The 90-voice Coshocton Community Choir, including auditioned singers traveling from 11 Ohio counties, will share its Spring concert, ‘Do Not Be Afraid,’ at 6:00 p.m. on Sunday, April 21, 2024, at First Moravian Church, Dover. The concert will feature a selection of sacred and secular choral music, including arrangements and settings of familiar hymns, classical works, spirituals and more.
“Sometimes, it is hard to remember what life was like before COVID attacked our planet,” said Charles R. Snyder, the choir's founder. “We would like to snap our fingers and go back to ‘how it was before.’ But the world has become a different place. We all see the world through different eyes: priorities have changed, the economy has changed, technology has changed rapidly, even the ways we go about daily life have changed. Things are more politically charged, domestically and internationally. These uncertain times can cause uneasiness and even fearfulness in us.
“The words ‘do not be afraid’ are found more than three hundred times in scripture. These words from the angel remind us that even in the times when the changes are overwhelming and we feel uncertain, God is still in charge. ‘Do not be afraid, do not be afraid, for I have redeemed you, I have called you by name; You are mine… For in the darkness He is light. We walk by faith and not by sight.’”
Now in its 53rd season, the Coshocton Community Choir was organized in 1971 by Snyder, an accomplished Ohio teacher, choral conductor, and church musician. Since its founding, more than 900 singers have sung with the Choir, which has become known for its renditions of sacred a cappella literature. The singers come from all backgrounds, vocations and walks of life. The Choir rehearses together weekly through the fall and winter and traditionally performs a narrated Christmas concert and spring concerts with a variety of choral works.
Snyder received his musical training at Capital University in Columbus, Ohio, where he was a protégé of Ellis E. Snyder. Mr. Snyder has also studied with Richard C. Johnston, Fred Waring, Norman Luboff, Helen Kemp, John Rutter, Sir David Willcocks, Donald Neuen, Sandra Willetts, Frauke Haasemann, James Gallagher, Craig Arnold, Alice Parker, Eph Ehly, Weston Noble, and American choral conductor and composer, Paul J. Christiansen, whose works, chorale traditions and style developed at Concordia College, in Moorhead, MN, continue to inspire the Choir’s musical selections and concert format today.
Concert selections include a new song for the Choir, Morten Lauridsen’s ‘Sure on this Shining Night’ as well as special settings of familiar sacred tunes, St. Theodulph’s Hymn (All Glory, Laud and Honor); Lord of the Dance; A Mighty Fortress Is Our God; Lamb of God; Come to the Water; and Christ the Lord Is Risen Today. The Choir will share classic works such as Lift Up Your Heads from George Frideric Handel’s Messiah and Karl Heinrich Graun’s setting of Surely He Hath Borne Our Griefs.
The concert will also feature moving works such as Michael Card’s I Will Bring You Home featuring soprano Sarah Heading; Philip W.J. Stopford’s Do Not Be Afraid; and Thy Will Be Done; as well as toe-tapping renditions of When the Saints Go Marching In; Music in the Air; and more. The Choir will conclude the concert with F. Melius Christiansen’s setting of Beautiful Savior and Peter Lutkin’s The Lord Bless You and Keep You.
Snyder says the spring concerts are different from the Christmas concerts, beyond the seasonal repertoire. "Having been together, rehearsing since September, the choirs have grown musically," explained Snyder." At the home concert, The Coshocton Singers [grades 4-8] and the Coshocton Youth Chorale [grades 9-12] also sing.
After last year's successful concert in Dover, the Coshocton Community Choir is returning to the Moravian Church, 319 N. Walnut Street in Dover, the week before the Coshocton concert. The Legacy Ensemble from Legacy Christian School, conducted by Franklin Miller, will again be part of the Community Choir's concert on April 21. Tickets are not required, and free will gifts will be accepted after the concert.