Vocal Chamber Music Fellowship offers emerging professionals in the art song space the chance to champion their work in the field.
Design, curate, implement, inspire a project surrounding art song in our coming season!
Be our next VCMF!
Who are we looking for?
We’re looking for emerging artists - singers who have a solid foundation, but aren’t yet performing
full-time. You’re a great fit if:
You’re in the final stretch of your Master’s or Doctorate.
OR You’ve recently graduated and want the creative freedom to produce a project of your own
Art Song Chicago (ASC) is looking for one standout singer (or singer/pianist duo) ready to turn their artistic vision into a professional reality.
Think of this Fellowship as your personal project launchpad. We give artists the tools to tackle the entire process of creating a recital - from dreaming up the concept and curating the program, to promoting it and giving it life on stage. You’ll work closely with our Director of Education, Brent Funderburk, and have access to the ASC network to make your mark on the Chicago scene.
What’s in it for you?
This isn't a "one-size-fits-all" program. It’s a year-long residency tailored to your specific project. As a Fellow, you’ll get:
A $5,000 Project Budget: Real funding to bring your vision to life—from the venue or guest players to production elements.
The Inside Track: Direct coaching from Brent and hands-on "how-to" sessions with the ASC team on everything from curation to selling tickets.
Pro Assets: Leave with high resolution audio and video for your portfolio–just be sure to bake the costs into your final budget.
Guest Artist Access: Participate in masterclasses and network with the pros we bring through Chicago.
Ready to apply?
Keep it simple. Send us the following by May 15, 2026:
Your Résumé: Show us what you've been up to.
Two References: Just names and info for a couple of mentors who think you're great. One of these must be your current teacher or coach.
Two Recordings: From the last two years. Make sure at least one is a video so we can see your performance style.
A Project Pitch: We don’t need a finalized program yet. Just tell us:
What’s the vibe/theme of the recital you want to create?
Who is it for? (Why does Chicago need to hear this?)
How would you use that $5k to make it happen?
INTRODUCING:
ASCEND
ASCEND your administrative career with Art Song Chicago’s Emerging Non-Profit Development fellowship (ASCEND)
We are looking for an emerging local artist, or two, who are wanting to sink their teeth into all that happens behind the scenes to make the magic of an Art Song Chicago performance happen!
Our team is run and led by artists who juggle performance and teaching with all it takes to operate, market and present the gorgeous music you hear at our Collaborative Works Festival and Lieder Lounges. Join us in 2026-27 to help bring these programs to life as we launch ASCEND - a chance to learn how we do what we do (and get paid as an arts administrator!)
What’s in it for you?
The chance to learn how to design, produce, market, and curate chamber performances like Art Song Chicago’s isn’t something that happens everyday. In a fast-moving arts world, where performers are taking on more and more operational and executive responsibilities, learn from a team of performing artists that are making it happen in your own backyard.
One-on-one mentorship with ASC’s Director of Operations, Executive Director, and Artistic Director to learn what goes into putting our seasons together
Unique Production Opportunities: Hands on experience putting together artist itineraries, concert operations, and more
Develop skills IRL: The best way to learn how to work with Boards and Donors? Be in the room! Learn how to think like a development associate alongside our team.
A stipend of $250 for each program you work on
Plus, you get to say you had a hand in making our 16th season come alive!
Who are we looking for?
An artist or two with a passion for song, poetry, and the salon experience who wants to sink into producing Art Song Chicago’s performances
You’ve recently completed your education, young artist years, and live here in Chicago, with the ability to add us as one of your ‘Gigs’
You’ve spent some time working OFF stage - either on the tech crew helping behind the scenes, creating social media reels and recital posters, producing your own recitals or projects - you get it!
Ready to apply?
Keep it simple. Send us the following by May 15, 2026:
Your Résumé: Show us what you've been up to artistically and administratively - we don’t expect perfection, so if it’s easier to just share 1 or 2 projects you’ve helped produce, that works too!
Two References: Just names and info for a couple of mentors who think you're great. One of them should have seen you in action in a non-singing capacity.
