The Dayton Celebration Chorus offers area adults a unique singing opportunity. There are no auditions. No choral experience is necessary. You can be a senior citizen or a college freshman. The only requirement: You love to sing.
“We have folks who don’t read a note of music. But they want to learn. And they help each other,” said Sue Jordan, chorus director since 2022, adding that many members do have musical backgrounds and are very willing to help. “We have a lot of cooperation.”
Now in its fall session, the chorus is rehearsing for its Christmas programs. After a holiday break, another 12-week session will give the chorus time to prepare its spring repertoire. There is even a six-week summer session. This year’s summer shows focused on songs from the 1960s.
Jordan said the group concentrates on American music genres, everything from folk ballads and spirituals to Broadway hits and pop classics.
The 2025 holiday songbook Jordan developed includes traditional carols and hymns, secular favorites such as Frosty the Snowman and Jingle Bells and even a Hannukah song. Sessions culminate in a performance at the University of Dayton’s Roger Glass Center for the Arts. This year’s holiday concert will be at 7 p.m. Dec. 9.
Plus, the Dayton Celebration Chorus will also entertain Nov. 28 at the Grand Illumination on Courthouse Square, and it will carol downtown and around the Oregon District during the holiday season.
In warmer weather, the chorus sings at downtown festivals, cultural events and Dayton Dragons baseball games. Year round, the chorus members volunteer to sing at churches, senior communities and care facilities.
Janet Suchland of Brookville has been part of the chorus since its inception in 2003 when it began as a community chorus commemorating the opening of the Schuster Center. The retired piano teacher, 92, sings second soprano.
“I really enjoy singing,” she said. “I prefer singing to playing the piano.”
Baritone Ed Hatch, 85, from Kettering agrees.
“I’m happy to be in the chorus. I know several people here, and I enjoy being with them,” said the retired University of Dayton professor who joined the chorus about 15 years ago.
Singers who sign up tend to stay, adds first soprano Elizabeth Davis, a retired data analyst from Waynesville who joined the group about 20 years ago. “It’s fun. I enjoy learning the music. It’s fun to sing at Roger Glass and the Dragons’ games and during Art in the City,” she noted.
Director Jordan herself started in the alto section. With a degree in music education, she taught children and adults for decades but also sang in community chorales and church choirs. “I like to sing. It’s nice to see the other side of the podium.”
Jordan and pianist Sam Bennett receive stipends for their work with the chorus, paid out of fees that members pay each session. That covers weekly rehearsals, but not the time Jordan spends on developing each session’s songbook. Currently, she noted, she is planning the spring program. She also meets regularly with the chorus’ volunteers.
“We run on volunteers,” said Davis, who, in addition to singing, is also the group’s communications director.
Since chorus funding for sheet music and concert expenses comes from fees, all the added efforts needed to “keep the wheels turning,” said Davis, comes from chorus members.
The music librarian keeps track of sheet music copies purchased or borrowed from other choral groups. Section leaders help welcome new members and acquaint them with rehearsal protocol, like sign-in sheets and name tags. They call members to alert them when poor weather cancels rehearsals. A chorus volunteer manages the group Facebook page and investigates performing opportunities.
Davis noted there are also two committees that handle administrative tasks and plan social events like the potluck at the end of each session.
She added that when the COVID-19 quarantine closed most in-person meetings, the Dayton Celebration Chorus committees set up rehearsals via Zoom, and while not optimal, the online practices helped the group stay connected.
“It kept us together. When things opened up, we were ready to resume as normal,” Davis said. “We didn’t lose a lot of ground.”
Or a lot of members. Jordan said the group has stayed stable at about 30 to 35 members for quite some time. Now one of the chorus’ goals is to grow, especially with deeper male voices.
“It’s definitely not a closed group,” said Davis.
Though fall rehearsals have started, Jordan noted that more experienced singers could probably join in.
“Come check us out,” Jordan said of the Tuesday evening rehearsals from 7-8:30 p.m. at St. John Lutheran Church, 141 S. Ludlow St. downtown. (Find free parking behind the church next to the rehearsal room.)
Singers new to choral performance should wait and register for the session beginning in January so they have plenty of time to settle in and learn, said Jordan.
“You learn by doing,” she explained. That includes performing and reading music. “It should be fun. If you’re not having fun, it’s not worth doing.”
Davis concurs. “I’m happiest when I’m singing.”
The Dayton Celebration Chorus is affiliated with the University of Dayton, which provides registration processing and chorus information via their Special Programs and Continuing Education page online.
HOW TO GET INVOLVED
Interested in joining? The fee for Fall or Spring sessions is $65. (Summer session is half price.) To register, go online to continuingeducation.udayton.edu. Select “Celebration Chorus” at the top of the screen.
Register via the online form. Or print a registration form, fill it in and return via mail or bring it to the first session practice.
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