NOTUS Press Materials * NOTUS Recordings * NOTUS Student Composition Contest
Winner of The American Prize in Choral Performance (2019), NOTUS is one of the country’s most unique collegiate vocal ensembles, with a singular commitment to championing living composers through the commissioning, programming, and recording of new works. Directed by conductor-composer Dominick DiOrio, NOTUS has performed across the nation, for the American Choral Directors Association national conference (2015) and regional conferences (2014, 2016, and 2022) as well as in Carnegie Hall (2014). NOTUS was honored to be one of only 24 choirs in the world invited to perform at the 12th World Symposium on Choral Music in Auckland, New Zealand (July 2020) before it was sadly cancelled due to the pandemic. As part of the honor of being invited to the Symposium, NOTUS was named an IFCM Ambassador in 2022 by the International Federation for Choral Music.
Over the course of its history, NOTUS has delivered premiere or second performances of more than 150 new works. This includes recent commissions and premieres by Claude Baker, Don Freund, John Gibson, Moira Smiley, P.Q. Phan, Sven-David Sandström, Aaron Travers, and Zachary Wadsworth. In September of 2018, NOTUS released their first commercial album on the Innova label, NOTUS: Of Radiance and Refraction, which includes five world premiere recordings by IU faculty composers. NOTUS’ second album, What Is Ours: Music for an America in Progress, was released on the Navona Records label in December 2022, and features IU faculty member Roger Roe and music by a diverse array of American composers including Reena Esmail, Carlos Cordero, Joel Thompson, Andrea Ramsey, Moira Smiley, IU student alumni Leigha Amick and John William Griffith II, and director DiOrio. NOTUS’s third commercial album, Weaving Eternity: Music of Wild Imagination, was released in September 2025 and features faculty saxophonist Otis Murphy and the music of faculty composers Don Freund and Gabriel Jenks, plus additional music of Zanaida Stewart Robles, Dale Trumbore, and DiOrio.
NOTUS is proud to also shine a spotlight on the talent of Jacobs School of Music student composers through an annual contest for new choral works. Winning compositions receive premiere performances by NOTUS and help to launch national careers for their young composers, such as IU alumni Alex Berko, Katherine Bodor, Texu Kim, Christopher LaRosa, Matthew Recio, Corey Rubin, and Kahan Taraporevala.
NOTUS was originally founded in 1980 as the Indiana University Contemporary Vocal Ensemble, and it was renamed in 2013 after the selection of its fourth director, Dominick DiOrio. The choir’s new name was inspired by Notos, the Greek god of the south wind. Previous directors include the late Alan Harler (1980-1981), former IU choral department chair Jan Harrington (1981-1992), and the late Carmen Helena Téllez (1992-2012).
As part of the honor of being invited to the Symposium, NOTUS was named an
IFCM Ambassador in 2022 by the International Federation for Choral Music.
Fall 2025
Tuesday, October 7, 2025
Carus-Verlag CREDO Project US Premieres
Dominick DiOrio, conductor
CREDO Project (2025) US premiere
– Credo in unum Deum, Marten Jansson (b. 1965)
– Et incarnatus est, Keiko Harada (b. 1968)
– Crucifixus, Grayston (Bill) Ives (b. 1948)
– Et resurrexit, Victoria Vita Poleva (b. 1962)
– Et in Spiritum Sanctum, Martín Palmeri (b. 1965)
– Et vitam venturi, Dominick DiOrio (b. 1984)
Where the Two Roads Cross (2003), Michael Markowski (b. 1986)
Alas de Noche (2022), Diana Syrse (b. 1984)
Peter Quince at the Clavier (1979), Dominick Argento (1927-2019)
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Spring 2026
Friday, January 23, 2025
Arvo Pärt 90th Birthday Celebration
Dominick DiOrio, conductor
presented as part of a symposium in honor of the Estonian composer
The Beatitudes (1990), Arvo Pärt (b. 1935)
Earth Seen From Above (1987), Meredith Monk (b. 1942)
Magnificat (1989), Arvo Pärt
sleeper’s prayer (2016), David Lang (b. 1957)
De Profundis (1977/1980), Arvo Pärt
In paradisum (2012), Galina Grigorjeva (b. 1962)
Adam’s Lament (2009), Arvo Pärt
Tuesday, March 10, 2026
Reena Esmail Residency
Dominick DiOrio, conductor
This Love Between Us (2016) with sitar, tabla & chamber orchestra, Reena Esmail (b. 1983)
Saturday, March 28, 2026
NOTUS sings with the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra as part of Distant Worlds | Final Fantasy
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