By EMILY SCHENDEL
On Saturday August 20, for a one night only show starting at 7 p.m. the Richland Chorus will be offering their free performance of several uplifting songs at the Coppertop Theater in Richland Center.
The Richland Chorus formed earlier this year in May with their first practice together being in June. The idea for the community chorus came to director Liz Niemeyer when she recalled the particular performance of the ‘Last Supper’, which occurred in 2020 just as the whole world was turned upside down.
“When I was a part time teacher at St. Mary’s I began doing the event in 2016 and 2020,” Niemeyer said of the ‘Last Supper’ performance. “And the 2020 event was just so powerful. Because, it happened that same night as the whole world shutting down…. and we sang anyway…it was just a really powerful moment. And I always thought ‘we should do that again.’”
As it does though, life happened and the creation of the chorus was put on hold until this spring when Niemeyer was able to put together a list of singers from the area and begin spreading the word.
“I sent out an email to everyone and told them to start telling all of their friends about it and at our first practice we had close to 30 people,” Niemeyer explained.
The meeting of the singers is fairly casual Niemeyer explains, with no strong stipulations on participants.
“I just made the assumption that the folks that would start coming would want to keep coming because they’d want us to sound good,” Niemeyer noted with a chuckle. “And being optimistic has turned out well.”
The group focuses on uplifting, positive and sacred music. “We want to focus on the good,” Niemeyer said. “We’ve all had a rough couple of years and we wanted to have a feel good experience with singing. When you sing, you should feel your best.”
The August 20 show will be directed both by Niemeyer and Pam Kintz, who will each be directing four songs for the performance.
Folks, young and old who also may be interested in singing with the group are welcomed to reach out to Niemeyer by email at lizcejpek@gmail.com to learn more about future opportunities with the Richland Chorus.
