Messiah....Refreshed!

Choeurs au Diapason was set up in June 2004 by Annick Deschamps, musician, Choir director, conductor and professional lyric artist, holder of distinguished french and foreign honors. The Choir gathers 140 singers from the South of France, all of them volunteers. Its repertoire includes sacred songs, classical songs, gospels, movie music and modern songs. The Choir provides its support freely to charities and humanitarian organizations (Lions Club, Rotary Club, Unicef, Order of Malta). Up to now, the Choir has organized concerts in France (Paris, Lyon, Marseille, Chartres), Italy (Rome), Belgium (Brussels, Antwerp, Brugge), Spain (Barcelona), United Kingdom (London), Monaco.

Coral Municipal Zanzalá, from Cubatão City, Brazil, emerged in 1978 at the Conservatório Musical de Cubatão (Musical Conservatory. With an experimental design, it has become a regional reference for technical quality and stage performance of its singers. Nowadays it has 60 singers, with an adjunt conductor, Fernanda Tavares. In the past 30 years, it has produced several shows: Alexander Nevsky, composed by Prokofiev; Opera Café, composed by Koellreutter; Opera do Malandro, composed by Chico Buarque; Queen Sinfônico (Queen Band) and Help! (Beatles), sharing the stage with Cubatao Symphonic Band. The group has developed an eclectic repertoire ranging from classical to contemporary, including Popular Brazilian Music, Negro Spirituals, Popular Songbook Choral and World Music.

Betty Whitbeck, Heber Morales and Juliana O'Connor are all residents of Guatemala City. Betty and Juliana are originally from the United States and Heber is a native Guatemalan. The three are well-known in Guatemala for their love of music and for the desire to make a positive contribution to the community. They have contributed long hours to the Messiah Concert project in Guatemala – Betty as Executive Producer; Heber as Music Director and Juliana as Choir Coordinator and member of the soprano section of the choir. Now in its eleventh year the Messiah Concert project has donated funds to various educational centers and has become a Christmas season tradition for many families.

The Douglas County Chamber Singers values musicianship, proficiency, community spirit, diversity, and enjoyment of music. Under the direction of Vickie Orme since 2002, The Chamber Singers aspire to provide high quality choral music to the Douglas County community. Members of the Chamber Singers have performed Mozart’s Requiem at Carnegie Hall and in Vienna, Austria. The Chamber Singers have also received both local and state recognition for their service to the community in 2012. The Douglas County Board of Commissioners issued a proclamation and the Georgia House of Representatives passed a resolution recognizing and commending the Douglas County Chamber Singers for their accomplishments.

Chorus History The Flint Hills Messiah Chorus and Chamber Orchestra traces its roots to the late 1980's when the KANZA conference of the United Methodist Church organized an ecumenical performance of 'Messiah' three times before the Wamego Council of Churches and a steering committee of volunteers from the area took the reins of the organization in 1991 and named it The Flint Hills Messiah Chorus. The all volunteer chorus has gathered each year since, except 2000, to perform portions of 'Messiah' during the Easter season. In the beginning, less than forty people sang in the chorus. Over the years the chorus has swelled to eighty members. Until 1998, an organist and pianist accompanied the chorus when the chamber orchestra was added to the performance. The instruments include violin, viola, cello, bass, flute, trombone, bassoon, French horn, piccolo trumpet, trumpet, keyboard, timpani, oboe and clarinet. Over the years, talented people have given countless hours in practicing and organizing this performance. It is truly a labor of love.

Brian Dearing has been an active church musician from an early age. His professional musical career began in 1979, when he became Organist and Choirmaster of St. Adalbert’s Church (R.C.) in Schenectady, NY. Since then, he has served four Catholic and two Lutheran congregations in five cities in the US and the UK. While living in the UK, he served as a clinician for the Northampton Diocese in Choral Conducting and Organ Improvisation. He holds the Service Playing Certificate from the American Guild of Organists and is currently Director of Music for Grace Lutheran Church in Thiensville, WI. In addition to his musical activities, he has a successful four decade career in business, and currently runs a private consulting practice. He and his wife, Cindy, live in Mequon, WI. 

Jerrode Baker Marsh received her DMA in Piano Performance from UT Austin and has performed extensively in the United States, Germany, Austria and England. In 1998 she moved to Germany and has been regularly performing, teaching and conducting numerous choir concerts with orchestra. In 2010 she founded the Trinity International Concert Choir, e.V., which actively seeks to promote a high performance standard of work that reflect the diverse international membership of the choir, while simultaneously emphasizing the value of every individual within the choir. She is also the Director of Music at Trinity Lutheran Church in Frankfurt.