The Tennessee Chamber Chorus is a new professional choral ensemble that is based on successful paid groups such as Seraphic Fire in Miami and Skylark Vocal Ensemble in Atlanta.
Cameron LaBarr conducts the Tennessee Chamber Chorus.FOUNDING PARTNERSFundraising may be the least-enjoyable aspect of putting together the new Tennessee Chamber Chorus.”A lot of people don’t like to ask people for money,” says founder Cameron LaBarr, “but when you have something so worthy of thought and consideration, I don’t mind approaching people and asking them to think about ways to contribute.”So he did.The first couple he approached were Mike Leuze and Linda Thompson of Cleveland, Tenn.”I have known Cameron personally for a number of years and have had the opportunity to observe him professionally,” says Leuze, now president of the chorus’s board of directors. “I have confidence in his abilities as a conductor to create truly meaningful musical experiences for both the performers and the audience.”The board has created a variety of donation levels, but the fundraising emphasis is on attaining Founding Partners, defined as anyone who supports the chorus with a donation of $300 or more, says LaBarr. A perk of becoming a Founding Partner, he says, is that these donors will be listed in the program of every future performance.To date, they have 33 Founding Partners, with the largest donation being $2,000, he says.The Founding Partner offer lasts until Dec. 31, and the conductor has a goal of enlisting 100 Founding Partners by year’s end.To make a donation, mail checks made payable to: Tennessee Chamber Chorus, 115 18th St. NE, Cleveland, TN 37311.
Jason Thoms hopped in his 1990 Mazda Miata at the first of this month and drove 2,000 miles round-trip from New York to Cleveland, Tenn., to sing just two performances with the new Tennessee Chamber Chorus.
He says he made the road trip to support the musical endeavor of his friend, Cameron LaBarr, and to be part of a new, exciting professional ensemble.
LaBarr, an assistant professor of choral music at Lee University who holds a doctorate in music arts from the University of North Texas, has captured the attention of the area’s music community with the launch of his Tennessee Chamber Chorus.
While Chattanooga has several classical vocal ensembles already, they are all volunteer-driven. LaBarr is paying Tennessee Chamber Chorus singers for performances just as instrumentalists are.