The UALR Community Chorus invites all interested UALR faculty, staff, students, and members of the public from throughout central Arkansas to sing with the ensemble as the group prepares for its spring 2012 concert. The concert, the second of two parts of Handel’s “Messiah,” will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Thursday, April 5, at Second Presbyterian Church.

Spring rehearsals begin at 7 p.m. Thursday, Jan. 19, in Room 101 in the Fine Arts Building.

“Rehearsals will take place from 7 to 9 p.m. every Thursday – except the week of spring break – until the performance,” said Dr. Bevan Keating, associate professor of music and director of the choir.

No audition is required to participate – singers are welcome regardless of their level of musical experience.  The membership fee is $50 per semester. Students can choose to register for the class, Community Chorus MUEN 4140 to receive course credit.

“You don’t need to know how to read music, although we especially welcome those who can,” Keating said. “All you need is a love for great music and the time to work with the training resources we provide.”

The choir includes nearly 100 members from the UALR campus and from communities across central Arkansas.

Current and past faculty participants represent the departments of music, rhetoric and writing, history, education leadership, and marketing. Other singers represent the provost’s office, IT Services, and the Disability Resource Center.

All Community Chorus concerts are performed with a professional orchestra. Last year, the chorus’s joint performance of “HMS Pinafore” with the UALR Opera Theatre filled the Stella Boyle Smith Concert Hall for four performances. Last March, the chorus performed Mozart’s “Requiem” before an audience of 1,300 in Robinson Center Music Hall.