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	Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Masterworks Chorus presents 2005 holiday concerts

The Masterworks Chorus of the Shenandoah Valley will present its 2005 Joyeux Noel Concert, “The Joys of Christmas.”

This year’s program will include Midnight Mass for Christmas by Marc-Antoine Charpentier and the Candlelight Carol by John Rutter. On the lighter side the chorus will sing Frosty the Snow Man and Jingle Bells. Jingle Bells will be presented “with an exciting variation.”

The Masterworks Camerata will perform selections from The Ceremony of Carols by Benjamin Britten, as well as carol parts in the Midnight Mass for Christmas. Encore (formerly the Masterworks Quartet) will also perform several seasonal selections.

Concerts dates are set for:

· Thursday, December 8, 2005, 7:30 p.m., Strasburg Christian Church

· Friday, December 9, 2005, 7:30 p.m., St. Paul’s United Church of Christ, Woodstock

· Sunday, December 11, 2005, 3:00 p.m., New Market Reformation Lutheran Church

Tickets are available from any chorus member or by calling (540) 477-9514. Admission is $10 for adult ($8.00 in advance), children 18 and under are admitted free of charge.

Tickets also available from Tracy Miller at Edward Jones Investments on Main St. in Edinburg, (540) 984-3738.

Tickets may also be purchased from a chorus member or online at www.masterworkschorus.com. For more information call (540) 856-3499.

About the Masterworks Chorus artistic director and accompanist

In the fall of 2002, Harlen Miller became the artstic director of Masterworks Chorus. He earned his BA in Music Theory from Walla Walla College, attended Graduate level study at Westminster Choir College, and completed his MA in Conducting from Ball State University. In his professional career, Mr. Miller has taught music at the high school and college level throughout the U.S. and also in Brazil and Puerto Rico. He has directed various church choirs and was assistant conductor of the 120-voice Orange County Master Chorale and the 35-voice Northern California Chamber Singers, a semi-professional choir where he was also a tenor soloist. Currently he is Chairman of the Music Department and Director of Choirs, Strings, and Orchestra at Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market, VA.

Educated at Indiana University School of Music, accompanist Barbara Strong has been director of community and church choirs for 35 years in the Southeastern and Midwestern United States, and music director and accompanist for the Lake Wylie Community Theatre in River Hills, South Carolina. She has served as accompanist for Metropolitan Opera Auditions and for Concerto competitions at the Curtis Institute in Philadelphia and the Juliard School in New York. She was the accompanist for the winner of the Young Artists Award, sponsored by the Lincoln Center in New York City. Barbara also has a large resume of vocal performances in various operas and solo concerts.

Ms. Strong currently teaches piano and strings privately and at the Shenandoah Valley Academy in New Market, and also is director and organist at the New Market Reformation Lutheran Church. She also directs Theater Shenandoah in Edinburg. In 1998, she won the Shenandoah Arts Council's Artie Award for Drama.