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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

Get Ready To Sing! (Open) Rehearsal One

September 3, 2013

1237746_540044299384788_1126856181_n

VCS artistic director, Jennifer Rodgers Beach, talks to a full house with lots of newcomers at the August 27, 2013 season kick-off.

We had such a great kick off last week! Great turn out, lots of newcomers, fabulous food courtesy of Whole Foods Vienna, and we got to meet Greg Graf, our new accompanist. If you missed the fun, we have pictures up on our facebook page.

And now that we are well and truly ready to sing, Rehearsal One of the season is tonight, 7:15 pm, Tuesday, September 3, 2013. And as always, it will be an open rehearsal. Chances are you already know what that means. But in case you do not, here’s the skinny: [Read more…]

Tagged With: greg graf, non audition choir, open rehearsal, vocal placement, vocal screening, 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

Welcome Whole Foods Vienna – Our Newest Partner!

August 14, 2013

185051_10151204893739344_60051740_nWe are so fortunate and delighted to introduce you to our new partner  – welcome Whole Foods Vienna!

As you know – or have probably guessed by the look of our colorful but, um, uneven and sometimes rather interesting looking cookie table after each concert – the choir has always brought homemade goodies for our post-concert receptions. But as we’ve gotten bigger, and our concerts more complicated, that’s gotten kinda hairy.

Because basically what was happening was that our singers, especially the ones who made the really *good* stuff, were basically baking and icing and wrapping when they should have been note-pounding on Saturday morning of show night. And then there was the schleping in of the goodies in their dress blacks.

It was a lot of energy directed away from the concert on show night, particularly during our important concerts for a cause.

In May, when we had the combined choir two-show season ender, “Opera For The People” with The Reston Chorale, our beloved choir tradition finally became ….more quaint and less practical.

Enter, the wonderful folks at Whole Foods Vienna! They will be a great help to us this season – we are grateful for their generous donation and look forward to a great partnership with them, beginning with the season kick-off, which is less than two weeks away.

We also look forward to a season of singing for you. Without wondering if we turned off the oven before leaving the house en deshabille with cookies in one hand and tux/hose/dress shoes in the other…

Tagged With: whole foods vienna

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.

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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

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