The Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir and the Shenandoah Valley Youth Symphony will present a joint fall concert 7 p.m. Sunday, Nov. 24, in Lehman Auditorium at Eastern Mennonite University.
The Concert Choir, directed by Julia J. White, will sing “Wir eilen, mit schwachen doch emsigen Schritten”; a duet from a Bach Cantata, Reger’s “Slumber Song”; and a Venezuelan-inspired song, “Yo Le Canto Todo El Dia,” with clapping. A Scottish folk song, “Mairi’s Wedding,” will feature Irish step dancers Ellie Weaver and Bergen White, accompanied by JMU flute instructor Beth Chandler.
One of SVCC’s favorites, “Go Where I Send Thee,” will conclude their set.
The Concert Choir consists of 70 children, ages 11-18, from as far away as Waynesboro and West Virginia. The group will have just returned from a performance at the Virginia Music Educators Conference in Norfolk where they sang by invitation for choral and instrumental teachers and colleges across the state.
The Treble Choir, ages 10-14, will sing a southern folk song, “Sourwood Mountain”; an English song. “The Path to the Moon”; Mozart’s “Hallelujah Round of Praise” and a Christmas selection. The Treble Choir will join the Concert Choir to perform “Inscription of Hope,” with text written by a Jew during World War II in Germany. Guest instrumentalist Michele Kirkdorffer from JMU will play the oboe.
The Shenandoah Valley Youth Orchestra, conducted by Maria Lorcas, will perform “March Slave” and several dances from “The Nutcracker Suite,” both by Tchaikovsky.
Rebecca Peck, cellist, will be the featured soloist in “Kol Nidrei” by Max Bruch.
Ms. Peck, principal cellist for the Youth Orchestra, is a student of Mary Kay Adams. She is also principal cellist of the Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market where she is a senior in the honors program. She accompanies the concert choir and sings with the Shenandoans.
A member of the National Honor Society, Peck has been assistant to Harlen Miller, music department chairman, for four years. The daughter of Tom and Linda Peck of Timberville, she is active in church music at the Academy as well as at the New Market Seventh-Day Adventist Church and Trinity Church of Christ in Timberville where she is music director. She plans to attend college next year and major in biology/premed and music.
The concert will end with a lively rendition of the holiday favorite, “Winter Wonderland.”
The orchestra comprises 37 junior and senior high wind, string and percussion students from Rockingham, Augusta and Shenandoah counties.
The Children’s Choirs and the Youth Orchestra are part of EMU’s Preparatory Music Program.
Admission to the concert is free; however, a suggested $5 donation will benefit the program’s student scholarship fund.