Virginia State University Concert Choir to present Annual Fall Concert "Come Let Us Sing"

PETERSBURG, Va. - Nov. 2, 2022 - PRLog -- The Virginia State University Concert Choir conducted by Interim Director Patrick D. McCoy will present The Annual Fall Concert on Sunday, November 13, 2022 at 4 PM in Anderson-Turner Auditorium-Virginia Hall located at 1 Hayden Drive, Petersburg, VA on the campus of Virginia State University. Accompanied by Timothy L. Hall, the choir will sing works by  René Clausen, Howard Helvey, Franz Schubert, Undine Smith Moore and Moses G.Hogan among others.

The Virginia State University Concert Choir first achieved musical eminence under the  leadership of the legendary J. Harold Montague.  So effective and successful was he in introducing and developing an a cappella tradition that the choir soon became known on the tour circuit as the Virginia State A cappella Choir.  This love for artistic unaccompanied singing was nurtured by Montague's successors, Mozart Frazier, Aldrich Adkins, Oscar Henry, Eugene Simpson, Carl Harris and Johnnella Lucas Edmonds, who recently retired from the university as Director of Choral Activities after a 50 year tenure in the department of music.  In recent years, accompanied repertoire was added to the programs for variety and in order to provide a more balanced exposure to great choral literature.  Past collaborations have included performances with The Richmond Symphony Orchestra in the presentation of such works such as Beethoven's Ninth Symphony, the Requiems of Brahms and Verdi Ginastera's Psalm 150, Honegger's King David, Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music and Undine Smith Moore's Scenes from the Life of a Martyr.

Currently, the choir is led by interim director Patrick D. McCoy, a 2000 alumnus of the university and a former student of Edmonds, having sung under her direction in the university concert choir, as well as being among her former voice students.  Recently, the choir participated in a performance of the 'Defiant Requiem' at The Music Center at Strathmore under the baton of Maestro Murray Sidlin, featuring the choirs of University of VA, Virginia Commonwealth University, Longwood University, American University and Catholic University with full orchestra and professional soloists. Accompanist Timothy L. Hall is a two time graduate of the prestigious Westminster Choir College where he studied organ with Joan Lippincott.  He currently serves as Organist and Choirmaster at Christ and Grace Episcopal Church in Petersburg, VA.

The concert is free and open to the public.  For more information about the concert, please e-mail pdmccoy@vsu.edu or call (804) 524-5332.