Author Archives: RiverChor

Join us Sunday for “A Choral Cornucopia”, then on Monday for “Messiah” rehearsals!

RiverChor, the Gateway Area’s community choir, presents their fall concert at 2:00pm on Sunday, November 13, at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton, IA. The concert is free, donations are appreciated.

Entitled “A Choral Cornucopia”, the concert explores a wide range of choral standards from William Billings (the first American choral composer), to Mozart, Distler, Dello Joio, and Copeland. The choir will also present some fun pieces by Irving Fine, Merle Travis, and Fats Waller.

The 40 member choir is directed by Karl Wolf, the pianist is Christine Holmer. RiverChor will also be joined by the talents of violinists Julie Marston and Kristen Jones. Maureen Pollpeter will partner with Holmer on two 4-in-Hand piano pieces.

On Monday, November 14, RiverChor invites community singers to join them in rehearsals for the 91st annual “Messiah” performance. Practice will be at 7pm each Monday in the Great Hall of 1st Presbyterian Church in Clinton. The free concert will take place at 2:00 pm on Sunday, December 18 at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton.

A Choral Cornucopia – RiverChor Fall Concert

RiverChor is pleased to announce their fall concert, entitled “A Choral Cornucopia”, which will take place at 2pm on Sunday, November 13 at Zion Lutheran Church in Clinton. From Billings to Mozart to Fats Waller and Copeland, there is something for everyone. Mark your calendar and spread the word, we’ll see you at the concert!

RiverChor Announces Dates for 18th Season

Mark these dates on your calendar!

Fall Concert
Sunday, November 13, 2:00pm
Zion Lutheran Church

Messiah
Sunday, December 18, 2:00pm
Zion Lutheran Church

Spring Concert
Sunday, April 30, 2:00pm
Zion Lutheran Church

The choir will begin rehearsals on Monday, September 12, 7-9pm. If you are interested in joining the choir, please use the Contact Form , and we’ll provide you with more information.

Messiah is open to anyone who would like to sing, this will be Year 2 of our 3 year cycle. We will perform the majority of Part 1 and selections from Parts 2 and 3 with piano. Rehearsals will begin in mid to late November; we will announce here, in the Clinton Herald, and to our Email List, you may subscribe in the sidebar —->

We look forward to singing with or for you this upcoming 2022-2023 season!

See you for our 2022-23 season!

Thanks so much for your support this past year. Want to stay up-to-date on RiverChor and Messiah happenings, for both singers and listeners? Please use the E-mail list sign up in the sidebar to have it delivered right to your inbox! ——–>>>

The Language of Love – RiverChor’s Spring 2022 Concert

Please mark your calendar now for RiverChor’s spring concert! Entitled “The Language of Love” the choir has prepared music in 5 languages.

Program:

A Collection of Madrigals – various – English

Liebeslieder Walzer – Johannes Brahms – German

Dirait On – Morten Lauridsen – French

Five Hebrew Love Songs – Eric Whitacre – Hebrew

Eres Tu – Juan Calderon Lopez (arr. Robert Delgado) – Spanish

It’s a Grand Night for Singing – Rodgers and Hammerstein – English

The concert is free, donations are welcome as they fund music for the next concert. We’ll see you at Zion Lutheran on April 24th at 2:00 pm!

Join us for the annual Messiah Sing Along

Please join us for Clinton’s annual Messiah Sing Along! We welcome singers and audience for this informal event. We’ll have scores for you, or bring your own. Park and enter in the rear of St. Paul’s (the church at the foot of the south bridge, and behind Sterling Federal Bank). St. Paul’s recommends masks (but not required), and they have pews marked off for social distancing. Karl Wolf will be our host and director, and Christine Holmer will provide her talents on piano. Join us for a lovely afternoon to kick off the Christmas season!

RiverChor Fall Concert – With Hope We Shall Rise

RiverChor will present their fall concert on Sunday, November 21, at 3:00pm. The concert will explore songs of crisis, including “Think on Me” and Haydn’s “Agnus Dei”; and songs of hope such as “Saints Bound for Heaven”, “I Shall Not Live in Vain”, and “Hope is Like a Feather”.

The concert is free, donations are appreciated.

Program to include:

Saints Bound for Heaven …… arr. Parker/Shaw

Mass in Time of War – Agnus Dei …… Joseph Haydn

O Vos Omnes ….. Tomas Luis de Victoria

Sing, My Child ….. Sarah Quartel

Think On Me …… James Mulholland

I Shall Not Live In Vain ….. Ruth Morris Gray

Time……. Benjamin Britten

Concord ……. Benjamin Britten

Al Shlosha D’varim …. Alan E. Naplan

I Will Be A Child of Peace …. Elaine Haggenburg

Find the Cost of Freedom (Men) ….. Stephen Stills

Hope is the Thing with Feathers (Women) …. Susan LaBarr

Covid protocols: The choir has been rehearsing in masks, and will wear them for the concert. We will have full lyrics available. Zion Lutheran recommends masks as per CDC for the audience, however they are not required. Seating is general admission, you are welcome to sit as close or far from others as you are comfortable.

DIY Messiah

While circumstances are preventing us from having a live performance of Messiah this year (which would have been the 89th year in our local tradition), we’d like to invite you to sing along to our performance in 2015.

If you do not have your own score, you may download the G. Schirmer version by clicking below:
G. Schirmer Messiah Score PDF Download

We’d love to hear your stories about Messiah past….join the conversation on Facebook. We wish you a Merry Christmas, and hope that 2021 will bring opportunities to sing once again!