On Tuesday the voice choir, made up of about 50 members, will perform at 7 p.m. in the sanctuary of Auburn First Baptist Church located at 128 East Glenn Avenue.
Dale Peterson, director of the East Alabama Civic Chorale, said this concert will be comprised of a wide variety of both new and old music, with songs that have been written within the past few years and some that are over 200 years old.
The older pieces will include the renaissance carol “Lo! How a Rose E’er Blooming” by Praetorius and selections from Handel’s beloved oratorio, “MESSIAH.” The newer pieces will include compositions by John Rutter, Dan Forrest and Vicki Courtney as well as a premiere of “To Call My True Love,” which was commissioned by The Civic Chorale from composer, Charles McCartha.
Peterson said he and the singers are excited to be making music together again.
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“These are people who enjoy singing. That’s why they participate, so they’re just so happy to be able to be singing again and then to be able to share it,” Peterson said. “And of course, there is something special about Christmas music.”
The members of the choir come from all over East Alabama to share their passion for singing. They range in age from college students to senior adults.
“I think music unites people in a way that is hard to describe and in a way that very few other things unite people. That is true not only of the performers, but of the listener,” Peterson said.
Peterson moved to Auburn in 1973 to be the minister of music at Auburn First Baptist Church where he held that position for 41 years. He also taught part time in the music department at Auburn University for 9 years, but has since, retired from both positions.
In the past, he also wrote and composed music for the East Alabama Civic Chorale and knew several of the members, so when he was asked to be the director, he said it was definitely something he would enjoy doing.
In 2019, Peterson became the director of the choir. He directed the Christmas concert that year and was preparing for the annual spring concert when the pandemic shut down rehearsals about a month away from the concert date in 2020.
“Singing by its very nature just made it one of the more dangerous things one could do with an airborne disease like COVID,” he said.
There were two occasions when he believed the choir would be able to start rehearsing again only for another variant of the disease to pop up, but finally, the group was able to get back together in September to begin preparations for the 2022 Christmas concert.
The concert is free to the public and all are welcome to attend. Peterson said an offering will be collected and half of the funds will be donated to the East Alabama Food Bank.
“I want to promote the arts all we can, but I also think there is a side that we also need to think of the needy in our community,” Peterson said.
Once he became the director, he knew he wanted to find a way to give back to the community and decided they could use the donations from the offering to help feed the hungry in East Alabama through the food bank.
Peterson said this is something they plan to continue doing with each concert.
The East Alabama Civic Chorale is still in the process of rebuilding the choir and Peterson said they will be accepting more singers in January.