Youth Choir concert to honor founder

Diane Strimer, the "energizer and organizer" of Tusculum College's Youth Choir, will be honored at the choir's spring concert, to be held at 7 p.m. Tuesday, May 5, in the Annie Hogan Byrd Auditorium on the Tusculum College campus. The choir, composed of Greeneville/Greene County area youths from grades 4-12, will perform a program of sacred and secular music, as well as a special festival of folk songs from around the world.

Strimer was the driving force behind the creation of the Youth Choir eight years ago, when she and Tusculum College's Artist in Residence, Marilyn duBrisk, began to organize interested parents. At that time, many of the parents took their children to Johnson City to perform. The prospect of a youth choir for the Greeneville/Greene County area was widely appealing, and Tusculum College soon became the host organization.

Strimer began the choir in part as a creative outlet for her own children, but "her work really goes beyond family interest," said Youth Choir director Dr. David Hendricksen. "It's a gift to the community."

Many children who have performed in the Youth Choir have gone on to continue singing at their churches and throughout their educational careers, Hendricksen said, and it's a tribute to Strimer's initiative.

The original idea behind Tusculum's Youth Choir was that it should be open to children of varying backgrounds--a place where music and song brings people together in a common interest. This spring's concert is in part a reflection of that goal, drawing on the folk songs of a wide range of world cultures.

Students began practicing in mid-January for the upcoming spring performance, and since that time have learned to sing folk songs in French, Japanese and Greek. Scottish and American folk songs will also be performed. Corrine Nicholas, instructor of French at Tusculum, tutored the children in their pronunciation of French, while duBrisk helped them learn Scottish folk songs. James Winfree will provide accompaniment.

Hendricksen said recent concerts by the Youth Choir have begun to draw more and more audience members, composed not only of parents but of music connoisseurs from throughout the area. "The draw is the music," he said, "and that's a tribute to the hard work the children have put in."

The concert is free and open to the public.