For the WVC Members
Rehearsals for WVC's Spring 2024 season continue
Tuesdays, 7:30 - 9:30 pm, at the Warwick Reformed Church.
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*** => Auditions for solos in the Haydn Mass will continue:
Warwick Reformed Church, Tuesday, April 16 @ 7:00 pm.
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Make up Rehearsals will be on
Saturdays, April 20 and 27 at 10:00am
at the Warwick Reformed Church
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WVC's Concerts Spring 2024
Friday, May 10, 7:00 pm, Goshen Christian Reformed Church.
Friday, May 17, 7:00 pm, Grace Episcopal Church, Middletown.
Sunday, May 19, 2:00 pm, St. Stephen Roman Catholic Church, Warwick.
Click here to view maps and get addresses and directions to these concert venues.
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Click here for the listing of the music program for this season and for links to the practice tracks for this music program.
Go to the page with links to YouTube videos here and watch, listen, and sing along to a video of Leonard Bernstein conducting the Haydn Paukenmesse in a grand Bavarian abbey! There are links to other YouTube videos of many of the selections in this season's musical program.
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What should we wear for the Spring concerts?
New ==> Men’s dress for our Spring concerts is black long-sleeve dress shirt (not a knit or polo shirt, not short-sleeves), black slacks, black socks & shoes. (Soprano Jamie Lynne Paradise has some black shirts, size large, to give away. See her at rehearsal.)
For women, a floor-length black dress or a floor-length black skirt or full, skirt-like “palazzo” pants and blouse, long-sleeved or ¾ length-sleeved; black stockings, comfortable black shoes, no eye-catching jewelry or anything else that would draw the audience’s attention to you.
We have members with a variety of allergies, so please don’t wear cologne, perfume, strong aftershave, scented hairspray, or anything else that might make the singer behind you wheeze or sneeze. Seriously, this is important. Deodorant, however, is recommended.
Everyone will place their music in their black music folder.
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New ==> The traditional post-season pot-luck supper and WVC business meeting will take place on Tuesday, May 21st, at (time tba) in the school cafeteria at St. Stephen RC Church. See Marie Rubenstahl for details and the sign-up list.
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On Saturday, Feb 24, an ensemble of singers from the Warwick Valley Chorale (below) participated in a performance of Gustav Holst's The Planets at Middletown's historic Paramount Theater. The SUNY Orange Community Orchestra performed the piece with the WVC ensemble led by Ron De Fesi singing the ethereal vocal lines in movement VII. Neptune, the Mystic.
Photo by Van Pisarri.
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Returning your music: Please drop off your music at one of the rehearsals. Or: drop off your music at Akins Pharmacy (33 Main Street in Warwick, https://www.akinspharmacy.com) during their open hours. Place the music in a large envelope and mark it "Return to the Warwick Valley Chorale - attention for Carol Wood."
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Stay tuned to this web site as well as WVC's Facebook page for further details which will be posted as soon as they are announced.
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The Warwick Valley Chorale welcomes new members!
No auditions required.
If you are interested in joining us and would like to share our love of music and singing, please send an email to Zoey Savale: savazoo@hotmail.com
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Warwick Valley Chorale is on facebook: Like us here!
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Show your support, donate and become a sponsor of the Warwick Valley Chorale.
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A look back at WVC's Fall 2023 Season.
See the box below to download this WVC Christmas flier so you can print it and/or email to friends and relatives.
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See the notices in local newspapers about WVC's Dec. 2023 concerts:
Warwick Vallley Dispatch, Nov. 23
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The concert at the Goshen Church on Dec 8, can be viewed here: click here.
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The center piece of the Fall 2023 program was John Rutter's Magnificat.
John Rutter discusses the genesis of his 'Magnificat': an invaluable resource for all singers preparing the work for performance.
The WVC performed this work in Orange County in 2011 and 2023, at Avery Fisher Hall in Lincoln Center in June 2013, and again at Carnegie Hall in December 2023.
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Photos from the Magnificat concert at Carnegie Hall: Photographer Michael Vialogo took many, many photos during the Magnificat performance at CH on Dec 19, 2023. These photos can be found here! (Password is diatonic1.) One can purchase selected photos through this web site.
WVC singers at the entrance to Carnegie Hall and getting ready to perform Rutter's Magnificat, Dec. 19, 2023.
Important documents for WVC's Fall 2023 season:
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Here's a thought:
"A gentle reminder: The purpose of a rehearsal is to learn everyone else’s part… never your own! Your own preparation is your welcoming gift to your colleagues." -- Hilarie Clark Moore: composer, conductor, professor, musician and friend of the Warwick Valley Chorale.
Caroling during the Fall 2023 season:
Carol down the main streets of the villages, from store to store.
