“HollyDaze” with SEISO
Saturday, December 9, 2023; 3:00 PM First United Methodist Church-Mt. Pleasant, IA
OACC has once again received an exciting invitation to have BOTH our children’s chorus AND our adult chorus join singers from all over SE Iowa as we perform with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra (SEISO) in their annual Hollydaze concert this year! This concert is truly unique and always very enjoyable, by singers and audience members alike. Additionally, what a powerful and unforgettable experience for the children singers who choose to participate (they sing alone and with the adults), to be able to actually sing with a full professional symphony orchestra!! Contact Christine Bergan at 319-530-7469 if interested, as rehearsals will begin VERY soon.
“Hollydaze”-with SEISO
Saturday, December 9, 2023; 3:00 PM First United Methodist Church-Mt. Pleasant, IA
OACC has once again received an exciting invitation to have BOTH our children’s chorus AND our adult chorus join singers from all over SE Iowa as we perform with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra (SEISO) in their annual Hollydaze concert this year! This concert is truly unique and always very enjoyable, by singers and audience members alike. Additionally, what a powerful and unforgettable experience for the children singers who choose to participate (they sing alone and with the adults), to be able to actually sing with a full professional symphony orchestra!! Contact Christine Bergan at 319-530-7469 if interested, as rehearsals will begin VERY soon.
Second Biennial Messiah Sing Along - Watch Here
FRIDAY, NOVEMBER 17, 2023
First Presbyterian Church, Ottumwa
We will be hosting a second exciting “Messiah Sing Along” after our “First Annual Messiah Sing Along” was so well-received and appreciated by both performers and attendees, alike. To better match the needs for this type of performance with the expected availability and number of total singing participants, we have decided to host these every other year, rather than annually. Therefore, they will be called “Biennial Messiah Sing Alongs”. We can’t wait to host this exciting event again in November of 2023! :-)
Viva Ottumwa International Festival 2023!
Saturday, September 16, 2023
Quincy Place Mall, Ottumwa
OACC has once again invited to perform in the “Viva Ottumwa International Festival”, on Saturday, September 16th. We are sincerely honored and happy to be invited to help celebrate the many different ethnic cultures found among the residents of Ottumwa and the surrounding area.
Wesleyan, We Love Thee
Sunday, May 7, 2023 | 3:00 PM
Chapel Auditorium, Mt. Pleasant
Click here for some amazing photos and links to video recordings made by audience members from this deeply moving and beautiful final concert in the beautiful chapel of Iowa Wesleyan University.
Ruth P. Seim Memorial Concert for a Cause
Sunday, April 23, 2023 | 2:00 PM
Bridge View Center, Ottumwa
The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus was selected to be the recipient for the 2023 Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra’s (SEISO) annual Ruth P. Seim Memorial Concert for a Cause in Ottumwa! The invitation was to both of our choirs and included both adults and children singers. All participating singers also received FREE admission to the symphony concert following our performance!
A portion of all $20 SEISO concert tickets was donated to the Ottumwa Area Community Chorus. It was a deeply appreciated show of support of OACC by SEISO, and was a great way for both singers and audience members to experience music and help support the arts in our community!
SEISO Masterworks II | Mystical Footprints
Saturday, March 18, 2023 | 7:30 PM
Bridge View Center, Ottumwa
Many OACC adult chorus singers performed with others from SE Iowa in the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra’s (SEISO) “Masterworks II-Mystical Footprints” Concert! The collaborative chorus (w/OACC singers) performed Wagner's triumphant Prelude and Bridal Chorus from the opera Lohengrin (“here comes the bride”, but in German!), followed by Willamette Spencer’s “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corners” and Vaughan Williams’ “Five Mystical Songs” featuring soloist baritone Blair Buffington. These concerts evening also included a performance by the Marilyn Minford McCoid Young Artist Competition winner Mattias Luitjens, playing Henryk Górecki's relentless Concerto for Piano and Orchestra.
