By Janelle Gelfand
The Cincinnati Enquirer

The University of Cincinnati College-Conservatory of Music and the campus' University Libraries soon will have one of the largest, most important collections of choral music in the world.

THE HIGHLIGHTS

• Highlights from the Warland collection

They will receive the score library and archives of the Minnesota-based Dale Warland Singers in August, representing hundreds of American composers, such as Aaron Copland, Dave Brubeck and Libby Larsen. The Dale Warland Singers, disbanding after 31 years, selected CCM as the final home of its score library because - founding director Dale Warland, 71, said - the school has one of the top choral-conducting programs in the country. UC plans to make the library available to students, researchers, musicians and the public.

The collection includes 50,000 copies of more than 1,100 choral works and arrangements, first-edition copies of 270 musical pieces that the Dale Warland Singers commissioned and premiered and more than 300 audio and video recordings.

"It's safe to say it's the largest collection of contemporary American choral music in the world," said Earl Rivers, CCM's director of choral studies. Rivers and CCM dean Douglas Lowry will be in Minneapolis Sunday for the official announcement following the Dale Warland Singers' final concert. CCM was chosen in a rigorous, six-month competition. "This is a once-in-a-life opportunity for CCM," said Ann Meier Baker, president and CEO of Washington, D.C.-based Chorus America.

E-mail jgelfand@enquirer.com