PVCC Chorus Sings Holiday Favorites
Elizabeth Phan, staff writer
On Dec 2, at 3 p.m. on the Main Stage of the V. Earl Dickinson Building, the PVCC Chorus will take the stage and sing holiday classics such as “The First Noel” and Kim Brickman’s “Hope Is Born Again.”
The event is free, and anyone can come to the concert along with friends, family, and loved ones. Melody Z. Day, the director of the chorus, said that she has had experience with singing in professional choruses for most of her life, including local choirs at The Oratorio Society of Virginia and the PVCC Chorus under the founding director, Jeff Suling.
“We are singing several choruses from Handel’s Messiah, an arrangement of the spiritual ‘Sister Mary Had-a But One Child’ and the beautiful, but challenging, ‘What Sweeter Music’ by the living composer John Rutter,” Day said. The chorus will also be singing “Sleigh Ride,” “Baby, It’s Cold Outside,” and “Carol of the Bells.”
“This is my first semester as director, so I am learning what the choir is capable of– they are definitely rising to the occasion!” Day said.
The chorus is made up of 50 members, some of which are from PVCC’s one credit chorus course.
The chorus has experience performing Broadway hits and patriotic music. New members are always invited to sing in the chorus or take the course.
“Anyone may be a member of the chorus– current students as well as community members. Unlike the Virginia Consort and The Oratorio Society of Virginia, this choir does not audition interested members,” she said.
“One of the goals is to recruit recent graduates from the many fine high school choirs in the surrounding counties and the city of Charlottesville,” said Day.
According to Day, the previous directors of the choir were Suling and Scruggs who have featured masterworks such as John Rutter’s “Requiem,” and had an instrumental accompaniment and a professional soloist.
For more information on attending the event, students can contact the PVCC Box Office at 434-961-5376 or boxoffice@pvcc.edu.
