The Schoharie Valley Singers will present “Joy to the World and Peace on Earth” concerts on Friday, Dec. 13, at Cobleskill-Richmondville High School, and on Saturday, Dec. 14, at the Duanesburg Reformed Presbyterian Church.

Both concerts begin at 7:30 p.m. Tickets are $8 presale and $9 at the door on the evening of the concert. Children under age 14 are admitted for free.

“The program will include music that reflects both the joy of the holiday season and the longing for the peace that it brings,” said Robert Holt, the Singers’ president, in an announcement.

Selections will include traditional Christmas and holiday songs like “Joy to the World” as well as contemporary Christmas songs like “Mary, Did You Know.” 

The concert will also include contemporary choral composer Ola Gjeilo’s setting of the Latin text “Ubi Caritas,” and the upbeat African-American Spiritual “Ain’t That a-Rockin.” The end of the concert will feature “Let There Be Peace on Earth,” arranged by the artistic director, Benjamin April.

Soprano Michela Crescimanno-Dominguez, a senior at Middleburgh Central School, will perform solos with the choir on “Mary Did You Know” and “O Holy Night” as well as singing a solo selection.

The Schoharie Valley Singers were originally founded in 1979 as The Depot Lane Singers by the late Frances B. Tripp after she retired from teaching music at Schoharie High School. In 2005, direction of the group was passed to Mitch Haverly, a retired music teacher from Berne-Knox-Westerlo Central School.

Earlier this year, the Depot Lane Singers were renamed as the Schoharie Valley Singers and incorporated as an independent not-for-profit organization. At that time, Middleburgh High School music teacher Benjamin April was named as the third director of the Singers. 

These programs are made possible, in part, with public funds from the Decentralization Program of the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, administered through the Community Arts Grant Fund in Schoharie County by the Greene County Council on the Arts.
More information is available at schoharievalleysingers@gmail.com.