In a world of political, economic, and personal disintegrations, music is not a luxury but a necessity . . . . . . . . . . because it is the persistent focus of human intelligence, aspiration and good will."   -  Robert Shaw

2005-2006 marked a very special year in the life of OUR Valley Chorus as we celebrated OUR 50TH ANNIVERSARY.  In the fall of 1955, OUR "valley chorus" was formed under the direction of Arthur Rae and held its first rehearsal on October 17, 1955. Quite by accident, our chorus scheduled our fall social dinner in 2005 on the exact same date as the original first rehearsal. When THIS was pointed out to us by one of our original members, Harry Patterson, we had reason to celebrate the occasion. The first concert OF our newly formed group was Handel’s Messiah which was performed on January 1956 and was very well received by the 600 people who attended.  in March of the same year the chorus performed Brahm’s Requiem before an audience of 500.  At the end of the first year the chorus again performed the Messiah which was telecast by Elmira Channel 24 and was sponsored by the Ingersoll-Rand.

The first Pop Concert by the group was performed in May of 1959. Hard to believe but for some reason by the fall of the same year there seemed to be a lack of interest in the group and finances were in the RED so there was no concert for the holidays and the group was disorganized until the following fall. By the fall of 1960 some work HAD BEEN done on the OVERALL make up of the organization and with a lot of work and dedication on many peoples part, they were able to begin aNEW and successfully held a holiday concert.  schedules were made for three concerts a year. The concert schedule eventually settled into two major concerts each year - Christmas and Spring. Since then there have been many highs and lows with the chorus as is true of anY ORGANIZATION, but the true testimony is that THE "VALLEY CHORUS" has withstOOd the test of THE PAST 50 years and is going strongER THAN EVER!

Through the years the chorus has performed many large works as well as smaller ones with cantatas and masses to add to the more serious style music. In 1986 the chorus undertook its largest challenge in all of its years with four "SOLD OUT" performances of the musical - "The Sound of Music".  many who attended and performed still hold that to be the pinnacle of all of the 50 years OF VALLEY CHORUS. It was truly A PRODUCTION worthy of competing with THE national touring company versions of the musical. One thing that certainly sets this group apart from many others is that they are capable of performing all kinds of music with the energy necessary to do every kind justice. The chorus is a non-profit organization that is held together by the love of music and the enjoyment of learning and performing for our ever-dedicated audiences. We have been very blessed to have the support of both the communities surrounding our performing areas and the individuals who recognize the importance of music in our DAILY lives.

We have had eleven MUSIC directors over the PAST 50 years and eight of them returned for our big 50TH anniversary concert HELD on May 13, 2006.  Each and every member of our group is a very important part of the entire organization. Many of our members do huge amounts of extra work behind the scenes to make VALLEY CHORUS successful. We are greater in number than we have EVER been and that is key to the uniform concept that positive thinking and planning are essential to the longevity of our group. We are very blessed to have such a productive spectrum of voices come together each week and have a wonderful time creating music that fills our hearts and souls with the fruits of what music is all about. If you are not sure how music influences our lives everyday, just take a moment to think about life without any music. We sincerely thank each and everyone of you for your unwavering support of the Valley Chorus and We look forward to presenting quality music in the Valley for at least another 50 years!