A Celebration of Music
Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus has been performing for 50 years
By Mike Costanza
Weldon Brinson decided back in 1993 to raise his voice for the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus.
“I joined because they needed basses,” the 72-year-old said.
It also helped that GVOC was planning to travel to Ireland to perform. Brinson has sung in the community-based nonprofit’s chorus ever since.
GVOC gives about six concerts a year. Though it performs classical choral and orchestral works, the group also has played newly composed pieces, Broadway tunes and popular music.
Audiences at Brighton’s Trinity Reformed Church, on the Erie Canal in Pittsford, at The Hochstein School in Rochester and at other local venues have all enjoyed its performances.
The group is now looking forward to celebrating its 50th season.
The seeds for the GVOC were planted when Sister Virginia Hogan, the late music director of the Sisters of Saint Joseph Motherhouse Chapel, was asked to prepare a concert for the town of Perinton’s 1976 celebration of the US bicentennial.
Bringing together 40 singers, she created the Perinton Bicentennial Choir. The group evolved into the Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus, which at one time had more than 130 singers and instrumentalists from Fairport, Rochester, Pittsford and other towns in greater Rochester. It performed not only in and around the Rochester area, but in England, Scotland, Ireland, Austria, Italy and other parts of Europe.
The COVID-19 pandemic limited GVOCs ability to rehearse and membership fell until as few as 20 people were participating. It now has about 45 members. Though they tend to be older — some are in their 80s — the group includes young adults as well.
“We are rebuilding now and we are definitely on the upswing,” said Laura Morrissey, GVOCs 76-year-old president.
Morrissey studied the oboe in high school and at Oberlin College, then went on to learn the English horn.
“The English horn is big brother to the oboe, fingered the same way, but it is larger and lower in pitch, with a more mournful sound,” she said.
The mother of two adult children now plays both instruments and sings alto for the GVOC, in addition to raising her voice for her church’s choir and for Eastman Summer Sings, the Eastman School of Music’s popular chorus. The cardiologist is on the staff of Rochester Regional Health but no longer sees patients and now teaches medical residents.
“I enjoy that very much and I feel that I enrich the residents’ learning,” Morrissey said. “I can offer interesting historical vignettes to them too, since I have been on the Rochester General Hospital staff since 1976.”
She sees parallels between her vocation and love of music.
“I find it fascinating that both music and the heart depend heavily on a steady, rhythmic beat,” she said.
When Lisa Silverstein moved into the Rochester area she looked for an opportunity to play the instrument she calls her “first love,” the oboe.
“I’ve always been involved in music and I was looking for a group to play with,” the 55-year-old Honeoye Falls resident said.
GVOC didn’t have room for another oboist. So in 1994 she joined its chorus.
“It was really great,” she said. “I was just 24, everyone was really welcoming and the older people took me under her wing.”
For her first concert, Silverstein sang “The Magnificat,” a work by the English composer John Rutter, who is known for his sacred choral works. When a place in the orchestra opened in 1996, she got the opportunity to play in GVOC’s 21st season.
“We performed Mozart’s “Requiem” in November, “Handel’s Messiah” in December and a pops dinner concert in February 1997 featuring Broadway show tunes,” she said.
Silverstein now sits on GVOC’s board of directors and is working on a slide show about the nonprofit that will be made into a movie about it in honor of its 50th anniversary. The married mother of two children and Rochester City School District teacher is looking forward to joining other GVOC members onstage again.
“It’s been a great experience,” she said. “I just like the feeling of being in a group.”
After singing for most of his life in church choirs that had about 20 members, Brinson found it exciting to perform in much larger groups with GVOC. He particularly enjoyed singing in “Handel’s Messiah.”
“Singing harmonies with 120 people is like tremendous,” the retired, married Xerox engineer said.
He particularly enjoyed traveling to Ireland with the chorus, which performed at multiple locations during the trip.
“You got to know people a little bit more and it was like you’re traveling with family,” he said. “Everybody looked out for everybody.”
Brinson also performed with the GVOC in Italy. As the group’s 50th season approaches, he’s looking forward to raising his voice for it again.
“I enjoy the camaraderie of the people that I sing with,” he said.
Celebrating 50 Years of Performing
Genesee Valley Orchestra and Chorus will hold two kick-off concerts this year to celebrate its 50th anniversary. The first is scheduled on Saturday evening, Dec. 13, at the Church of the Resurrection in Fairport, and the second on the afternoon of Sunday, Dec. 14, at Webster Presbyterian Church. The program will feature seasonal music, including selections from Handel’s “Messiah,” with special guest violin soloist YooJin Jang. Following the concert, guests are invited to join GVOC members for a festive dessert reception.
The group will continue celebrating its anniversary into the new year, culminating in a special commemorative video presentation at its spring concerts.
Full details are available at www.gvoc.org.