Clara Belle Palmer DeLill recently completed her FIFTH season as director of the Valley Chorus.  her forty-THREE year association with valley chorus started in 1966 as a singer when she was a junior in Waverly High School.  belle graduated from Waverly high school in 1967.  belle held the demanding position of accompanist for the Valley Chorus from 1984 through 2003 when she agreed to accept the challenge of becoming our new director.

     Belle is a lifelong Valley resident who began her musical training at the tender age of three with piano lessons.  She began her career as an accompanist for her school's chorus at age seven.  Organ lessons came next at age eight, with her vocal training beginning at 10 years of age.  Belle was appointed organist at Waverly Methodist Church when she was 14.  It was convenient that she lived just across the street in the Palmer House, as she was still a few years away from being able to obtain her driver's license.

     Her formal music education was coursework for select students in the accelerated Bachelor of Music Program at Oberlin College of Music in Ohio following her junior year in High School.  Belle earned her degrees in Education and Church Music, specializing in Organ and Vocal Performance from Westminster Choir College, in Princeton, New Jersey.  Her graduate work was done at Ithaca College, in Ithaca, New York.  She has been a private organ, piano, and voice instructor for 35 years.  Many of her former students are well-known, some going on to their own distinguished musical careers.

     For the past 28 years, she has been the organist and choir director at Sayre Presbyterian Church, while prior to that she held the same position at Church of the Redeemer in Sayre.  She worked for several years as accompanist for the Waverly Schools choral program and has provided the music for countless weddings, funerals, and many special events.

     Working with her husband, Bob, in their Elmira ice cream store for 15 years, Belle developed a talent for making wax display sundaes.  She now makes them as candles, and along with her many other unique candle creations, markets them across the United States through candle show and Internet sales.  Be sure to check out Belle's website at: http://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-eight 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.

     As a youth, Larry studied piano with Erba Dunne of Sayre, PA.  By 3rd grade he was accompanying his elementary school music teacher on the piano while she taught vocal classes.  Larry started playing the pipe organ for church services at the age of 10 and has been performing on the bench ever since.  In 7th grade, Larry was named pianist of the Sayre Senior High School Jazz Band, a position heretofore awarded solely to upper classmen.  As a teen, Larry was influenced by Felix Cavaliere, the mastermind behind one of rock music's premiere bands, "The Young Rascals", subsequently his time was divided between studying classical music and performing in rock bands.  During his College years, Larry toured the Hullabaloo and College Circuits, performing throughout Europe and at renowned Concert Halls including Carnegie Hall with the 70's rock group, "Our Generation".

     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 at 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 Eleven County Diocese of Scranton.  During his tenure in Scranton, Larry was featured Solo 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.   Larry is now the Music Administrator, Organist and Choral Director for the 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.