The Chapman Orchestra (TCO), under the direction of Daniel Alfred Wachs, is considered among the finest university ensembles on the West Coast. In May 2014, TCO and University Choirs joined the Orange County Youth Symphony Orchestra and international soloists in a sold-out performance of Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony and the West Coast premiere of Mark Anthony Turnage’s Frieze at the Renée & Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, presented under the auspices of the Philharmonic Society of Orange County. This concert was selected by the Orange County Register as a “Must See” performance of the 2013-2014 Season and was also selected as a top pick by the Los Angeles Times for spring 2014. The Orange County Register exclaimed “Wachs guided the ensemble with energy, precision, and a welcome sense of clarity and poise. The performance wasn’t just good by standards for younger performers, but forceful and exuberant by any standard: genuinely inspiring, technically proficient, structurally sound. The combined choruses were a powerhouse.” Nobel Peace Prize laureate Elie Wiesel lauded TCO following “An Evening of Holocaust Remembrance,” an interdisciplinary collaboration with the Rogers Center for Holocaust Studies. TCO will kicked off its 2013-14 season in collaboration with Orange County’s Pacific Symphony, presenting an ancillary concert as part of its acclaimed “Music Unwound Series.” In the fall of 2009, a live recording of Milhaud’s La Creation du Monde was selected by the Phillips Collection in Washington, D.C. to accompany its exhibit, “Man Ray, African Art and the Modernist Lens.” In February of 2008, TCO joined forces with the Pacific Symphony as part of its “Eighth American Composers Festival.” TCO recently completed a survey of Mahler song cycles with baritone Vladimir Chernov and initiated a partnership with the LA Opera Domingo-Thornton Young Artist Program
Chapman University Orchestras have received national recognition when presented the coveted ASCAP (American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers) award at the American Symphony Orchestra League Annual Conference for performances of music by American composers and The Chapman Chamber Orchestra was a finalist in the 2012 American Prize in Orchestral Performance.
In frequent demand, the orchestras have performed at the Music Educators National, Divisional, State, and Southern Section Conferences. The Chamber Orchestra has been the featured performing ensemble for the CMEA (California Music Educators Association) Southern Section Conference. The Chapman Orchestra has toured extensively on the West Coast of the United States and has performed on international tours in Europe, China, Hong Kong, and Japan. Closer to home, TCO performs an annual series of concerts at the Nixon Presidential Library in Yorba Linda and St. John’s Lutheran Church in Church, and serves as the orchestra in residence for Opera Chapman.