Women's Voices Chorus

05/31/2026

Thank you, Choral Society of Durham and Rodney Wynkoop, for hosting the third annual Durham Community Sing. Members of Women’s Voices Chorus had a lovely day singing with hundreds of area choral musicians and sharing the joy of music-making.

05/17/2026

https://www.facebook.com/share/p/1CU4gUN1fo/

Choral musicians, mark your calendars!

Choral Singing in America: Nurturing the Country’s Soul, a feature-length documentary celebrating choirs and communities across the country, will be available worldwide beginning May 18 on Apple TV, Amazon Prime, and YouTube TV.

From classrooms and concert halls to churches, synagogues, prisons, and hospice centers, the documentary highlights how choral singing fosters connection, empathy, and a shared sense of purpose across communities.

Musicians making appearances in the film include Eric Whitacre, Pentatonix’s Scott Hoying, Tim Sharp, Doreen Rao, Anton Armstrong, André Thomas, Rosephanye Powell, Tom Trenney, Mack Wilberg, Dale Warland, and Alice Parker. The documentary features performances by the St. Olaf Chapel Choir, Atlanta Master Chorale, the Moses Hogan Chorale, The Tabernacle Choir at Temple Square, the Robert Shaw Festival Singers, the Los Angeles Master Chorale, and Chanticleer along with many others.

Learn more about the film: https://choralsinging.org/about
Watch the trailer: https://youtu.be/UoX3yHRRUgM

Please help us spread the word!

Official movie poster for Choral Singing in America, designed by Nick Porcaro

05/16/2026

We celebrate the end of the 2025/2026 season and with sadness say happy retirement to our beloved accompanist and friend Deb Hollis.

04/26/2026

✨🎶 This semester, Women's Voices Chorus is proud to support The Learning Trail through our Community Outreach Fund—chosen by our members to reflect our music’s theme of flight.

📍 Located in Chatham County, The Learning Trail serves children in a mobile home community where many low-income Hispanic families face barriers to academic success. They provide FREE early childhood programs 👶📚, after-school tutoring ✏️, enrichment activities 🎨🎵, and parent education 👨‍👩‍👧‍👦 to help kids and families thrive 💛🌱

🤝 Want to help us make an impact? You can donate through WVC (Square, Venmo, cash, or check—just note “Learning Trail”) 💵
https://womensvoiceschorus.org/donate/

or learn more at:
https://www.thelearningtrail.org 🌐

04/24/2026

Celebrating National Arbor Day today with Elizabeth Alexander's Tree Song with music set to poetry by George Ella Lyon. I look forward to WVC singing the SSA arrangement of this gorgeous piece one day! Brava, Elizabeth Alexander!

Composer Elizabeth Alexander writes:
Trees are very good teachers. As far as I can tell, trees don’t waste any of their precious energy straining against present circumstances, but instead accept their place in the scheme of things. They aren’t giving themselves makeovers, fretting about their inadequacies, or calculating their rank in the tree hierarchy. They do not move to New York City or the Pacific Northwest when they want more out of life. They stay where they are, going about the quiet business of being. Even when the old oak tree in my backyard is clearly stressed from heat or wind or drought, it just keeps on keeping on. Some of its branches might die back or its acorns drop prematurely, but it accepts the gifts of sunlight and rain just as it does during more favorable conditions, singing its patient tree song all the while.

The generous world of trees was close to my heart when I wrote Tree Song. I kept my setting of the words simple and elegant, just like George Ella Lyon’s original poem. The names of over fifty trees are woven throughout, from “peach and plum” to “bunya-bunya.” And the cello and piano, two of the most exquisite instruments ever created from wood, are not located off to one side. The are nestled in the center of the singers, part of a gentle dialogue of giving and receiving.

1 like. "Tree Song"

04/21/2026

It's almost Earth Day! In celebration, WVC shares two performances of Some Glad Morning by Carolyn Jennings, poetry by Joyce Sutphen. One virtual choir performance from 2021 and more recently from January 2025. We hope that you enjoy them both!

June 2021
https://youtu.be/qwnBeryBfjg

January 2025
https://youtu.be/80mUnIZSRoo

11 likes, 2 comments. "Some Glad Morning"

04/19/2026

Celebrating upcoming Earth Day (April 22) with a 2025 performance of Honour the Earth by Sarah Hopkins. Enjoy!

Honour the Earth” is a song of grateful praise to Mother Earth and a plea for us all to honor her. It brings together many cultural influences from the “earth tribes,” Native American, African, Celtic, Aboriginal, and Mongolian (overtone singing), as well as the music of Nature herself – birdcalls and flowing streams. Using vocables, sounds without specific textual meaning,
the singers represent all human inhabitants of the earth. The didgeridoo characterizes a primal energy while the drum contributes a life-affirming heartbeat. Harmonic whirlies, instruments created by the composer, produce celestial-sounding tones and healing vibrations when spiraled
through the air. At different speeds, the whirlies can produce six astoundingly pure notes from the harmonic overtone series, giving flourishes of harmonic energy to the piece.

Featuring Daran Wallman on the didgeridoo.
https://aholisticapproach.org/practitioners/daran-wallman

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wjJSqm4JSE

2 likes. "Honour the Earth - Sarah Hopkins"

04/13/2026

Every time Women’s Voices Chorus sings spirituals 🎶, we “pay royalties” by donating to organizations that support the musical education of Black youth —honoring the enslaved creators of these songs whose contributions can never be fully recognized or compensated.🙏

This semester, we’re proud to support Kidznotes in Durham 🎻—a nonprofit transforming the lives of underserved youth through music education, instruments, and performance opportunities. 🎼 Over 80% of their students are youth of color, reflecting the vibrant diversity of our community 🌍

Want to join us in making an impact? 💛 You can donate through WVC (Square or Venmo 📲—just note “Kidznotes”)👇
https://womensvoiceschorus.org/donate/

Or stop by our lobby table at our Spring Concert with cash or check 💵

Learn more about Kidznotes.org here 🔗
https://www.kidznotes.org

04/12/2026

Women’s Voices Chorus had a wonderful day of music-making at our spring retreat, followed by a lovely concert at the Seymour Center. Sharing a preview of our Flight repertoire was a treat! Our full concert will be May 2, 3pm. Visit our website for details - Womensvoiceschorus.org