VCC Archives

Our chorus was founded in 1963 under the direction of Ellen Cunningham. At that time we were called the Livermore Civic Chorus. We started as an Adult Education Class, and our first performance was Handel's Messiah. We incorporated on April 18, 1969 and changed our name to Valley Choral Society in 1980. Then we adopted our current name, Valley Concert Chorale, in July of 2003.

After Ellen Cunningham, our directors were Algin Hurst from Modesto; Nico Snel, a local musician; and Wenonah Govea, a college music teacher and harpist. Performances eventually moved to St. Bartholomew Church with Ted Flath as director. We participated in the Calvin Simmons Memorial Concert at Davies Hall along with the Bach Choral Society. Ted Flath led our first Pops concert at the Amador Theater in Pleasanton. David Babbitt succeeded Flath and directed us in our first Gilbert and Sullivan production, The Mikado. It was a concert version without much staging or costuming. We performed at the Livermore and Pleasanton Presbyterian churches to standing room only audiences. We have since performed other works by Gilbert and Sullivan with full costuming, including another performance of The Mikado in 1998.

Philip Manwell became the next director in 1987, and he was with us for about ten years. He started a Young Artist Competition, where the winning singer or instrumentalist performed with us at one of our concerts. He also helped start the Music in the Schools Program in 1990. In June 1997, he took 35 chorus members on a tour of England, where we performed at the Salisbury Cathedral and the Bournemouth Music festival, as well as several other cities around England and Wales.

The current director, John Bush, started with us in 1998. Under his direction, we have performed several joint concerts with the San Francisco Concert Chorale and Cantabella Children's Chorus. In 2007, we were pleased to participate in the Gala Opening celebrating Livermore's new Bankhead Theater.

Over the years, we have performed a wide variety of works, among them Bach's The Passion According to St. John, Mendelssohn's Elijah, Faure's Requiem, Brahms' A German Requiem, Orff's Carmina Burana, Thomson's Frostiana, and David Brubeck's La Fiesta de la Posada. There have also been many performances featuring lighter music including popular tunes, folks songs, jazz, and Christmas carols. Please read about and hear samples of our music!