Cantata choir starting rehearsals

Rehearsals for the 2023 Christmas Cantata Choir will start Monday, Oct. 2.

The choir will perform a 60-minute program called “The King is Here” at several area churches in December. It is the 37th year local singers, musicians, actors and signers have performed a local cantata.

Offerings collected at each performance benefit local food banks. Over the past 18 seasons, the choir has raised nearly $300,000 to support food needs.

Rehearsals will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. Mondays during October and November in Joyful Servant Lutheran Church, 1716 North Villa Road, Newberg. Additional rehearsals will be held on Saturday mornings in November.

“The King is Here” is a collection of music appropriate to the Advent and Christmas seasons, director Lee Schrepel said. It includes narration and instrumental music.

No auditions are necessary except for solos and small ensembles, youth chorus members and narrators.

Schrepel said they will form a five-part, non-denominational choir with 25 to 30 voices and a musical ensemble with piano, bells, percussion, guitar, synthesizer, bass, brass, woodwind and other stringed instruments. American Sign Language interpreters also are needed.

The ability to read choral music is helpful. Participants will need to buy their own materials, including songbooks and CDs.

The choir also is looking for sponsors to underwrite part or all of the cost.

Schrepel is the former choir director at Trinity Lutheran Church in McMinnville and Joyful Servant Lutheran Church in Newberg. For more information, call him at 503-939-1562 or 503-662-3926, or go to communitycantata@gmail.com.