It’s Official. Let’s Sing!!

Rehearsals for the Rockbridge Chorus 2021/2022 season will begin on Monday, September 27 at 7:30 PM in the sanctuary of the Lexington Presbyterian Church! How many months have we waited to hear this news? In his announcement to our singers, our Artistic Director, William McCorkle, noted that we are “reconstituting ourselves and our joyous singing together.” However, “in some ways it will not be the same as before. We will be observing important safety protocols such as increased spacing between singers, some separate repertoire for women’s and for men’s voices and for a newly formed Chamber Singers group.” This will allow us to reduce the size of some rehearsal sessions. “Our beginning will be careful as singers reclaim their singing muscles and stamina. The repertoire will be musically rich and fulfilling while hopefully not pushing the group too far too soon from the perspective of singing technique.”

Moving rehearsals to the sanctuary of the church will give us more options to achieve physical distancing. As ever, we are grateful to the Lexington Presbyterian Church for continuing to provide us with this rehearsal space. The chorus will be observing Covid-19 prevention protocols in place for this space. Singers will wear masks during rehearsals, and Covid-19 vaccination will be required. By following these procedures, we hope to keep everyone and the space safe while getting back to doing what we have missed for so long – singing together in person!

Our artistic directors have planned a packed season for 2021/2022. The Rockbridge Chorus season will feature three programs, all to be given at the Lexington Presbyterian Church. The chorus will open its season with its annual Holiday Concert on Saturday, December 4 at 7:30 PM. We hope to continue our tradition of opening the concert with audience carol singing. As with all things over the last 18 months, we will see how that unfolds.

On Sunday, February 13, 2022 at 3 PM, the chorus, joined by a small ensemble of chamber players, will present a program entitled Magnificat, which will feature several settings of the Magnificat text by Vivaldi, Purcell, Durante and others. The season will conclude on April 30, 2022 at 7 PM when the chorus will present its Pops Concert which had to be postponed due to the 2020 pandemic. Joined by pianist Josh Harvey we anticipate a treat from a wide range of pops tunes from musicals of stage and screen.

The choruses of the Rockbridge Youth Chorale have a busy season as well. Their rehearsals begin with sign-up on Tuesday, August 24 and they get down to singing on August 31. These rehearsals will be held at the Lexington Presbyterian Church as well. The RYC fall concert will take place on November 30 tentatively at Grace Episcopal Church, pending renovation completion at that location. On Tuesday April 5, 2022 the youth choruses will present their spring concert with a location to be confirmed later this fall, so stay tuned for more info. In addition to these offerings, the youth choruses have the opportunity to participate in a community singing event on November 13, 2021, and in March, 2022 the RYC youth chorus will share a joint concert with the Greater Richmond Children’s Choir. Stay tuned!

This season the Rockbridge Youth Chorale begins a new Kids Music Class which will get kindergarten to first grade kids from our community involved in fun activities related to music. Katelyn Roll will continue her association with our youth choruses as instructor for this new class during the 2021/2022 season. Katelyn has been involved with our youth choruses for the last 3 years and is excited to take on this new position. This is an exciting new addition to our musical mission to our community. The Kids Music Class begins on September 7, 2021. For more info, go to www.rcs.org or email RYC Artistic Director Lacey Lynch at ryclexington@gmail.com

Long-time RYC accompanist,

Dr. Anna Billias, takes over the reins as Director of the Children’s Choir for the 2021/2022 season. Anna trained for a career in concert piano performance at the Prokofiev State Academy of Music in Donesk, Ukraine and has performed all over the world. She is currently an accompanist and adjunct lecturer at Washington and Lee University, music director at a local Lynchburg church, a member of the Marlbrook Chamber Players, and runs a growing private piano studio. She is also pursuing her black belt in karate. Anna has been accompanist to our youth singers for several years and we are so lucky to have her! We join RYC Artistic Director Lacey Lynch in welcoming Anna to this new role.