Choir fills musical void

Singers throughout Wasatch Front meet in Davis County to make their voices heard

CENTERVILLE — Kathy Wilson said she can't stand to be quiet.

The South Ogden resident is a retired member of the Mormon Tabernacle Choir, where she sang for 20 years.

But now she can be found raising her alto voice with a new Davis County choir. And although she has to drive a ways to get there, she said its location and practice schedule are convenient.

"It's here in at least Davis County," Wilson said. "It's not Salt Lake or south Salt Lake County, which is too far away."

The choir, formally known as the Utah Master Chorale, meets a need for many local residents, like Wilson, who love to sing.

"There hasn't been anything (here)," said Kameron Fillmore, a tenor in the chorale. "It's been a void until this group came along."

Fillmore lives just three blocks away from where the chorale rehearses — the Episcopal Church of the Resurrection, 1131 S. Main, Centerville. He can be found at the church every Saturday morning during its season, September through May.

"This is the best thing I do every week," he said. "Cameron's a fantastic director, the music quality is top notch. It's like being in a university choir again, but I don't have to pay the tuition and I don't have to show up every day."

The chorale was organized in summer 2005 by Cameron Rose of Bountiful. Rose, who is also the group's music director, was the chorus master with the Orchestra & Chorus of Sandy City (formerly known as the American West Symphony & Chorus) for three years.

That's when he decided he wanted to start something closer to home. He began advertising for an auditioned group to be drawn from the community at-large from as far north as Ogden to as far south as Point of the Mountain.

He said he wanted the newly formed chorale to have a base in the south Davis County area where there wasn't a community choir and hasn't been for some time.

"There are a lot of people out there who are looking for this type of a group, and that's primarily a good reason why I organized it," Rose said. "I had people approach me and say this is the type of group that would be nice to have."

Rose started auditioning local singers last fall, and today there are about 40 members in the chorale.

"I'd like to grow that (number) significantly with the high quality of singers which I know are out there," he said.

Local singers interested in joining the chorale's ranks can download an audition packet from the group's Web site, www.utahmasterchorale.org. The singer must set up an audition time with Rose via e-mail.

As part of the audition, a singer must learn a piece of music in the part they usually sing and perform it for Rose. Rose said he also listens to the singer's vocal range and asks them to sight read a piece of music during the audition.

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