The New Virginians was a musical group from

Virginia Tech Virginia Tech (formally the Virginia Polytechnic Institute and State University and informally VT, or VPI) is a public land-grant research university with its main campus in Blacksburg, Virginia. It also has educational facilities in six re ...

founded in 1972. Its founder and first director was Stan Kingma, who had directed the Virginia Tech

Glee Club A glee club in the United States is a musical group or choir group, historically of male voices but also of female or mixed voices, which traditionally specializes in the singing of short songs by trios or quartets. In the late 19th century it w ...

, later called the Showmen, which was the nucleus of

choral music 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 s ...

singing at Virginia Tech. The group featured 24 singer/dancers, a 12 piece showband, a technical staff and a public-relations staff focused on a musical variety show which toured

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

and surrounding states as "musical ambassadors of Virginia Tech" in shows hosted by civic groups, conventioneers, and sometimes the university itself. The group was known on campus for its annual "Homeshow" which was presented each spring and Christmas show during the holiday which benefited a local charity. During those 21 years, the group produced 17

album An album is a collection of audio recordings issued on compact disc (CD), vinyl, audio tape, or another medium such as digital distribution. Albums of recorded sound were developed in the early 20th century as individual 78 rpm records co ...

s and performed a cross country summer tour sponsored by

Georgia Pacific Georgia-Pacific LLC is an American pulp and paper company based in Atlanta, Georgia, and is one of the world's largest manufacturers and distributors of tissue, pulp, paper, toilet and paper towel dispensers, packaging, building products and r ...

in the late 1970s which concluded with an appearance on the Dinah Shore Show.

president and former Virginia Tech president T. Marshall Hahn was instrumental in arranging the tour. Stan Kingma, who directed the group for its first six years, and most of the original New Virginians staff and originators (Stan Kingma and Christopher "Kit" Bond) left the program at the end of the 1978 season. After a year of inactivity, the University restarted the program in 1979 under the direction of John Howell where it continued until the end of the 1993 spring semester when John Howell founded and directed the Early Music Ensemble at Virginia Tech. Founding member Associate Professor of Music Emeritus Paul Breske led the showband until his death in 1992. Holly_berry_2

Reorganization

The group was reorganized in 1994 as a 12-member Jazz Choir under the direction of Lisanne Lyons. The new group also disbanded the showband, replacing it with a rhythm quartet of student musicians playing guitar, piano, bass and drums. That instrumental group was later replaced with prerecorded musical accompaniment. The group continued in the Jazz Choir format for 10 years, winning the Downbeat Award two years in a row for the most outstanding jazz choir in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

. University budget cuts in 2004 forced the loss of all vocal and instrumental jazz professors and the group was completely disbanded bringing a close to the 30+ year history of groups under the New Virginians name.

Reunions

In July 2007, over 100 Alumni from the Kingma years came together in Richmond, Va for a reunion celebrating the 35th anniversary of the founding of the group. Alumni stepped back into the tasks they performed so many times as students as technicians set the stage, and singers and band members performed for the community.

Discography

Notable alumni

* Chil Kong - Artistic Director of the Northwest Asian American Theater, Performer 1987-1991 * Nancy Glisson Lucy - 1993

Miss Virginia The Miss Virginia competition is a scholarship pageant for women, with the titleholder representing Virginia in the Miss America pageant. The competition was founded in 1953 as a scholarship contest for young women, although women had represente ...

, 4th runner to 1993 Miss America, Performer, 1988-1992 * Bob Lambert - Lighting director in the late 1970s, later worked for Disney Imagineering, rising to become a senior executive with

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...

. * Joan Grady (Gardner) - 1975 Miss Virginia, Miss Virginia Beach * Pamela Polk - 1976 Miss Virginia (1976 Top Ten Finalist, Talent Winner in Miss America Pageant)

References

External links

New Virginians Alumni website

New Virginians videos on YouTube
{{DEFAULTSORT:New Virginians Virginia Tech Virginia Tech music Musical groups established in 1972 1972 establishments in Virginia Musical groups disestablished in 1993 1993 disestablishments in Virginia Musical groups established in 1994 1994 establishments in Virginia Musical groups disestablished in 2004 2004 disestablishments in Virginia