photo by: Derek Redd

Members of the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra Community Choir rehearse for their May 15 performance with the symphony at its 95th Anniversary Celebration concert.

WHEELING — The Wheeling Symphony Orchestra has long stressed that it is an organization that belongs to the Ohio Valley. And what better way to show that, WSO officials believe, than to invite members of the community to sing along with it.

When the symphony takes the stage for its 95th Anniversary Celebration concert at 7:30 p.m. May 15, it will do so with a new component, a community choir that will lend its voice to the soaring sounds of the symphony in a composition from an Ohio Valley composer.

WSO Executive Director Sonja Thoms said that she and Maestro John Devlin, the WSO’s conductor and music director, started birthing the idea of a community choir when Thoms came aboard with the symphony.

“We talked a lot about what is one of the roles of this orchestra in this community,” she said. “And I think we have a shared enthusiasm for getting people to participate in the arts. It was cool to be on the front end of the whole process and really craft this.”

The choir now consists of 40 members who have been rehearsing since January to perform in the opening piece of the May 15 concert, a composition from West Liberty University music professor Matthew Harder that is inspired by the impact that the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra has had in the Ohio Valley over nearly a century.

Choir director Joyce Jingle remembers being a part of the first iteration of the choir years ago. She was disappointed that it had faded away, but loves the opportunity to revitalize it for the current generation.

Everyone involved with the WSO community choir appreciates its ability to reach into so many corners of the Ohio Valley community and bring dozens of people of different backgrounds and ideas together for the unifying mission of creating art. Jingle especially enjoys that it weaves together different generations of local vocalists into one cohesive group.

She sees voice students she has now performing alongside her voice students from past years, as well as people with whom she has stood beside and sang.

“I think it’s arts unifying people,” she said. “But for me, it’s also a time thing. I see all the generations of people I’ve been involved with musically.

“You realize the diversity of the group that you have, yet you all have that one goal you’re constantly working toward,” Jingle added.

Bethesda, Ohio, resident Dave Diehl said the Wheeling Symphony Orchestra had been a big part of his early musical life, one that had evolved into performing with the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra and Cincinnati Pops, as well as earning international awards as part of a barbershop quartet.

But to be able to perform with the symphony ingrained in the Ohio Valley community is an experience Diehl will always cherish.

“It makes a huge difference,” he said. “You have people who are local who are performing, not just those coming from the outside. To be able to participate and have a local connection is really exciting.”

For choir member Christina Fisanick, the joy comes from several outlets. Not only is she able to sing with the group, but the Wheeling author, historian and poet showed Harder and WSO officials a poem she had been working on. After revising some of the lyrics, it now will be part of the symphony and choir’s May 15 performance as the libretto of Harder’s composition.

“It’s amazing,” Fisanick said about her entire experience with the choir. “I believe strongly in Wheeling’s revival and this is another piece of that revival. The arts have to be part of the revival.

“We can’t just work on bringing industry back or bringing jobs back,” she added. “We have to make sure that our wonderful symphony that has been here for 95 years is around for another 95 years.”

There is a future for the community choir, too, Thoms said. She and Devlin have discussed having a project for the choir in each WSO season. A natural next step, she said, could be the choir participating in Symphony on Ice at WesBanco Arena.

Everyone involved believes the community choir is a wonderful addition to the WSO repertoire that will only get better with time.

“I feel this was a long time coming,” Jingle said. “It’s something we’ve needed for a very long time. There are a lot of people in this community who still want to sing, but they have lives and have gone on and done things in their careers and with their families.

“This is their little way of getting back into music and bringing singing back into their life.”