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Circle Singers set to perform at Pyramid Hill

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By Richard O Jones, Staff Writer 10:43 PM Friday, June 19, 2009

HAMILTON — One of the region’s oldest community choirs will raise their voices Sunday afternoon for an outdoor concert at Pyramid Hill Sculpture Park.

“As far as we know, we are the oldest community chorus still in existence,” said Ted Sippel, president of the Circle Singers.

The mixed-voice adult chorus traces its roots to the 1950s as the General Electric Glee Club, created by employees at the Evendale GE Aircraft Engines plant.

“It transformed itself into a community chorus and has had several names since then, most recently as the Patchwork Singers,” Sippel said.

In the fall of 2000 the group realized that most of its members lived in places close to I-275 — the circle freeway around the greater Cincinnati area — and changed its name to Circle Singers.

Circle Singers repertoire includes a wide variety of musical styles and they plan to perform medleys from Beethoven and Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber as well as patriotic tunes and spirituals.

“We like to think we offer a broad range of material,” Sippel said, “but we’re not into hip-hop... not yet anyway.”

The Circle Singers are led by director of music Bill Osborne, a singer and actor who has sung lead and supporting roles in Broadway and opera productions worldwide.

Contact this reporter at (513) 820-2188 or rjones@coxohio.com.