Valley City Children’s Choir performing

The Valley Children’s Choir, under the direction of Dr. Sara Hagen, will present a concert at 3 p.m. Sunday in Froemke Auditorium on the campus of Valley City State University. The theme of the concert is “Home.”

The choir will take a global tour through music to countries such as England, Spain, Germany, Italy, China and Japan, but ultimately come home to Valley City to present the world premiere of “The Second Crossing of the Sheyenne.” This tune was commissioned by Hagen from Danielle Ringuette Vinup, a composer from Maple Grove, Minn. Vinup has composed five children’s musicals and has written works for chorus, as well as vocal and instrumental solos and ensembles. 

The premiere piece for this concert was written in part by the choir members. Vinup met with the choir while they were on tour in Minneapolis to get input from the children on what they think of Valley City. Things like the North Dakota Winter Show, the busy people, the city lights and the river are all aspects of the city that were incorporated into the song. The choristers will perform on Orff mallet instruments and other percussion and sing in Latin, German, Spanish and Japanese languages.

The choir is accompanied by Jaime Namminga and meets for 80 minutes per week. The choir presents three concerts per year. The first concert was in conjunction with the tour to Minneapolis in November, partially supported by the North Dakota Council on the Arts. The last concert of the season, rescheduled to 7:30 pm. Friday, April 30, will be held with two other Community School of the Arts organizations: the Valley Voices Women’s Choir and the Valley Civic Orchestra. Choir members performing this concert are: Katie Clark, Abby Ingstad, Camille Kawasaki, BreeLynn Komrosky, Mikey Meester, Rebecca Montecuollo, Sarah Montecuollo, Jade Oksendahl, Laura Patino, Hailee Peterson, Hannah Peterson, Tanisha Petherbridge, Caleb Reign and Mikaylah Ross.

The concert is free and open to the public, but a freewill offering will be taken on behalf of the choir. Audience members are welcome to a reception after the concert.

Tags: valley city, diversions, perferances, children, choir