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The New Dominion Choraliers of Prince William County
by Wendy Boone
The New Dominion Choraliers of Prince William County is a nonprofit community chorus of dedicated amateur and professional musicians who are widely recognized for their musically diverse performances. Their repertoire ranges from Doo-Wop to Classical, with an extensive selection of Patriotic music at their fingertips. The all-volunteer choir performs two or three main concerts and several outreach events throughout the year and is committed to serving the communities in which they sing. The members of the New Dominion Choraliers are very proud of their performances and the level of musicianship they have achieved together. They are a very close-knit group who thoroughly enjoy singing with one another and range in age from young adult to over 90. This is a unique situation where people of vastly different ages can come together and truly enjoy and appreciate each other.
The group rehearses on Monday nights at 7:30 p.m. at the Old Bridge United Methodist Church at 3966 Old Bridge Road in the Lake Ridge Community in Woodbridge, VA. The Choraliers began rehearsals for their 16th Annual Spring Concert on Monday, January 23, 2012. New members are invited to join during the first three rehearsals at the beginning of each concert session. Registration is $35. No auditions are required for the main group and members always get lots of help learning their music. There are normally three sessions per year. The Holiday Concert rehearsals start the last Monday in August. The Spring Concert rehearsals start the last Monday in January and a short summer session starts a couple of weeks after the Spring Concert. This session is partly a teaching session to help people learn how to read music and partly to prepare music for outreach gigs that we line up. The registration for the summer session is only $10 and the dates vary according to what is planned at that particular time.
The 70+ voice choir is directed by Katherine Nelson-Tracey and accompanied by Joe Swetnam. Katherine teaches voice and piano in her private studio in Woodbridge and serves as an adjunct professor for the Woodbridge campus of Northern Virginia Community College. NDC is privileged to serve as a choral ensemble through which students of NVCC can earn credit toward their degrees. The NOVA students bring a whole new dimension of enjoyment and energy to the choir. Joe is a lawyer and serves as a Board member and Treasurer for Project Mend-a-House and is Director of Music at Bethel United Methodist Church.
The group is also fortunate to work with the following talented individuals: Assistant Director Ryan Pick has conducted, performed in, played the flute for, and composed music for almost twenty musical ensembles ranging from choral to orchestral music. Kathy Tuttle serves as accompanist for NDC’s featured performers. She started playing piano at the age of five and uses her accompanying talents for students in recitals and competitions and is, of course, an integral part of the New Dominion Choraliers. Kathy and Joe have played several four-handed piano pieces together.
The New Dominion Choraliers of Prince William County is a member of the Prince William County Arts Council and the Prince William County Chamber of Commerce. The group has been called by some “the best kept secret in Prince William County.” That is actually a distinction they would rather not have. In addition to their annual concerts, they are active in the community with outreach programs that involve ACTS/Turning Points, the Boys and Girls Club, Project Mend-a-House, Good Shepherd Housing and the Sons and Daughters of the American Revolution. In February of 2010, they traveled to Richmond to sing at the Virginia State Capital for the Annual VASSAR Convention for the Virginia Society of the Sons of the American Revolution. That summer, they sang at a grave commemoration sponsored by the Daughters of the American Revolution that was held in a private cemetery in Dale City. They performed at the “Arts Alive” Festival in April of 2011 at the Connaughton Plaza by the Prince William County Government Complex and will perform at this year’s “Arts Alive” Festival which will be held at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in Manassas. The Festival is a free day of family fun celebrating local arts groups. NDC sings each spring at Westminster at Lake Ridge Retirement Community in honor of National Music Week sponsored by the National Federation of Music Clubs, of which NDC is also a member. The choir also sings each year in Occoquan during the holiday season. On the day that Santa comes to town on his “Boat Sleigh,” to meet with the local children at Town Hall, the Choraliers gather in front of Quinn’s Goldsmith to sing Christmas Carols.
