CHOIR REVIEWS

"For those of us lucky enough to procure tickets to Inspirar’s choral performance this weekend, we were not disappointed. Inspirar is a volunteer choir of just 28 music educators and performers from the upstate. Inspirar strives to engage, educate, Impact and inspire audiences through exceptional high-level singing, promote unity and harmony through the performance of diverse choral literature and provide transformative awe-inspiring choral performances to listeners and supporters.

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Saturday’s two concerts, themed “So Breaks the Sun” included works from twelve composers across five centuries. The evening opened with an invitation to shut off our phones and ourselves from life’s external din and simply be inspired. At first, a handful of vocalists formed a small triangle, beginning the evening with slow rumblings of what sounded like darkness enveloping hidden light. Soon vocalizations from the rear acoustically revealed a second choir echoing their annunciation. As the evening progressed, the 28 voices steadily, poignantly, revealed the light percolating.

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Each composition revealed the emergence of light and hope, so appropriate for our time -the end of Covid lockdowns. At one point, vocalists encircled the audience, their voices bursting with the promise of new light! Briefly, I glanced around the venue to see how the performance was affecting others. Many had eyes like mine, moist from simply allowing the music to inspire the longing in each of us to emerge from our own hidden darkness.

Rock Hill is privileged to have vocalists available to us on a scale usually seen only in much larger metropolitan cities around the world. Dr. Jeremy Mims, who conducts Inspirar, has raised the local cultural bar yet again. Inspirar is now a 501c3 charitable organization and can be supported by our community."