About Farmington Valley Chorus

 

The Farmington Valley Chorus (FVC) is a membership organization of female singers who meet regularly to practice, perform, socialize, and have fun.  Currently there are about 45 singers in the chorus of diverse ages, backgrounds and professions who sing a cappella four-part harmony in the barbershop style.  Membership consists of women stretched across most of Connecticut...New Haven County to Hartford County, the Litchfield Hills to the Farmington Valley towns...all searching for an opportunity to express themselves in harmony.

 

Founding members consist of Sherry Ebner and Barb Ebner, former NJ Sweet Adelines, who moved to CT, met singers Colleen Sinkinson, Barbara Gerstner, Barbara West and Ethel Austin.  These six friends founded the Farmington Valley Chapter of Sweet Adelines, chartered on March 22, 1975.  All were from the Harwinton, Simsbury, and Hartford areas at the time, originally holding rehearsals in Granby and later moving to Simsbury.

 

Performance

The main purpose of FVC, as a non-profit, educational organization, is to spread harmony in  four-part, a cappella, barbershop style.  Performances include community events, charitable functions, fundraisers, summer festivities, an annual show, and regional competition. The chorus also performs singing telegrams for Valentine's Day and is available to sing at your next function or event, calendar permitting.  If you're looking for a unique musical experience to enliven your event, please check out our Hire Us section.

Education

In addition to sharing our music with others, another great passion of FVC is learning more about the art of a cappella singing. Vocal instruction is a regular part of chorus rehearsals and a very important component of the chorus experience. A couple of times each year, the chorus will hire a coach - a visiting master in the art of barbershop-style singing - who will work with us to teach many fabulous tricks of the trade for enhancing performances.

CompetitionIn the Spring of each year, the Farmington Valley Chorus participates in the Region 1 chorus competition in Springfield, MA. Competition is a special time for quartets and choruses from Region 1 to bond, present their songs to the audience, and receive constructive feedback from a panel of judges in four categories: sound, expression, music and showmanship. The winners of the regional competition in both quartet and chorus categories receive an opportunity to travel to International Competition, which is held in the fall in a city selected each year by an international panel. FVC has been invited to particpate in International Competition in October, 2021 in St. Louis, Missouri. Click here to learn more.

Quartets

Most choruses have a number of members who form their own vocal quartets in addition to singing with the chorus. FVC currently is home to a number of wonderful quartets, and we are very proud of them!

 

Affiliation

The Farmington Valley Chorus is a chapter of Sweet Adelines International, a non-profit, educational organization of approximately 25,000 members globally, one of the world's largest singing organizations for women with more than 1,200 registered quartets, 600 choruses, chartered chapters which include11 international countries and most of the United States.  Sweet Adelines International was founded on Friday, July 13, 1945 in Tulsa, OK and is administered by a professional staff offering a wide range of programs and services.  The Farmington Valley Chorus is just one of the many chapters and is a member of Region 1.