Caroling at Sugar Loaf: Saturday, Dec. 9.
WVC carolers making merry in Warwick on Nov. 26, 2023:
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A look back at WVC's Spring 2023 Season
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View the May 7th concert at Goshen CR Church here https://goshen.church/concerts
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The Warwick Valley Chorale participated in a special concert: Honoring Stanley Curtis through Song, on June 4th at Orange Hall on the campus of SUNY Orange in Middletown.
See the announcement on SUNY Orange's web site: https://sunyorange.edu/calendar/index.php?eID=7087
Also: the announcement in the Warwick Advertiser.
The program for this concert was taken from our Spring 2023 program plus Gwyneth Walker's The Wings of a Dove.
Email from Gwyneth Walker on May 23rd:
"I am so glad that my music continues to be part of the Warwick Valley Chorale repertoire. This has been a gratifying collaboration for me over the years.
Please relay my fond greetings to Zoey and everyone else!
Best wishes -- Gwyneth "
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Email from President Zoey Savale on June 5th:
"What a great concert we had yesterday! I think we really honored Stanley in a wonderful way. The audience, and particularly Betty and Scott, enjoyed and appreciated what we did. A big thank you to everyone involved. Zoey"
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Note from Gail, May 16:
"Dear WVC Members,
What a joy to be a part of this season's glorious performances! What magnificent voices! And, now I have a beautiful reminder when I look out my window! Thank you for the flowers and for sharing your talent with Orange County!
Love, Gail "
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Bringing the "B's" to local nursing homes
(Bernstein, Berlin & Bock)
Members of the Warwick Valley Chorale visited six area nursing homes and retirement centers where they performed songs from the Chorale's Spring 2023 concerts.
July 18, 2023: Promenade at Middletown, Southeast Towers and the Wallkill Living Center.
July 25, 2023: Glen Arden in Goshen, Schervier Pavilion of Warwick and the Valley View Center near Goshen
Music Program featured selections from Fiddler on the Roof and West Side Story as well as Cheek to Cheek, Blue Skies, Puttin' on the Ritz and God Bless America
Thanks to Dennis English for conducting and Gail Johnson for the accompaniment as well as making all the arrangements for these visits.
WVC singers led by Dennis English and Gail Johnson at the Southeast Towers in Middletown on July 18, 2023.
WVC singers also visited the Valley View Center near Goshen on July 25, 2023.
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Take me out to the ball game!
WVC at the Hudson Valley Renegades, Sunday, July 16.
V.P. Melissa Tidd's email from July 17th:
"Hi, everyone. Thank you to all who sang yesterday! And thank you to Dennis for conducting! Everything went well! Luckily, it only sprinkled at the game. But of course I understand the concern that we were all feeling.
I have 28 tickets left, and they are good for the rest of the 2023 season. I believe you would just have to exchange at the box office. If you paid for a ticket(s) and would like to retrieve them, we can meet up somehow for me to give them to you. If you had expressed interest but didn't pay me yet, please let me know your intentions. If you are not interested in the tickets, I can try to make other arrangements with them. If I looked at the calendar right, the last home game of the season is September 15. Also if you paid me but do not want the tickets, I'll give your money back.
Have a good night, everyone! Melissa"
WVC members singing our National Anthem at the start of the H.V. Renegades game on July 16th. Photo by Nikki Adams.
The Spring concerts, "Three B's, Old and New," featured Beethoven's Mass in C Major. The music program also included works by Johannes Brahms and J.S. Bach, as well as selections by Leonard Bernstein, Irving Berlin, and Jerry Bock (composer of Fiddler on the Roof)
Click here to see the announcement in the Warwick Advertiser.
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Documents for the Spring 2023 choral season:
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1 in 6 Americans sings in a choir
— and they're healthier for it
Click here to find out why.
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Your Brain and Singing:
Why Singing in a Choir Makes You Happier
Click here to check out this article.
Thank you to Eloise Ham for bringing this article to our attention.
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One of WVC's favorite composers, John Rutter, on "the Importance of Choir"
The WVC has performed many of Mr. Rutter's works in our concerts in Orange County. Also many members of the WVC were privileged to have been conducted by John Rutter at Carnegie Hall in 2006.
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To celebrate their 75th anniversary, the WVC commissioned America's favorite composer, Gwyneth Walker, for this arrangement of Down to the River to Pray, which was premiered at their December 2015 concerts.
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We practiced and made it back - May 2010, May 2016, April 2018, June 2019 and Dec 2023!!
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Click Here and take a look back at the WVC's last several seasons.
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Please send any questions, comments, corrections, new photos and/or suggestions for this web page to your friendly webmeister.
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