An auditioned choir of 50 voices, the Doane Choir is the college's premier choral ensemble. Continuing students audition in the spring and new students audition in the fall. Membership is based on these auditions and takes into consideration both musical talent and ensemble needs. Members rehearse four times a week for a total of four-and-one-half hours.
During annual national tours, the choir has presented concerts in Albuquerque, Boston, Chicago, Dallas, Denver, Kansas City, Los Angeles, Minneapolis, New York City, San Antonio, Phoenix, Pasadena, San Diego, and at the National Cathedral in Washington, D.C. The choir also tours internationally, and has sung in Austria, Brazil, Estonia, Germany, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Lichtenstein, Poland, Sweden, and Switzerland.
In the past decade, the Doane Choir has performed a number of choral-orchestral works with area orchestras, including the Omaha Symphony and Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. Doane Choir sang Carl Orff’s Carmina Burana with the Omaha Symphony in the fall of 2007, and Benjamin Britten’s War Requiem in April of 2012 with Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra. In April 2015 Doane’s entire choral area performed Beethoven’s Symphony No. 9 with Lincoln’s Symphony Orchestra, and the Doane Choir has another collaboration planned with LSO in the spring of 2016. The choir has worked with such noted guest conductors and artists as Simon Carrington, Eph Ely, Joseph Jennings, Craig Hella Johnson, Kyle Ketelsen, James Morrow, Weston Noble, Alice Parker, Doreen Rao, Jake Runestad, Constantina Tsolaninou, Eric Whitacre, and both Sir Jonathan Willcocks and his son, David Willcocks.
Recordings of the choirs are available for purchase from the Doane bookstore and are sold at most Doane Choir concerts.
Conductor: Dr. Kurt Runestad