Discover Smith Mountain Lake
WINTER 2016
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of the National Christmas Tree Lighting Ceremony
at the White House in DC. Additionally, the choir
was selected to sing at the 2008 and 2014 Southern
Division American Choral Directors Association
(ACDA) Convention in Florida. At the 2015 National
ACDA Convention in Salt Lake City, they sang in the
Mormon Tabernacle Cathedral, home of the famed
Mormon Tabernacle Choir.
In order to perform at the ACDA conventions, the
choir was required to audition. This did not involve
a live competition; instead, they were asked to
enter a recording of three songs that they had sung
during performances from the past three years. It
was a “blind” competition, meaning that Judges
weren’t told which choir they were hearing. It was
Kirsti who went through the choir’s archives of
recordings and selected the entries. Out of the 250
entries, only 24 were chosen to perform, which is an
indication of the quality of the local choir.
The choir has also performed on three different
occasions at Carnegie Hall in New York with a solo
performance. Other festivals include the Pacific
Rim Festival in Hawaii, Canterbury Cathedral in
England, one in Chicago, and an international
festival at Niagara Falls. In an upcoming event, the
choir will be attending the Canterbury and London
International Festival for young singers in July
2017.
Ms. Davidson has the choir divided into various
levels, depending on the ages of the children and
the levels of training that are offered. The “A” choir
is the youngest level, and includes children from 7
to 9 years old (2
nd
to 4
th
grades). This is a training
level choir, and each child must remain in it for one
year before advancing to the B choir.
The B choir is for ages 8 – 11 (3
rd
to 6
th
grades). It
offers intermediate training for one year, and then
choristers are moved to the B+ choir for children
ages 9 – 14 (4
th
grade to 9
th
grade). This is the most
advanced choir. After completion of this training,
choristers graduate to the Concert Choir, which is
the highest level in RVCC and is open to singers 12
– 18 years old (7
th
to 12
th
grade).
To become a member of RVCC, each child must
complete a “five minute, friendly” audition, which
will be conducted either by appointment, or at
specified times and dates. Audition dates are listed
on the choir’s website, along with videos of some of
their performances.
Auditions are held at Hollins University on
Williamson Road. To learn more, call 540-676-7265.
Or email
.
