Lakeland Community Choir is celebrating its 30th anniversary, and it’s looking for new members for a performance of George Frideric Handel's “Messiah” in March. Richard “Dick” Anderson formed the Warsaw Community Choir in 1984 after working several years with the group as an extended church choir, according to information provided by Classic Arts Programs President Dr. Judie Meulink. Collaborating with the Grace Community Orchestra, he created local performances of “Messiah.” Meulink and longtime choir members Babs Coppes and Frances Ottersberg sat down Thursday to recall some of the history of the choir. Coppes said the original performance was at the First United Methodist Church in downtown Warsaw. Then in 1991, Anderson created the Classic Arts Programs, a non-profit entity for several choral groups. “That’s about the time I think that I joined,” Coppes recalled. “We were practicing up in this little room at the Methodist Church sometimes.” The choirs now rehearse and perform at the Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church, downtown Warsaw. “Because we started over there, we’re going to do ‘Messiah’ this year kind of as a big hurrah to our beginnings in March. And we’re going to have it at the Methodist Church since that’s where we started,” Meulink said. The adult choir is known as the Lakeland Community Choir. The children’s choral program was created in 2001 and is known as the Lakeland Youth Chorale. The LYC includes Piccolo Singers for grades three through five; Vivace for grades fifth through eighth; and Inner Voices for grades eighth through 10th. Ottersberg recalled, “See I started at Rodeheaver, that’s where they used to have it. Don Ogden did and so did Dick Anderson.” Ottersberg and her late husband, Walter, both sang with the choir. “Right from the beginning. It started in 1983 but it wasn’t the choir yet. We were part of the Grace College group, and then Dick Anderson decided to get the choirs together,” Ottersberg said. The women recalled a lot more men being in the choir. Now it could use a few more male singers. Choir conductors over the years included Anderson, Alan Cass, Scott Avery and Alan Chambers. For a few years the choir joined forces with a Grace College group until it collapsed. “So really, this choir here came back under Classic Arts – this is our third year – so about four years ago people came to me since I was president and said, ‘Can you get the community choir going again?’ So we started up. This is our third season,” Meulink said. Currently, Dr. Ardis Faber is the conductor. Meulink said, “Even though the adult choir took off for a couple of years and went to Grace College, we still had the children’s choir going because they started in 2001 and we had them going the whole time. That started with Connie Meadows.” At one time, Coppes, her daughter and her granddaughter all performed in the choirs. Coppes said that was in the 1990s. LCC gives about four performances a year, Meulink said. This past Saturday the choir sang with the Symphony of the Lakes for two shows. The LYC and LCC perform their joint Christmas concert at 7 p.m. Dec. 4 at the Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church. The “Messiah” concert will be in March, with a jazz concert in May on the first Friday. The March performance of “Messiah” will be dedicated to Anderson. Meulink said there are about 28 members in the LCC, but every week someone new joins. The youth choir has 19 members. “We are looking for adult singers for the ‘Messiah’ concert,” Meulink said. “Everyone’s welcome,” stated Ottersberger. “We invite anyone that’s ever been in it and others,” Coppes said. “We just want to encourage people. We’d love it if there’d be 100 people. That would be fine with us.” To join the LCC, Meulink said anyone interested can go to the website and sign up. Rehearsals for “Messiah” start Jan. 15 at 6:30 p.m. at the Warsaw Evangelical Presbyterian Church, Meulink said. “We could always use men. You can quote me on that one,” Meulink said. “We always need men. All voice parts.” “A lot of the men went to heaven,” Ottersberg said. “They did. We had at least five or six strong singers who passed away,” Meulink agreed. As the interview with the three women wrapped up, some of the children from the Youth Chorale stopped by. Ten-year-old Max Hamilton is in his second year with the LYC, while 13-year-old Mackenzie Hamilton is in her fifth year. Their mother, Angel Hamilton, is the accompanist for the children’s choir. Max said he likes the new songs that they sing, including “We Need a Little Christmas,” “Donkey Carol” and the choir’s version of “Silent Night.” “What I like is how we’re able to interact with other people who like singing as well,” Mackenzie said. What she likes about singing, she said, is the “feelings you get when you sing” because she can feel the theme of the song and how each singer feels while singing their part. “I like being watched,” Max said. To sign up for a choir or for more information, visit the website at www.classicartsprograms.org