Our 2025-2026 Fellow
Alannah Spencer, soprano
Soprano Alannah Spencer is a Chicago based singer who is equally at home in solo, choral, and chamber repertoire. In the 2023/24 season she toured with Opera for the Young performing Tooty Fruity in Beauty and the Beast with and for hundreds of elementary schoolers across the Midwest. As a Studio Artist with Madison Opera in the 2022/23 season she covered the roles of Salome in Salome and Countess Le nozze di Figaro and sang in the Jazz Trio for Trouble in Tahiti and Barbarina (Le nozze di Figaro). Other recent roles include Rodolfo La femme Boheme (Ouroboros Opera); Countess Le nozze di Figaro (BrewStreet Opera); First Customer She Loves Me (Madison Opera); and Luise Die Abreise (Evanston Chamber Opera).
As a choral singer, Alannah sings with the Grant Park Music Festival Chorus and the Chicago Symphony Chorus. She is a founding member of the vocal quartet the Liederspiel Society, and half of the voice/percussion duo VoxBox. She is also a founding member of the feminist opera collective The Valkyrie Ensemble.
CCPA Partnership
During the 2025-26 season, we are thrilled to partner with Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
This partnership brings CCPA artists into Art Song Chicago's educational fold - working with our artists and team to learn more about the curation of art song recitals as they grow in their careers.
Throughout the season, artists will work with Art Song Chicago staff and artists to develop, market, and perform themed art song recitals - known as Songs @ Six!
Our thanks to the piano and vocal faculty, as well as administrative staff at Chicago College of Performing Arts for renewing this partnership this year.
Songs @ Six: Echos of the Salon I - 19th C. Women in Song
Join our friends at Roosevelt University for a pastiche hour, celebrating some of the many women who had an imprint on song in the 19th century - and beyond
Vocal Chamber Fellow Project
Waiting & Weaving :
Penelope in Song
7:00 pm | Ganz Hall | Roosevelt University
Penelope: the faithful, eternally patient wife to the Odysseus in the classic Greek epics The Iliad and The Odessey, has been a popular figure in artwork of every medium since she first came to life in Homer’s text.
From Giovanni Boccaccio’s ground-breaking biography of famous women, De Mulieribus Claris, where she appears, to her popularity as a subject for pre-Raphaelite painters, to the recent staging of Margaret Atwood’s seminal feminist play The Penelopiade at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre, Penelope is a character that has fascinated artists for centuries.
Join Art Song Chicago’s Vocal Chamber Music Fellow, soprano Alannah Spencer and pianist Jeremy Vigil for an exploration of this tragic figure in song. Hear songs and arias spanning the centuries - with works by Gabriel Fauré, John Musto, Claudio Monteverdi, and more.
Art Song Chicago is delighted that, as part of this project, Alannah and Jeremy will share two world-premieres written for this project by local composers Meg Huskin and Robbie Ellis.
Songs @ Six
CCPA Professional Diploma Partnership
During the 2025-26 season, Collaborative Arts Institute of Chicago is thrilled to partner with Roosevelt University's Chicago College of Performing Arts.
This partnership brings CCPA's Professional Diplomatists (artists pursuing post-graduate studies in operatic voice and coaching) into CAIC's educational fold - working with our artists and team to learn more about the curation of art song recitals as they grow in their careers.
Throughout the season, these artists will work with CAIC staff and artists to develop, market, and perform two themed art song recitals.
Our thanks to the piano and vocal faculty, as well as administrative staff at Chicago College of Performing Arts for embarking on this partnership this year.
Join soprano Hayley Fox, tenor Jose Vargas Ramirez, bass-baritone Louise Floyd and pianist Paula Gelpi, CCPA's Professional Diplomatists in Opera, and CAIC for a 19th century salon experience featuring song, poetry, conversation, hors d’oeuvres, and beverages in the beautiful Sullivan Room in Roosevelt University’s Auditorium Building
Hear selections by Benjamin Britten, Francesco Paolo Tosti, Viktor Ullmann, María Grever and more!