community | Vienna Choral Society

Join us for TOGETHER, AS ONE — our first virtual concert!

October 28, 2020

The rumors are true, and at long last, we can tell you to save the date! VCS will premiere its first virtual concert TOGETHER, AS ONE — 7:30 pm, Saturday, November 21, 2020. And we would love for you to be there!

It’s been months of wondering, diving into a new virtual choral reality, learning to be our own Zoom masters, and still finding joy in the music. And we’d love for you to see and hear what we’ve been up to.

This concert, especially, revels in the joy of coming together even though we are all spread out. Because for so many of us, especially now, music isn’t just about singing perfect notes. It’s about coming together, being in a community, and creating it despite all the distance. As always, our artistic director, Mike Horanski has designed a lovely repertoire with pieces by Elaine Hagenberg, Jacob Narverud, and Dan Forrest. All are contemporary composers with the immense depth needed to reinterpret some beloved classics for the modern choral moment. You’re going to enjoy this immensely.

However, this being our first virtual concert with you, we do need you to do a couple of things.

First, if you’re not our mailing list, please subscribe here. This is a free event, but we want to know that you’re coming, and make sure there’s room for you on virtual concert night. Once you’re on the list, we’ll send you information on how to RSVP so we can expect you via Zoom on concert night.

Second – if you aren’t yet familiar with Zoom, or have not downloaded it, please do so. The Zoom app which sits on your computer or mobile device is available from Zoom.com or from your App Store for Zoom iCloud meetings. It only takes a minute or two to download it. You want to be all set up that evening to just click the link we send you, enter the concert, and sit back and enjoy.

It’s been ages. We miss you, and miss performing for you. We can’t wait. Please do join us!

Pandemics, And Firsts

September 22, 2020

If you know a VCS singer, you may have heard this past Sunday night was another first for the choir. The first of our individual recordings were due for our virtual concert scheduled for November.

As with all firsts, there wasn’t a playbook at times, our singers had their fair share of singing in a strange new online land. And yet, everyone came to the experiment a good sport, willing to try. It’s a testament to how lovely the music is, even if we’re singing it without the benefit of our community physically around us, and how much the music and the arts mean to us collectively during the pandemic. After all, other than baking ourselves into a yeast shortage, where would we all be without the arts and music and Netflix binges and beloved book re-reads to keep us going these last six months?

It takes two to keep the arts going. It takes us to sing, and you to appreciate and enjoy. Because there is no singing, no show, without an audience. So THANK YOU, for being such a great audience through the years, and especially this unusual season where we are reaching out to touch voices virtually. We couldn’t have done it without your support, especially as Friends of VCS.

Not part of our Friend of VCS program yet? It’s not too late to join. Our campaign goes through the end of this month. We have some great benefits, including the special pre-show conversation with our Artistic Director, Mike Horanski, plus benefits with all our Friends of VCS partners – Bards Alley bookstore, Caffe Amouri, Cocoa Vienna, and Nothing Bundt Cakes (Vienna). And as always, the more friends, the merrier!

Join us!

Welcome Back! We are singing again.

August 27, 2020

It’s been five months since the Vienna Choral Society gathered in person to sing. If you’re wondering what we’ve been up to in that time, we’ve put that time to good use. And we’re delighted to tell you that VCS is singing again!

How? Virtually.

We are stepping into the brave new world of virtual choir. Because instead of waiting, we’re embracing the new reality of where we are and making the best of it. To be sure, we’re not becoming a cyber choir. We can’t wait to sing for you again normally. But the choir missed gathering and singing, and certainly many of you missed hearing us sing – in any form. And everyone needs more of the arts in their lives, daily, as we collectively continue to wait out the pandemic. Which is why we’re diving into this great experiment in real time.

There is a huge upside, by the way – for both singers and audiences: You can join us from anywhere! Already we have singers from all over the country, and depending on their schedules, may well have singers from other countries by the time you hear us sing our first virtual concert. Certainly, you can listen to us from anywhere. No commute, no parking lot, just sit back and enjoy.

via Flickr Creative Commons/DenisenFamily

Here’s how this will work: We’ll send you an invitation in November to listen to our virtual concert. You’ll get to listen to the “premiere” of our concert from the comfort of your home on a private link, or at your leisure. Also, given the circumstances, and the fact that we want to offer everyone more art, we will ask you to RSVP, but there will be no ticket fee.

However, this means we have to figure out other ways for VCS to not just survive, but thrive in this new reality. So we are once again inviting you to become a Friend Of VCS, with all the benefits that come with membership, including a special pre-show conversation with our Artistic Director, Mike Horanski, as well as benefits with all our Friends of VCS partners – Bards Alley bookstore, Caffe Amouri, Cocoa Vienna, and Nothing Bundt Cakes (Vienna).

