2019-2020 began the Chorale’s 47th year celebrating the joy of singing in Oregon’s Rogue Valley. We held our third Soiree and Song fundraising event to honor our donors and raise money to support exceptional programming, scholarships and operations. We performed a sold out holiday concert to honor our Veterans and service men and women. An honor guard
opened the concert, followed by a rousing chorus of the National Anthem. The Rogue Valley Chorale’s chamber orchestra, formed during the 2018-2019 season, performed during two of the concerts (Home for the Holidays and Mozarts Requiem/Schubert’s Mass in G.) Collaboration was the theme of the season. Our Cantare Chorus (middle school singers) performed with the Chorale during the Home for the holidays concert. The Rogue Valley CHorale Association’s Youth Ensemble sang Mozart’s Requiem with us, and RVC joined forces with Kirby Shaw’s Jefferson State Choral Coalition for the May, 2020 concert entitled All That Jazz. Rogue Valley Youth Choruses continued providing Spring Sing concerts for our local school districts, which has become a much anticipated musical offering that inspires children to sing by presenting concerts for children, by their peers.
Click on a link below to learn more.
To view the 2019-2020 season brochure click here.
Rogue Valley Youth Choruses continues to make a significant impack upon the lives of children. To view the Youth Choruses brochure click here.
Soiree and Song
2019 saw yet another Soiree and Song fundraising event. 300 guests attended the event, which included songs by both adult and youth singers, some speeches, a live auction and some rather decadent desserts. The event was hugely successful and generated programming, scholarship and operational income for the organization.
To view the Soiree and Song invitation click here.
To view the program and auction booklet click here.
Home for the Holidays – December 7 and December 8, 2019
To view the Home for the Holidays concert poster click here.
To view the Home for the Holidays concert program click here.
To view the Home for the Holidays TV commercial click here.
The Chorale was selected for the 2020 Best of Medford Award in the Performing Arts Group category by the Medford Award Program. To read about it click here.
The Chorale also received the honor of being selected as one of the best Craterian performances of the year. To read about it click here.
Heart of the Season – Rogue Valley Youth Choruses Fall Concert, December 14, 2019
Youth Choruses performed a concert comprised of choral favorites and holiday music for the Rogue Valley community. At the beginning of the 2019-2020 season Youth Choruses made the decision to restructure its choruses to include grades 3-5 (Children’s Chorus), 6-8 (Cantare Chorus), and 9-12 (Youth Ensemble). The Heart of the Season is the first concert performed under this new chorus composition structure.
To view the concert program click here.
Requiem
To view the Requiem concert poster click here.
To view the Requiem concert program click here.
To view the Requiem TV commercial click here.
To read an article about the Requiem concert click here.
The Requiem concert was dedicated to the memory of beloved Chorale singer Kathleen Thorson, who died shortly after giving birth to her fourth child in January of 2020.
To read a People Magazine article about Kathleen click here.
Below is a message from Andrea Brock, one of four conductors participating in the Requiem concert. Andrea directs the South Medford High School Chamber Choir. Other conductors included Michael Morris (RVCA Artistic Director), Pamela Nordquist (Youth Ensemble Director), and Pete Nordquist (Youth Ensemble Assistant Conductor). Andrea references the outbreak of the Covid-19 virus, which practically shut down cities world wide in an attempt to lessen the rate of infection just days following our concert.
Dear Michael, Pam and Laura, 3.17.2020
As you can imagine, it has been a truly crazy week in the lives of our school and our students. I neglected to send word to the Chorale and to you both about our experience in a timely manner. I have a feeling you will understand!
I just want to tell you all that, especially in light of what is happening in their lives right now, I am beyond grateful that my students got to experience the wonder of the Mozart Requiem.Thank you from the very bottom of my heart for allowing us to participate in this concert with you. I realize how hard everyone worked to make the logistics come together, and to fit everyone up on the stage. And allowing the students to experience the rehearsal process with the adults was one of the most valuable parts of the whole process. Students will not forget what it felt like to sit in their own theater space and sing that glorious music with an outstanding orchestra. When we finally had class together last Tuesday, it was an explosion of enthusiasm, with everyone wanting to share their own experiences from the weekend–at the same time!! I wish I had video-taped the class so I could remember all the little side stories and the joy that they shared with me about the concert. One student talked about how the alto next to her patted her wrist because she could tell that it was hurting her. Another student talked about getting in on some tenor humor, and he loved it. They unanimously felt encouraged by the people that they sat with, and were truly moved by the music that they were a part of.
Considering what they are going through, and what we are all going through right now, I feel so fortunate and so blessed that we were all able to take part in such a beautiful expression of humanity as the Mozart Requiem. Thank you so much for making it happen.
Gratefully,
Andrea Brock