The Valley Concert Chorale is a

choir A choir ( ; also known as a chorale or chorus) is a musical ensemble of singers. Choral music, in turn, is the music written specifically for such an ensemble to perform. Choirs may perform music from the classical music repertoire, which ...

composed of about 40 auditioned singers from

Livermore, California Livermore (formerly Livermorès, Livermore Ranch, and Nottingham) is a city in Alameda County, California. With a 2020 population of 87,955, Livermore is the most populous city in the Tri-Valley. It is located on the eastern edge of Californ ...

, USA, and the surrounding

Tri-Valley The Tri-Valley area is grouping of three valleys in the East Bay (California), East Bay region of California's San Francisco Bay Area, Bay Area. The three valleys are Amador Valley, San Ramon Valley, and Livermore Valley. The Tri-Valley encompass ...

area, which is located in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, often referred to as simply the Bay Area, is a populous region surrounding the San Francisco, San Pablo, and Suisun Bay estuaries in Northern California. The Bay Area is defined by the Association of Bay Area Go ...

. It usually performs three concerts each year, starting with a holiday concert in November, followed by a concert of serious music in March and a lighter concert in May. These concerts are often given in collaboration with other choruses in the area, including the San Francisco Concert Chorale, the Las Positas College Chamber Choir and the Cantabella Children's Chorus. Recently, the chorus has also organized an annual "sing-it-yourself" ''

Messiah In Abrahamic religions, a messiah or messias (; , ; , ; ) is a saviour or liberator of a group of people. The concepts of ''mashiach'', messianism, and of a Messianic Age originated in Judaism, and in the Hebrew Bible, in which a ''mashiach'' ...

'', which is held at Livermore's First Presbyterian Church. The chorus was established in 1963 by Ellen Cunningham. Recent directors have included David Babbit and Philip Manwell. Since 1998, the chorus has been led by John Emory Bush, who is also the director of the San Francisco Concert Chorale, and has been director for the

San Francisco Conservatory of Music The San Francisco Conservatory of Music (SFCM) is a private music conservatory in San Francisco, California. As of 2021, it had 480 students. History The San Francisco Conservatory of Music was founded in 1917 by Ada Clement and Lillian Hodgh ...

, the

College of Notre Dame Notre Dame de Namur University (NDNU) is a private Catholic university in Belmont, California. It is the third oldest college in California and the first college in the state authorized to grant the baccalaureate degree to women. In 2021, the u ...

in Belmont, California, and the

Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, Dallas, Texas The Cathedral Church of Saint Matthew, known simply as St. Matthew's Cathedral, is an Episcopal cathedral church located at 5100 Ross Avenue in Dallas, Texas, in the United States. The cathedral is the official seat of the bishop of the Epi ...

. The chorus' accompanist is Daniel Glover, a concert pianist who has performed in 42 American states and 42 countries. The chorus has a community outreach program, the most important part of which is a Music in the Schools program. This program was started in 1990. About ten members of the chorus present a short musical play to elementary schools in the area. These plays have included '' Hansel and Gretel'', ''

Tom Sawyer Thomas Sawyer () is the titular character of the Mark Twain novel ''The Adventures of Tom Sawyer'' (1876). He appears in three other novels by Twain: ''Adventures of Huckleberry Finn'' (1884), ''Tom Sawyer Abroad'' (1894), and ''Tom Sawyer, Dete ...

'' and several plays that were written by one of the troupe's members, Bobby Jensen. The scenery is painted by a local artist, Carolyn Ramsey, and the costumes and props are made by the members of the cast. Some students are selected to participate in the play and when it is over, all the students are given a chance to ask questions. The chorus has made two CDs. The first, which consists of Christmas music, was recorded the Trinity Episcopal Church in San Francisco in 2003. The second CD, Carl Orff's '' Carmina Burana'', was recorded at the Mission Dolores Basilica in San Francisco in 2006.

References

External links

Valley Concert Chorale

San Francisco Concert Chorale

Cantabella Children's Chorus
American choirs Choirs in the San Francisco Bay Area Musical groups from San Francisco Notre Dame de Namur University Livermore, California Musical groups established in 1963 {{US-singing-group-stub