Audition Dates Announced—Wednesday, September 8th through Saturday, September 18, 2010

For  more information or to schedule an audition for The Virginia Consort , The Consort Festival Chorus, or the Consort Youth Chorale (including both Treble and High School Choirs) , contact Aina Arnold at 244-8444

Thoughts from Judith Gary...On Celebrating The Virginia Consort's 20th Anniversary Season!

First, has it really been 20 years? I can look back and remember preparing and directing each and every piece, but it feels like we’ve been hard at it for about six years – eight at the most. And yet as I look back, the richness and depth of the experience tells me that, yes indeed, a whole bunch of years have gone into making this organization what it is today. When we began, we hadn’t even planned on performing anything. One thing led to another, enthusiasm and hard work trumped the worries, we kept adding choruses, and this season we now find ourselves the umbrella organization for six choirs, four for children and youth plus our two adult choruses.

I am grateful for all of it, the obvious things and the not so obvious. The obvious, of course would be the music, all that wonderful, gorgeous, spirited, sometimes silly and fun, often heart wrenching, extraordinary music. Having the opportunity to study and recreate all the music we have done, at the level of professionalism towards which we strive, has been amazing. Not so obvious but equally important are all those who have chosen to build this organization along with me. I have to mention our wonderful founding member Steve Nock whom we lost several years ago, tenor extraordinaire, award-winning professor at UVA, and a beautiful human being.

As a music director, my life is divided up into blocks of concert preparation times. While Christmas preparation for me begins in June, the real block starts in the fall with auditions. Then there’s the winter block and the spring block. Each block has a kind of rhythm to it. There’s the initial learning period when few things sound very good, there’s the build-up to attaining some real competence with each piece, and then there is the concert drawing closer and closer, like some kind of musical tsunami. I think most would be surprised at the intensity of it all. The title “Music Director” sounds so mild, while the actual experience is far from that. I am grateful for each and every note and each person who has sung them. I am especially grateful to all those who come to listen. When I used to sing in choirs myself, I had such an enjoyment of it that it made the world seem healed and all things right, at least while the music lasted. If those singing with us and those hearing us can have an experience close to that, I feel we’ve done well by them. I’ll take another 20 years, please!.