The “Masterworks Series Concerts” are presented by SEISO three times a year, and they are performed in three cities all in one weekend. These performances are given in Ottumwa, Mt. Pleasant, and Burlington. For tickets and more information about other upcoming performances and concerts, visit www.SEISO.us
Martin Luther King Day Celebration
Sunday, January 15, 2023 | 2:00 PM First Presbyterian Church, Ottumwa
The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus (both adults and children) accepted an invitation to perform in the Ottumwa City-Wide Celebration of Martin Luther King, Jr.’s Birthday! The celebration took place on Sunday, January 15th, at 3:00 PM, at First Presbyterian Church. Other local choruses joined OACC for a final powerful song, and we performed a song entitled “I Have a Dream” on our own as well. This was a very important and meaningful event, and we were humbled and grateful to be asked to be a part of it!!
“Hollydaze”-with SEISO
Saturday, December 10, 2022 IWU Chapel, Mt. Pleasant, IA
OACC received an exciting and special invitation to have BOTH our children’s chorus AND our adult chorus perform with the Southeast Iowa Symphony Orchestra (SEISO) in their annual Hollydaze concert this year! What a powerful and unforgettable experience for these children, to be able to actually sing with a full professional symphony orchestra!! This performance took place in the beautiful chapel of the IWU campus, in Mt. Pleasant, IA, on December 10, 2022.
ABBA-Solutely Christmas Show
When the national touring production, “ABBA-Solutely Christmas Show”, came to perform at the Bridge View Center in Ottumwa on Thursday, December 8, the Ottumwa Area Community Children’s Chorus was invited to perform with them, on stage!! This was a uniquely exciting opportunity for our young singers to perform with a professional touring show, and a way for us to lend some local talent to this homage to the iconic Swedish pop group, ABBA. It was an excellent show and made for a memorable and fun-filled evening for all!
“Anything Goes”
We recently presented a full-length fall concert entitled “Anything Goes”, which featured some of our favorite songs from all of our previous fall concerts, selected by our singers! Themes from past fall concerts included “Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber”, “Disney Extravaganza”, “African-American Spirituals and Songs from South Africa”, and “I Got Rhythm-Music of Gershwin”.
Viva Ottumwa
OACC was once again invited to perform in the “Viva Ottumwa International Festival”, in which we were honored and happy to help celebrate the many different ethnic cultures found among the residents of Ottumwa and the surrounding area.
Messiah Sing Along
After the significant challenges faced by all performance groups due to the long-lasting aftereffects of the impact of COVID-19, OACC made a conscious decision to try and find a way to breathe new life back into our two community choruses. The decision was made to invite singers from Ottumwa and Southeast Iowa to join with OACC in order to perform a “Messiah Sing Along”, as an excellent way to accomplish this critically important goal, both for the OACC and for the other choirs from which many of the singers came.
Virtual Christmas Eve
OACC typically caravans all over the Ottumwa community to rehab centers and nursing homes, on an annual “two-hour tour”; singing 15-20 minutes worth of Christmas Carols in 4- part harmony. Since it was not possible to go to any of these places and sing for all the residents and patients in the midst of COVID-19, we decided to perform a virtual (no audience) Christmas Eve Service, in which singers were placed at least 8’ apart, in every other pew, and fully masked for the entire service.
I Got Rhythm
The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus presents its 2019 Fall concert, “I Got Rhythm”, featuring the exciting and masterful music of George Gershwin (1898-1937). The concert will feature both the adult and children’s choruses, performing separately as well as together. The program includes examples of the wide range of styles, tempos, and compositional techniques so masterfully used by Gershwin, including the influences of classical, jazz, and popular music.
A Million Dreams
The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus presents its 2018 Fall concert, “A Million Dreams”, featuring African American Spirituals and Songs from South Africa. African American spirituals are an integral and powerful part of the history of our country. They represent the period of time when the south allowed slavery to flourish and were commonly found both before and during civil war times.
An Evening with Andrew Lloyd Webber
The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus, under the new direction of Dr. Christine Bergan, presents its 2016 Fall concert, “An Evening of Andrew Lloyd Webber.” The Ottumwa Area Community Chorus was originally founded as a chorus for adult singers only, however, Dr. Bergan has developed a brand-new community children’s chorus for the first time in its history.