The Rogue Valley Peace Choir will launch its 20th Anniversary Season on Thursday, September 8, at the First United Methodist Church of Ashland at 175 N. Main Street. Registration begins at 6:00, with rehearsal running from 6:30 to 8:30. ALL are welcome! More information at http://www.roguevalleypeacechoir.org.
In 2003, Diane Garcia returned home to Ashland after living in Eugene where she loved singing with the Eugene Peace Choir. Diane contacted friends Su Rolle, Dawn Sinnott, and neighbor LindaGail Campbell to help organize a similar peace choir in the Rogue Valley. She knew Dave Marston, and he agreed to direct. Fliers were posted around town. “If 25 people showed up, we would have been happy,” recalled Diane. “And 75 arrived that first September night, and we were thrilled!”
Prior to the covid-19 pandemic, the choir performed regularly at events such as World AIDS Day, Earth Day, and Martin Luther King Jr. Day observances. In 2006 the choir traveled to Japan to sing for peace in Hiroshima. During the 2014-15 season, the choir hosted a sold-out event at Southern Oregon University featuring Peace Choirs from throughout the Northwest.
Like most choirs in the area, the Peace Choir took a long hiatus during the height of the pandemic, with choir members deeply missing the chance to sing together and to celebrate being a community of caring devoted to peace, justice and environmental sustainability. An abbreviated, but satisfying, spring season ran from February to June of this year, and now everyone is getting ready for a full “2022-23 Season” with seventeen beautiful songs in the repertoire.
Jerry Campbell, the new Director of the RVPC, said that “We have a team of people who carefully select our music to ensure that it is musically appealing while addressing in some way the desperate need we have in our world for Peace, Justice and a connection with the environment that is caring and sustainable.”
The Rogue Valley Peace Choir is a secular, non-audition choir that welcomes anyone who can carry a tune. Come and see what fun it is to sing with others who share a caring passion for the world we live in.
