The Fairfax Choral Society Celebrates its 50th Anniversary!

February 8, 2012

Fairfax Choral Society Celebrates its 50th Anniversary!

This year the Fairfax Choral Society will celebrate its 50th Anniversary through various special events and opportunities.  

Started in 1962 by a small group interested in performing Handel's Messiah, the Fairfax Choral Society has grown to include over 300 singers in nine performing ensembles and sixteen musicianship classes.

With opportunities for singers age two through adult, FCS has a place for everyone to explore the richness of choral music.  As the organization continues to expand, always at the heart is the mission to enrich the lives we touch through the performance, education, and appreciation of choral art.

Special performances this season will include the multimedia retrospective concert, Into the Light on March 24, 2012 at 8:00 p.m. at Rachel M. Schlesinger Concert Hall and Arts Center.  This concert will feature works this history and future of FCS including Beethoven's Elegischer Gesang, Vaughan Williams' Serenade to Music, Randall Thompson's Choose Something Like a Star, Morten Lauridsen's Lux Aeterna, and Dolly Parton's Light of a Clear Blue Morning.

The Youth Choruses will present The Poetry of Music: Shall We Dance? through a special collaboration with the Fairfax County Public Schools, Bowen McCauley Youth Dance Company, and Minds Wide Open: Virginia Celebrates Children in the Arts on March 27, 2012 at 7:00 p.m. This multi-disciplinary event will include three world-premiere compositions by Betty Bertaux, Ken Carter, and Douglas Mears based on the poetry of public school students.  The event will include an art exhibit of pieces created based on the poetry and special dance performances to the commissioned works as well. 

The season will culminate in two special education and appreciation events as part of our anniversary concert, An Afternoon with Z. Randall Stroope on May 12, 2012 at National Presbyterian Church at 4:00 p.m.  In addition to the world-premiere of Sonetos de Garcilaso, commissioned by FCS to celebrate the 50th Anniversary, Dr. Stroope will hold a conducting and composition workshop as well as a pre-concert conversation.  

We hope you'll consider joining us for one of the special 50th Anniversary celebrations!

Questions, comments, and requests can be directed to Christi Esterly Schwarten, Executive Director, [email protected] or 703-642-3277.