CAFUV News and Upcoming Events

SUMMER SINGS! are back: Wednesdays in August 2023

Come sing! Just for fun! Led by some of the Upper Valley’s favorite directors!

All singers welcome. Scores available to borrow. Attend any or all sessions.

Stay tuned for details!

Film Premiere: Zoomberry: an Adventurous Chorus for Uncommon Times

What kept you going through the pandemic? On July 18th, the Upper Valley Music Center presented the premiere of an original film exploring what it could mean to be in a chorus during a world-wide health crisis. Fifty adventurous singers gathered virtually during the 2020-21 season, led by Juneberry Choral Program director Patricia Norton, in collaboration with dancer Claudia Rahardjanoto. The ensemble created unusual music on Zoom, traditional choral music with individual recordings, and a brand-new body percussion piece with piano & tap, filmed both in-person and online. This documentary created by local filmmaker, Anna King, records creativity, calamity, and commitment to community through art. Following the premiere there was a live and online Q & A moderated by Johanna Evans of the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley and the White River Indie Film Festival.

For information and to watch online: https://uvmusic.org/event/zoomberry-film-premiere

Tickets to this event were free of charge. If you wish to make a donation, your support will help with the costs of the Zoomberry film, from commissioning to teaching to editing. Any additional donations beyond the cost of the Zoombery project will go to the Upper Valley Music Center’s Bringing Us Together Campaign, supporting the installation of a new ventilation system to bring filtered, fresh air into every room at UVMC.

This project was made possible by a grant from the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley to support the commission and the creation of the film. 

Funding available!

Looking for grant funding options or other support form CAFUV? We are accepting grant proposals on a rolling basis at the moment, since we understand that the need for funding is often more urgent and it’s harder to plan for the future with so much uncertainty. Our general grant guidelines are here, but if you have an idea that doesn’t fit these criteria we encourage you to reach out nonetheless – we’re keeping a very open mind about how best to support choruses this year! Please email info@choralartsuv.org with ideas and questions.

Creativity in the face of the pandemic

Thank you for all your ideas about how CAFUV can help choruses during this time when we need singing the most – please, keep them coming! You can help us help you all stay connected by “liking” the CAFUV Facebook page and tagging us in your posts if you’d like us to help spread the word about what your chorus is up to. We hope that, once we’ve all got concerts scheduled again, this will become a great resource for all of the Upper Valley singers to keep tabs on singing opportunities and events in the area.

Sing together – but apart – but together!

CAFUV and area ensembles VoxStars, North Country Chordsman, Harmony Night Community Choir, and Zoomberry were featured in this article in the Valley News on October 10, 2020. It highlighted efforts to test the Driveway Choir system, which enables choruses to rehearse, and potentially even perform, at a distance, using radio technology to bring the voices together without the delays of the Internet.

“We want to fund projects that are aimed at keeping music going in any form under the restrictions of COVID-19 and are willing to put money toward experimenting with different ideas,” said Johanna Evans, CAFUV president. “We’re hoping one of the possible things we can do with this Driveway Choir is to have one of these systems available for church choirs to use that can be recorded and played during services.”

For more information about the system and how your ensemble could participate, please e-mail us at info@choralartsuv.org.

Support Choral Arts

As a not-for-profit arts organization, the Choral Arts Foundation of the Upper Valley can only do the work it does through the support of many generous people. Our volunteer board is thankful for any help you can give. Thank you to our 2019 donors!

Music lovers who wish to financially support CAFUV should know that their donations to CAFUV are tax-deductible and are used solely to support choral music. There are two options for contributing:

  1. Download this donation form and mail a check to Choral Arts Foundation, P.O. Box 716, Hanover, NH 03755
  2. Click on the donate button below to use your credit card to make a contribution.