“Community outreach,” according to Director Katherine Nelson-Tracey, “is who we are and what we do.” It is a huge part of The New Dominion Choraliers’ “mission,” and no mission is as important to the members as that of showing their patriotism by offering patriotic music programs. The group has performed for the Marine Corps Mustang Reunion at the Officers Club at Quantico Marine Corps Base, for the residents of Four Seasons at Historic Virginia on Veterans Day 2009, at the National Museum of the Marine Corps for a Veterans Day Program in 2010, at the Globe and Laurel Restaurant on Washington’s Birthday in 2011, at the Stars and Stripes Celebration at the Lorton Workhouse and a Blue Star Memorial Dedication in Montclair, also in 2011. They presented Freedom: A Salute to American Liberty at the Hylton Memorial Chapel in 2008 and again in 2011 at the Hylton Performing Arts Center in honor of Veterans Day. NDC also sings each year at the Bethel United Methodist Church to celebrate the July 4th Independence Day. On September 11, 2011, NDC sang the Star Spangled Banner at the county’s 9/11 Commemoration at the Liberty Memorial at Freedom Park by the county complex. A candlelighting led by the choir’s Prince William Resolves DAR Chapter members followed the dedication.
NDC has performed with a several local groups and have a number of local musicians that they regularly call upon for accompaniment purposes. The group has performed twice with the American Balalaika Symphony, first on the Symphony’s home turf at the Rachael M. Schlesinger Concert Hall at the Alexandria Campus of Northern Virginia Community College, and then here in Woodbridge at the Hylton Memorial Chapel. The Old Bridge Chamber Orchestra accompanied the Choraliers in both presentations of Freedom: A Salute to American Liberty, and NDC and OBCO presented Beethoven’s 9th Symphony at Covenant Presbyterian Church. In 2007, NDC and the Forest Park High School Concert Choir sang Antonio Vivaldi’s “Gloria,” together at their Holiday Concert. Children’s choirs that have performed with NDC are the Saint Michael’s Catholic School Choir from Annandale, directed by Ryan Pick, and the Mary G. Porter Traditional School directed by Karyn Kelsey.
The New Dominion Choraliers are proud to support TREVOR’S TREASURES, a non-profit organization dedicated to providing toys for children with cancer. Ten-year-old Trevor Blake, who was diagnosed with Stage 4 Neuroblastoma at the age of five, is committed to helping other children like himself. NDC is happy to accept donations of new, unwrapped toys and funds at their concerts. These donations will enable Trevor to fill his Treasure Chest with toys that he will personally take from room to room for his fellow patients and their siblings in the hospitals that he visits. The Choraliers collected two large bins of toys and $350 at their Holiday Concert last December. Please visit www.trevorstreasures.org to learn more about Trevor and how his organization delivers hope and happiness to children battling cancer.
The New Dominion Choraliers will present their 16th Annual Spring Concert “NDC Showstoppers!!!” at the Hylton Performing Arts Center’s Gregory Theater, 10960 George Mason Circle in Manassas. Performances are Saturday, April 28, 2012 at 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 29, 2012 at 3:30 p.m. They will sing audience and chorus favorites from previous Spring shows and community outreach performances. Instrumental accompaniment by a host of local musicians will include the 4-handed piano piece "Handful of Keys" from the Broadway musical "Ain't Misbehavin." A Doo-Wop group will perform a medley of familiar hits and The Supremes will come alive again! Come and hear “Jersey Boys,” “60s Chicks,” “Shake, Rattle and Let the Good Times Roll,” “Lennon and McCartney,” “Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy,” “Take Me Out to the Ball Game,” the totally hilarious “Lydia, the Tatooed Lady” and songs from the movie “Mama Mia,” to name just a few. We guarantee you will not be able to sit still for a minute!
Tickets are available at the door or online at www.hyltoncenter.org. Adults are $20 and $15 for students, seniors, active military and veterans. Children age 4 and under are admitted free.
For more information about the New Dominion Choraliers, call 703-498-8906 or 703-590-2147 and visit our website www.newdominionchoraliers.org . Partial funding has been provided by The Prince William County Park Authority, The Virginia Commission for the Arts & The National Endowment for the Arts, NOVEC and The Meredith Foundation.
