In the spring of 1970, Harrisonburg attorney, David Hatmaker, issued a “call for singers” for the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival that was to be held in Orkney Springs. This call was in the form of a letter to every church that had a choir in the central Shenandoah Valley and surrounding counties to the north, south, east and west. The letter invited choir singers to participate as a group to perform the final movement of Beethoven Symphony No. 9. That invitation made many mouths water to be able to perform with a symphony orchestra and be a part of something that sounded so wonderful. The response was overwhelming!
About 200 singers showed up for the first organizing rehearsal at Madison College. The group learned a movement from Handel’s Messiah in one evening and performed it as the audition for Dr. Richard Lert, who was to be the Music Festival conductor. Dr. Lert taught a workshop for symphony conductors at the Festival each summer. Following a performance of “Ode to Joy” that summer, plans were formulated to assemble the mass choir again in the summer of 1971 to perform Haydn’s “The Creation” with the symphony orchestra.
For singers in church choirs around our area, this was singing in the “Top Drawer.” It soon became apparent that the group could do this again and again and love the doing! The singers formed the Shenandoah Valley Choral Society [SVCS] and Dr. Gordon Ohlsson, Chairman of the Music Department of Madison College, served as choral conductor. Several performances were given each year through the 1970s and into the early 1980s, when Dr. Kenneth J. Nafziger, Chairman of the Music Department of Eastern Mennonite College, became the SVCS choral conductor.
Concert venues included local auditoriums and churches in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Harrisonburg. In the early 1980s, summer performances included fully staged productions of light operas by Gilbert and Sullivan. The Choral Society continued to perform Beethoven Symphony No. 9 when it was part of the Shenandoah Valley Music Festival line-up every few years in Orkney Springs.
In the late 1980s, the annual three-performance schedule was established, and Gretchen Welch became choral director in 1987. It was about this time that the July performances with the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Concert Band was evolved into the current, Celebrate America! patriotic/pops concert that is held on the eve of Independence Day. This particular concert has won its way into the hearts of many in our community, especially our veterans from all branches of military service, who are recognized and honored each year. The December concert is Christmas-flavored and the April concert is our most “classical event.”
Scott Williamson was named choral director in 1997, followed by Gretchen Welch’s return in 1999. Curtis Nolley took the position in 2000.
Today the SVCS is a non-audition choral group comprised of over 125 active members. We provide young soloists the opportunity to perform with us. Our repertoire includes cantata, oratorio, and a cappella works, as well as patriotic music, show tune favorites and standard classics. Our accompaniment includes orchestra and other beautiful instruments including piano, harp, organ, and hammered dulcimer.
Choral Directors
Dr. Gordon Ohlsson – 1970-77
Dr. Kenneth J. Nafziger – 1977-87
Gretchen W. Welch – 1987-97
Scott Williamson – 1997-99
Gretchen W. Welch – 1999-2000
Curtis Nolley – 2000-present