Clara Belle Palmer DeLill is in her sixth season as Valley Chorus director.  She first joined the Valley Chorus in 1966 when she was a senior in high school.  She had her first solo with the group in her first December concert with the group.  Since then she has had a 44 year association with the chorus only interrupted by her years away in college.  

    Then three years when she first became an instant mother of five when she married her husband Bob and when they added two more children.   She started piano lessons at age of three, organ lessons at eight followed by voice lessons at ten.  At seven she began accompanying her elementary school chorus and continued until high school when she changed to singing.  She was fortunate to have many solos through high school, participating in every level of competition singing and as a result was a selected for choruses from county to the All-Eastern level.  

    While still in high school she began college courses at Oberlin Conservatory of Music between her junior and senior years in their accelerated bachelor of music program.  After graduation from high school she continued her studies in Princeton, New Jersey at Westminster.  She was a double major in music education and church music.  While there she sang in the world renowned Westminster Choir and with the New York Philharmonic Orchestra under the direction of Leonard Bernstein, Stokowski, Sir Arthur Bliss and many others.

    She did graduate studies at Ithaca College.  When returning to the Valley after college she rejoined the Valley Chorus and enjoyed many other opportunities to sing solos.  When the group's originator, Art Rae, asked her to fill the accompanying needs, she reverted back to accompanying  for the next 20 seasons.  She still was given the chance to sing a few solos when asked by directors of the chorus.  Her true love has always been singing as it is the ultimate form of musical performance with a direct line of communication to your listening audience.

    Over a career spanning some 44 years she has held many church music positions not missing too many denominations in the process.  At fourteen she was asked to assume the organist position for the Waverly Methodist Church.  Belle is currently  the organist and choir director at the Sayre Presbyterian Church, a position she has held for over 30 years.

     She was a member of the vocal department staff at Waverly High School for eleven years.  She has had a private teaching practice for piano, organ and voice instruction for the past 40 years. In her spare time she and her husband owned Kelly's Corner Ice Cream in Elmira for 15 years.

    While doing her thing with marketing she discovered another hidden talent, one with wax.  She started reproducing some of their unique ultimate sundae line with wax which, in 2000, became her newest challenge, her candle business, Delightful Candle Designs.  She continues to create and design many very unusual candles, marketing them at juried art shows across the US. You can check out her website on the internet at www.delightfulcandledesigns.com.

     The Valley Chorus extends our SINCERE thanks to Belle for taking time out of her very busy schedule to share her talents AND LOVE OF MUSIC with ALL OF us.

AT THE 1719 ARP SCHNITGER ORGAN - GROTE OF ST. MICHAELSKERK - ZWOLLE, HOLLAND

     Larry Hoey is a consummate musician whose twenty-nine year affiliation with the Valley Chorus began in 1981.  During those years, Larry served as our guest accompanist.  In 2004 he was named our official accompanist.

     Larry began his musical journey at the age of 6 with formal piano studies under the guidance of his devoted teacher and mentor, Erba Dunne.  In 3rd grade, he was accompanying his elementary music teacher on the piano while she taught vocal classes.  At the age of 10, Larry began playing the "King of Instruments", the pipe organ for worship services and has been performing on the bench ever since.  

     In 7th grade, Larry was named pianist of the Sayre High School senior Jazz Band, a position heretofore awarded solely to upper classmen.  In the mid-60's, Larry was influenced by Felix Cavaliere, the mastermind and driving force behind the rock 'n' roll hall of fame group, "The Rascals".  Fittingly, Larry's high school years were divided between studying classical music and performing in rock bands.  During his early College years, Larry toured the Hullabaloo and College rock 'n' roll Circuit, performing in concert throughout Europe and renowned Concert Halls including New York's Carnegie Hall.

     A 1969 graduate of Athens High School, Larry studied organ performance with renowned pedagogue John Buchanan MacMillan at Nyack college where he also served as Chapel Organist.  His graduate work in classical organ performance and music literature was at the University of Rochester's Eastman School of Music.  Larry resided in Rochester for seven years and also studied engineering at Rochester Institute of Technology.  While in Rochester, Larry was Organist and Choral Director for Christ Lutheran Church;  Chapel Organist at Colgate Rochester Crozer Divinity School, and the Interfaith Chapel of the University of Rochester.  Larry participated in Master Classes and private studies with America’s legendary virtuoso Concert Organist, Virgil Fox; and in the Netherlands with Dutch Organist and Improviser Klaas Bolt at the International Academy for Organists at De Grote of Saint Bavokerk, Haarlem, Holland.  Through 1992, Larry coached with his close friend and talented Colleague, Royal Dwight Jennings.

  
     In 1992, Larry was appointed Principal Organist of Saint Peter's Cathedral in Scranton, Pennsylvania, the Mother Church of the Diocese of Scranton.  During his tenure in Scranton, Larry was featured concert Organ Recitalist for the Robert Dale Chorale Bach Festival; guest accompanist for Dr. James Litton and the Internationally renowned American Boys Choir from Princeton, and guest accompanist for the Westminster Concert Choir of Rider University.   

     in 2009, Larry was appointed Music Administrator, Organist and Choral Director at First Presbyterian Church in Endicott, New York.  He and his wife Karen (an elementary teacher in the Athens area school district) reside in Sayre.  The Valley Chorus is indeed grateful to have Larry serving as our accompanist.