We can do this. We can make music, and appreciate art despite this global pandemic pause. And we’re up for giving this new virtual musical reality a shot. We hope you’ll become a Friend of VCS, and join us in November for our first ever couch concert!

In community and music,
– all of us at VCS

Sing With Us, From Wherever You Are

July 27, 2020

Don’t know about you but it has been a long springsummer, and we are SO ready for some music and community. So we are taking a leap, feet first, into the brave new choral world of this quarantine. We are going to have a cyber/couch season, and we’d love for you to sing with us. Because that, in fact, is one of the silver linings of this moment we’re living through. Technology makes it possible for you to sing from anywhere.

Won’t you join us?

Drop us a line at info@viennachoralsociety.org for more information.

P.S. We’re not actually diving in without a bit of prep. Our Artistic Director has done this before with his students at Robinson Secondary School. So we are prepped, excited, and ready to hear from you!

Clear Skies And Music To Be Had, Still!

April 12, 2020

Happy 50^th Earth Day!

Is that a thing we usually celebrate? Not as much as we celebrate music and concerts. But it seems apt this week. Because quarantine has been eye-opening.

In the last four weeks since we were ordered home en masse, the planet has become an environmentally more livable place. Pollution levels have gone down, leading to cleaner air in major cities for the first time in decades. Even if, as a friend in Los Angeles wagged, we still have to wear masks while we enjoy it.

Los Angeles sky via Flickr/Creative Commons by Omar Barcena

Something to think about this Earth Day as we wait for the situation to change. It helps to look for, and find, the upside. And there are some, we’re happy to report.

Our Friends of VCS partners – Bards Alley bookstore and Caffe Amouri – can continue to bring the world to you a book (or eBook!) or a cup at a time. And since candy and cake improve just about any situation, you can get in touch with Cocoa Vienna and Nothing Bundt Cakes (Vienna). Those folks didn’t need a pandemic to wash hands regularly, and curbside pick-up is a beautiful thing.

And if you want music, there’s plenty still to be had!

We’ve been singing our way through this and to one another from the start, from balconies and across rooftops. And the more we own this current normal, the more we dive into music – including singers from VCS – to make the waiting more bearable. It’s not quite the same as a live performance, but it sure reminds us of why we can’t wait to sing and hold a concert for you again.

Stay healthy, and may your music players be full of whatever gives your heart wings,

In community and music,
– all of us at VCS

Greetings from this end of physical distancing!

April 8, 2020

As we’ve said before, we steadfastly refuse to call this time a time of social distancing. If anything, this experience has made us all figure out the multitude of ways in which we can still connect with one another. At the choir we have formed online chat groups, become Zoom experts, picked up the phone, even written old fashioned letters.

But it’s still not the same as gathering, is it? It’s why we’re reaching out to you today.

image via Flickr Creative Commons

We just want to say hello, and that we are thinking of you and hope you’re staying healthy. We hope you have what you need, that you are taking care of yourself and sleeping well. We hope you have all the music and books you can get your hands on, and we hope your Netflix/Amazon Prime queues are long.

More than anything, we hope that you are able to find an upside in this prolonged pause, whatever that may be for you. And there are upsides to be had – many of us in the choir are perfecting bakes, reading more to our kids, and rediscovering beloved works of arts and letters across all media.

To that end, here are a couple of things to read and listen to.

First, this beautiful sentiment from Washington Post editor, Ruth Marcus. With Passover starting today, the article is about maintaining tradition and community when you cannot gather. It’s lovely, bittersweet, and ultimately hopeful. And it has the perfect headline: “Next year, may we be together.” May “next year,” whatever that is for you, come soon!

Second, the lovely and now widely shared poem, Pandemic by Lynn Ungar. If you haven’t seen it, it’s worth a read.

Pandemic

What if you thought of it
as the Jews consider the Sabbath—
the most sacred of times?
Cease from travel.
Cease from buying and selling.
Give up, just for now,
on trying to make the world
different than it is.
Sing. Pray. Touch only those
to whom you commit your life.
Center down.

And when your body has become still,
reach out with your heart.
Know that we are connected
in ways that are terrifying and beautiful.
(You could hardly deny it now.)
Know that our lives
are in one another’s hands.
(Surely, that has come clear.)
Do not reach out your hands.
Reach out your heart.
Reach out your words.
Reach out all the tendrils
of compassion that move, invisibly,
where we cannot touch.

Promise this world your love–
for better or for worse,
in sickness and in health,
so long as we all shall live.

