Choir to share spring concert ‘In All Things, Love’
The Coshocton Community Choir, including auditioned singers traveling from nine Ohio counties, will share its spring concert, “In All Things, Love,” at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 27, 2025, at Coshocton High School’s McKinley Auditorium.
The concert, including the Coshocton Youth Chorale, The Coshocton Singers, The Roscoe Brass and other instrumentalists, will feature a selection of sacred and secular choral music, including arrangements and settings of familiar hymns, classical works, spirituals and more.
There is no cost to attend the concert this year, although a free-will offering will be accepted to help meet the expenses involved in preparing for concerts and carrying out the organization’s mission.
“I was struck by Dan Forrest’s In All Things Love, and was reminded of the quote ‘In essentials, unity; in non-essentials, liberty; in all things, charity (or love),’” said Director Charles R. Snyder about the concert’s theme. “Love for one another and even love for strangers should undergird everything we do. It is in love for humanity that we hold doors open for people going into restaurants, grab things off a higher shelf for a stranger at the grocery, stop to see if someone needs help when they are stranded on the side of the road. There are so many everyday things we do as expressions of love. It is also a worthwhile theme to pursue musically, especially in the Lenten season.”
Concert selections include new songs for the choir, Dan Forrest’s “In All Things Love,” which inspired the concert theme, and Elaine Hagenberg’s “Through Love to Light.” The concert will also include special settings of familiar sacred tunes, “St. Theodulph’s Hymn” (All Glory, Laud and Honor); “Wondrous Love”; “Jesus Loves Me”; “When I Survey The Wondrous Cross”; and “Down By The Riverside.”
The concert will also feature moving works “Love Held Him to the Cross” arranged by choir friend Len Thomas and Jane M. Marshall’s “My Eternal King,” in addition to two spirituals by Jester Hairston, “Angels Rolled De Stone Away” and “Amen.” The choir will conclude the concert with F. Melius Christiansen’s setting of “Beautiful Savior” and Peter Lutkin’s “The Lord Bless You and Keep You.”
Some highlights from the Coshocton Singers are Jane Marshall’s “Psalm 98,” the first song ever performed by the Coshocton Singers in 1988, Aaron Copland’s “I Bought Me a Cat,” and “We Are Called to Be His Servants.” The youth chorale will sing “Hallelujah,” “Amen,” “How Can I Keep From Singing,” “Hush! Somebody’s Callin’ My Name,” and “Let Me Ride.”
Now in its 54th season, the Coshocton Community Choir was organized in 1971 by Snyder, an accomplished Ohio teacher, choral conductor, and church musician. Since its founding, more than 900 singers have sung with the choir, which has become known for its renditions of sacred a cappella literature. The choir’s singers, who come from all backgrounds, vocations and walks of life, rehearse together weekly through the fall and winter and traditionally perform a narrated Christmas concert and spring concerts.
Essential to the choir’s mission is providing an opportunity for all to attend the concerts. To that end, the choir is piloting a new model that replaces paid concert tickets with a free-will donation.
“Considering the impact of inflation on family budgets, we believe that removing the requirement to purchase a ticket will allow us to share our message with even more guests,” said Jan Myers, choir president. “Music is an incredible vehicle for sharing the transformative power of God’s gifts of love and grace. With your help, we can continue to bring the message of Christmas and Easter to Coshocton and beyond for years to come.”
The Coshocton Community Choir is returning to Coshocton High School’s McKinley Auditorium at 1205 Cambridge Road in Coshocton for this year’s spring concert, after singing its Christmas concert at River View High School in December. For information about the choir, visit coshoctoncommunitychoir.org.
Category: Arts & Entertainment
