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Welcome To Our 31st Season!

August 30, 2018


Welcome to VCS’ 31st season! After a summer of dreaming, we are more than ready to sing for you. And as always, our artistic director, Mike Horanski has a unique and fun repertoire that is going to be as wonderful for us to sing as we hope it’ll be for you to enjoy!

We’re looking forward to singing the music of Sarah Quartel, the rare, 30-something, female contemporary composer. We’re also looking forward to singing poetry by Euan Tait, set to music by composer Kim Andre Arnesen – both modern contemporary masters. And finally, we can’t wait to get into the music of established and respected composers – Bach, Bernstein, and yes, The Beatles – all of whom started out as rabble rousers, rebels, and risk takers. (Yes, even Bach!)

If you loved the last two seasons under Mr. Horanski’s baton, you’re going to have a great time with this one.

As we have for the last two seasons, we look forward to having emerging artists, youth musicians, and music students join us at every concert. As a teaching choir, this is how we cultivate tomorrow’s artists and audience. It’s how tomorrow’s marquee names learn to own their spotlight. It’s how tomorrow’s music patrons develop everything from concert etiquette to a discriminating ear.

At VCS, we do all of that. And we do it with your support.

At a time when the arts have to fight for every dollar, you help us cultivate the next generation of artists and art lovers. Your support builds rare common ground and had-to-be-there moments that appear nowhere else in our lives. None of it happens without you. So we hope you’ll join the 2018-19 Friends of VCS campaign, which runs September 1-30, 2018.

As always, it’s a great deal for the benefits. All donors get discounts with our partners Caffe Amouri, Cocoa Vienna, and – we’re excited to report – Bards Alley in Vienna! This season, all donors will also get entered into a raffle – one lucky winner will get to go to dinner with a friend. On us. Coffee, candy, wine, books, dinner, and music. What’s not to love? Become a Friend of VCS today. We promise you won’t regret it!

Donate online, or send us an old fashioned check to The Vienna Choral Society, PO Box 310, Vienna, VA 22183.

However or at whatever level you’d like to become a Friend of VCS, we are happy to have you here and sing for you.

Please join us this season!

P.S. Are you on our mailing list? Take a minute, sign up – be the first to know all the fun things! 

Tagged With: bards alley, caffe amouri, coco vienna, euan tait, friends of vcs, kim andre arnesen, sarah quartell, vienna choral society

Friends of VCS Fall 2015 – We’re A Third Of The Way There!

September 17, 2015

15-16_Season_Web_0815_HORIZ

Every fall we invite you to join the Friends of VCS. Why? Very simply – the arts enrich our lives immeasurably. And you make it possible for us to enrich the community with more music.

Our playlists kick start start the party, calm us down in traffic, keep us going to deadline, and tell us who we are. No matter who we are – young, old, professional, amateur, listener, or performer – the music enriches our happiness, and says what we can’t when we don’t have the words.

We’re particularly cognizant of that last part.

We live busy, sometimes anxious lives in this neighborhood. Everyone pays some attention to the news. We here in the VCS community? We pay extra special attention to refugee crises, government shutdown talk, deployments, elections, and papal visits.

When we’re stuck in yet another Metro delay, or waiting on word of loved ones, the music in our ear buds are what keep us civilized. Sane, even. And when we’re overwhelmed by events, the music says everything we can’t, and gives our emotions somewhere to go. [Read more…]

Tagged With: 2015 fall campaign, 9/11, caffe amouri, carmina burana, donato's vienna, friends of vcs, HART, homeless animal rescue team, metro, town of vienna, vienna choral society

Friends Are In For More Treats

September 2, 2015

We were so excited to kick off our 28th season last week. In addition to welcoming several new singers and some returning singers (many loud and happy reunions!), we are once again looking at a great set of concerts.

This season will once again feature the carefully, joyously, and fabulously programmed repertoire you’ve come to expect from maestra Jennifer Rodgers. The energy and momentum of this chorus, so largely reflected in and supported by your generosity through the Friends of VCS, has allowed us to invest in “upping our artistic game.” We have expanded our choral repertoire and singing opportunities, deepened our artistic partnerships, and prioritized time spent on our choral sound and technique. And we are ready to pour all of that into our 2015-2016 season.

We’re diving in with a Concert for a Cause right up front. Animal Crackers will be presented in partnership with HART (Homeless Animals Rescue Team) for our October concert. We’ll have cats, birds, panthers, cows and kookaburras at the show. Well, in the music… HART will likely stick to puppies. That’s right – puppies! [Read more…]

Tagged With: animal crackers, caffe amouri, carmina burana, donato's vienna, friends of vcs, vienna choral society

Spend The Solstice With Us!

