Pictured is Donna Mucks.
Tickets on sale now
(Oneida, NY – Nov. 2013) The Oneida Area Civic Chorale will present “Christmas for the Children,” a concert of sacred and secular favorites on Sunday, Dec. 8 at 4 p.m. at Oneida High School.
This is the first concert of the 2013-2014 season presented by the OACC, a 105-voice adult community chorus composed of singers from the Oneida-Rome area that has been performing since 1967.
The concert will be directed by Kimberly Nethaway of Rome, now in her 19th year of leading the Chorale.
Special guests will be vocalist Donna Mucks and the Otto Shortell Middle School 6th Grade Select Choral Ensemble.
A portion of the concert proceeds will benefit the KEYS Program, a music therapy outreach organization offering comfort and hope to children with cancer.
The KEYS Program was founded in 1993 by Sherrill residents David and Colleen Bennett soon after they lost Colleen’s father to cancer. Near the end of his struggle, Bennett and her mother found that playing music calmed him and brought him enough peace to let him sleep after days of agitation and pain.
From that moment 20 years ago, the KEYS Program was born to help bring music, comfort and hope to kids and their families going through the same difficult time in their life through the healing power of music.
The KEYS Program is a non-profit organization located in Sherrill that is providing bedside music, concerts and music care packages to over 5,000 kids each year in children’s hospitals, camps and special needs sites both locally and across the country, all at no cost to the families they serve.
Singer-songwriter Mucks, who has a close relationship with the KEYS Program has been entertaining around central New York at coffee houses, benefits, nursing homes and preschools since 2008. She has composed and recorded original music that is included in the KEYS care packages, and often accompanies Bennett to pre-schools and wellness workshops to share music therapy songs and techniques. Her music is best described as folk, guided by her faith and often inspired by nature.
Mucks has released two CDs, “Walking,” produced by Dan Duggan of Esperance Music, and “Faith and Service,” recorded at Subcat Studios and featuring central New York musician Nick Piccininni.
During the concert, Mucks will perform “What Child is This,” “Let It Snow!” and “All For the Love” and will join the Chorale on several numbers.
Also joining the Chorale on Dec. 8 will be the Otto Shortell Middle School 6th Grade Select Choral Ensemble, under the direction of Heather O’Connell of Oneida, vocal music teacher at Oneida High School and Otto Shortell Middle School. The Ensemble is a representation of the 80-voice voluntary 6th chorus that rehearses at OSMS on alternate days and is open to all students who are interested in singing.
The sixth graders will perform “Falala,” “A Star Dances, an Angel Sings” and “Santa Claus Boogie” and will join the Chorale on “When Christmas Comes to Town.”
Additional concert selections include “Some Children See Him” featuring soloist Don Drake of West Winfield, and the spiritual “Look Up, Children” with soloist Valerie Wood of Rome.
Kathy Gay of Oneida will solo on “Grown-Up Christmas List” and “Mary’s Little Boy Child” includes a solo by VVS graduate Adam Chandler, who is closely involved with the KEYS Program’s extensive connection with the VVS high school.
The women of the Chorale will perform “Perfect Christmas Night” and the men will present their rendition of “You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch” with special vocals by Jim Baker.
Barb Buehner will provide flute accompaniment on “When Christmas Comes to Town” and Mucks, the 6th graders and the Chorale will join to present the concert finale, “Jolly Jingle Christmas Medley.”
The Chorale will be accompanied on keyboard by Bernadette VanValkenburg of Sherrill and Heather O’Connell of Oneida.
Tickets for the concert are $10, available from Chorale members, at W.J. Hinman Jewelers, 115 Main Street, Oneida, and by calling 697-3377.
For more information, call 761-9701 and visit www.oneidachorale.com.