Needless to say, it has already been turned into a gorgeous choral arrangement.

In community and music
– all of us at VCS

Update on VCS’ 2019-2020 Season

March 30, 2020

Thank you for your patience as the board and leadership of VCS is charting the way forward in these unusual, and swiftly changing circumstances. It is, however, pretty clear we have all been totally overtaken by events surrounding the COVID-19 pandemic; and our wish to perform a May concert cannot now be.

We are therefore, sadly, calling a premature end to the 2019-20 season.

Don’t know about you, but we at the choir are going to be more than ready to rehearse and sing the second we are allowed. The moment that is possible we will let you know.

Until then, we hope you are staying healthy, safe, and sane.

Q & A with the Up All Night Quartet

March 1, 2020

You know that if you’re coming to a VCS concert, there’s always going to a guest musician in the mix. We love sharing the stage. And this upcoming concert – MUSIC, SHE WROTE (7:30 pm, Saturday, March 14, 2020 at Providence Presbyterian Church on 9019 Little River Turnpike, Fairfax, VA) we’re excited to be joined by the Up All Night Quartet, who sing women’s barbershop. Naturally, we had questions for them. And they have some wonderful answers. Read on!

VCS: How long have you been singing together?
UANQ: We have been singing together for three and a half years.

VCS: Why women’s barbershop?
UANQ: So many reasons really. The harmonies created are so different from typical a cappella. It’s a true art form that teaches you about music, singing, using your ears and using your whole body to impact the song. With barbershop, there’s always at least 3 other people involved = instant friendships. It’s really a community – a community of friends, instructors and people to network with on any level.

VCS: What’s something people don’t know or are surprised by when you start singing?
UANQ: 1. That barbershop can be sung by females because most think of it as a men-only thing and 2. That it’s so musical/fun/entertaining – it’s not all old songs no one has ever heard of. It can truly be any song arranged in the barbershop format.

VCS: What advice do you have for emerging artists and life long singers?
UANQ: No matter where you are in your singing career, just sing. Sing in the shower, sing in your car, find a large group, small group, singing-for-competition group, singing for fun group, singing for your church group. There is something out there for everyone, at any level, and until you find what fits you/your style/your life, singing in general has so many health benefits, we should all be singing on a daily basis.

VCS: What was your favorite singing experience?
UANQ: We always enjoy any time we get to perform, however, our favorite singing experiences have always been the times that we have sung for our family and friends at a little get together we throw each year over the summer.

VCS: What are you looking forward to most at our concert?
UANQ: We are looking forward to sharing our music with a wider audience and singing with you all on a couple of songs!

VCS: There’s the “brand” photo of you where you’re all shiny and glossy. But there are some really fun pictures of you. Like this one, and the one with no shoes. Do tell!
UANQ: This was the day after we placed 15th at the Sweet Adelines International Competition in St. Louis in October 2018! the shoes in this – we always try to do something different for our photos each year and we all love our shoes so we wanted them to be on display in our photo that year for our Regional Competition.

VCS: Seriously, *are* you really up all night? Like, don’t the neighbors complain? 🙂
UANQ: While our name implies we are up all night, the reality is that a better name for us should probably be “in bed by 10” 🙂

We can’t wait to sing MUSIC, SHE WROTE with the ladies from UP ALL NIGHT QUARTET, and sing for you. Please join us!

Tickets are $25/adults, $20/students (15 – 18) or seniors (65+).
Youth age 14 and younger attend for free.

Tickets are on sale online at https://vcsmusicshewrote.eventbrite.com until Friday, March 13, 2020.
More will be available at the door on concert night start 6:45 pm.
Doors open at 7:15 pm, we sing at 7:30 pm.

REHEARSAL CANCELLED FOR JANUARY 7, 2020

January 7, 2020

Like the headline says…..

No rehearsal tonight – January 7, 2020.

Drive carefully, get home safe, put on the fluffy PJs, and watch the snow. We’ll sing next week!

Thank You For Coming To See AMERICAN QUILT – Now #GoNats!

October 22, 2019

Thank you so much for coming out to hear us sing last weekend! We had such a wonderful time sharing the stage with our talented guests from James Madison High School, and that was beautiful music – was it not?

But there is no show without an audience. We loved singing for you. And we absolutely loved singing with you!

Just in time for tonight’s game – #GoNats! 🙂

We’d love to sing for you again in December, so please save the date for our annual SOUNDS OF THE SEASON concert. If you’d like to buy tickets, they’re already available online.

Until then, relive a bit of last weekend’s magic. For there is nothing more welcoming and joyous than an unbroken circle of community and music.

Have a wonderful week!