December 16, 2013

light and dark placeholderYes yes, this is the most f(un)renetic* time of year for many of us and you barely have time for a breath much less a concert?! Are we nuts? Nope. We think you should make time to come and see us for your own sake. Here’s why:

The “Hey, that’s neat!” Factor

VCS always puts a fresh spin on the holidays and this year is no different. We noticed that our usual “weekend before Christmas” concert date fell on the solstice, and it made perfect sense to sing about the light and dark of the day. After all, isn’t that what so much of the holidays are about? Bright shining stars that show us the way, a reminder of what is important in the dead of winter, the community we all crave when it is dark at 4 pm, and the promise of light as the days get slowly but surely longer in the new year?

 The Music

Well, yes. It’s all about the music at the heart of our concerts no matter why we sing. This is a concert for a cause, and we’ll tell you about that in a minute, but first, the music—Eric Whitacre’s modern American classic, “Lux Aurumque,” a haunting choral arrangement of Sara Bareilles’ “Winter Song,” the classic Appalachian folk song, “Bright Morning Stars,” “All Hail To The Days,” the 17th century English broadside …. We will sing pieces that are, by turns, poignant, ethereal, majestic, joyful, and deeply satisfying.

(And yes, if you think that video of a virtual choir singing Lux Aurumque is amazing, wait until you hear it in the flesh. Goosebumps.)

A Moment Of Pause

Last year, one of the reasons we sang Welcome Yule! was to rediscover and remind ourselves of that pure, traditional sound of the season – as opposed to what our director referred to as the forced, over-bright, Muzak-on-a-loop holiday music. You know, that moment when you realize that endless thud you’re hearing is the downbeat of “Little Drummer Boy,” for the fourth time in as many hours and with all the dread of a forced march….

Yeah, we’re not doing that. If anything, consider Solstice: Light And Dark your moment of refreshing pause. The two hours where you just stop, to appreciate the magical quiet of the season, and to look forward to the shifting of the sun to longer days.

Concert For A Cause

For many of us, this time of year is challenging. It isn’t just the desire some of us have to pull the covers over our heads as we look at a seemingly unending list of things to get done in time for the holidays or the end of the fiscal quarter. Seasonal Affective Disorder may affect a small number of people, but it is very real. And unlike many mental health challenges and disorders, the rest of us can often have at least a small frame of reference for SAD because so many of us struggle with plain old “winter blues.” Marketers sure get this, why else do you think all those TV ads for Aruba and the Bahamas show up, usually at 3 pm, around March when the spring seems so achingly close and yet so very far away?

We get this. It’s why we’ve partnered with The Women’s Center for this concert, and hope you will take away some self-care information, or tips on how to reach out to people in your life who are having a hard time in the darkness of winter, and to help them sing away the dark.

Hot Chocolate

Happiness in a mug….via Brandon Fick/Flickr

The Hot Chocolate And Cookies Reception

We thought of dispensing with our now traditional post-winter concert hot-chocolate …. for about a hot minute. And then, upon threat of mutiny, decided it was worth all the spills, drips, mess, and such. It’s the VCS winter concert dagnabbit. There shall be hot chocolate! Complete with cute little mini-marshmallows. Oh, and cookies. We always have cookies after our concerts. And this year, we’re fortunate to have them donated by Whole Foods Vienna. Mmm mmm good.

The Fun Factor!

We are blessed to be in an area where the local businesses have a strong sense of community. Our fall concert featured coffees by the much beloved Caffe Amouri. This concert we’re delighted to hold a raffle where you can enter to win prizes to local establishments. We are very grateful to Pure Pasty for donating a $20 gift certificate. And we’re thrilled that Donato’s Pizza has donated $125 gift certificate. We’ll also have gift certificates to iTunes and Amazon, ‘cuz we’re fun like that. Look for the raffle table, put your name in the box, and we’ll do the drawing at the end of intermission.

So there you go.

Really, how are you not gonna come to our concert? Great music, a good cause, yummy treats, prizes, and a two-hour “pause” that’ll leave you happy to go back out into the winter. What’s not to love?

Please come, won’t you? Tickets are $25 for adults, $20 for seniors (over 60)/students (15 – 18), and free for youth 14 and under. Volunteers also attend for free. If you’d like to volunteer, please sign up here!

Tickets are available online until Saturday morning. You can also purchase them directly from friends who are singing in the concert, and of course, we always have them at the door.

See you in a few days!

* fun + frenetic, kinda like frenemy. It’s the new W00t. Really. We’re just ahead of the curve.

Tagged With: 17th century broadside, all hail to the days, amazon, appalachian folk music, aruba, bahamas, caffe amouri, cookies, donato's pizza, eric whitacre, hot chocolate, iTunes, light and dark, little drummer boy, lux aurumque, muzak, pure pasty, SAD, sara bareilles, seasonal affective disorder, solstice, the winter blues, the women's center, virtual choir, welcome yule, whole foods vienna, winter song

Coffee House Concert: Counting Down and Buying Tickets!

October 1, 2013

Coffee_Poster

Artwork by Steven Keen of Keen Method

Here it is folks! The poster and details for our season opening concert, Coffee House Concert, at 7:30 pm, Saturday, October 26, 2013 at UUCF.

Tickets are now online.

All tickets, including SEASON TICKETS are available online until the morning of the show, after which we’ll have them at the door.

And if you’d like to become a Friend of VCS for some fabulous benefits – our fun decal and reserved seating, anyone? – you can still do that too.

We’ll have more details about the concert next week but here’s what you need to know: We’ll sing much loved contemporary pieces from The Beatles to Billy Joel, with The Turtles and Cindy Lauper thrown in for good measure. Oh yeah, and a good caffeine buzz and nibbles courtesy of our local partners – Caffe Amouri and Whole Foods Vienna.

Humming and candle apps of your choice are most welcome.

Tagged With: billy joel, caffe amouri, caffeine buzz, candle app, cindy lauper, coffee house concert, friends of vcs, reserved seating, season tickets, the beatles, the turtles, whole foods vienna

Kick-Off Is Nearly Here!

August 26, 2013

Have you missed singing? We sure have! So be sure to come to tomorrow’s kick-off. You can RSVP online, take a look at our membership info, and bring a friend if you want!

We’re particularly excited about this season for three reasons:

GregGrafNew Accompanist, Gregory Graf

We are looking forward to welcoming Greg Graf as our new accompanist* at VCS. Our director, Jen Rodgers Beach, informs us that we had some serious competition for the accompanist position. Goodness knows the applications kept coming in well after the deadline! But Greg was a serious contender from the get-go.

We welcome Greg to the VCSverse, and invite you to learn more about him.

(*That’s right. We bid a sad and fond farewell to That Fabulous Mark Vogel in May. Mark remains a good friend of VCS, and we will continue to enjoy his company and music through UUCF’s Chorale – where some of us also sing! 

393983_397250110291228_410974829_nCaffe Amouri, Our Favorite Coffee Shop

Not for nothing do VCS folk refer to Michael Amouri’s coffee shop as our unofficial headquarters. Many many serious strategy sessions, not so serious gab sessions, pre-rehearsal hydration pick-ups, and post-rehearsal “I need to stay awake” hydration mildly panicky pick-ups happen at Caffe Amouri. So we are delighted to inform you that Caffe A will partner with us for our 2013-14 opening show, A Coffee House Concert.

It makes perfect sense since Caffe A’s tagline – “Where Coffee Meets Community” – is so in keeping with our own community spirit! Caffe A will be providing beverages for our October concert, so you can get in the mood of the music. And yes, if you’re not a coffee drinker, there will be teas and decaf available during the show.

Tickets will be available to the public in early October – unless you get on our mailing list, in which case you’ll get early word of them. (There’s no magic to getting on our list, by the way, just sign up in the “subscribe” box – to your right on our website.)

185051_10151204893739344_60051740_nWhole Foods Vienna, Nom Nom

We’ve already told you about this, but we’re so thrilled at the prospect of no longer having to cater our own events that we’ll tell you again!

Whole Foods Vienna is going to partner with us and cater our events this season. We look forward to spending concert week from now on just focusing on the music, the better to do what we do – put on a great show for you, highlight our Concert For A Cause partners, and oh yeah, sing!

So please do come tomorrow! It’ll be tons of fun, and the food will be awesome.

 

 

Tagged With: caffe amouri, greg graf, jennifer rodgers beach, michael amouri, whole foods vienna

2013-14 Season Poster!

August 23, 2013

Season_Cover3_Web

Tagged With: caffe amouri, coffee house concert, concert for a cause, jennifer rodgers beach, light and dark, lullabies from around the world, pdq bach, steven keen, vienna choral society

About

Welcome to VCS! We are a teaching, non-audition choir where all voices and skill levels are welcome. We invite you to learn more about who we are, what we do, and if there's a place for you in our choir.

More questions? Drop us a line at

Click here for our terms and conditions

For Singers

Active choir members, find what you need here for rehearsal tracks, registration and dues, any membership updates, section leader information, Friends of VCS info, and more.

Contact

703-349-7150

PO Box 310, Vienna, VA 22183

Sponsorship

Would you like to sponsor us? We have a loyal, growing, diverse, educated, and discerning audience that considers it worth supporting the arts. Be part of this community! Email us with the word 'sponsorship' in the subject line at

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