Meet Our Music Team
Singing with us is an opportunity to study and learn under the guidance and direction of our Conductor and Music Director, our rehearsal accompanist, guest musicians and guest soloists throughout the season.
Aaron Garber, Conductor/Director
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Rose M. Peak, Pianist/Accompanist
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Aaron Garber is in his thirteenth season as the music director of the Jefferson Choral Society. He is also the Director of Music Ministry at Trinity Ecumenical Parish in Moneta. He is the founder of the Salem Choral Society/The Chorus of the Blue Ridge of which he was the music director for fourteen seasons.
Aaron is active as both a conductor and a composer. He has twice served as guest conductor of the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra in joint concerts with the Jefferson Choral Society, conducting the commissioned premieres of his Dies Irae and Credo and the Dvořák Te Deum. In December of 2019 Aaron’s opera Romania: Revolution 1989 will premiere in its full-version form at the opera house in Timisoara, Romania, where the revolution began. Premieres under Mr. Garber’s baton have included his own major works Magnificat; Jesus, Son of Our Father; Job, Mass for Peace; and Mary, the Mother of Jesus, all scored for full orchestra, chorus, and soloists. Other conducting credits include Handel’s Messiah, Dubois’ Seven Last Words, Vivaldi’s Gloria, Orff’s Carmina Burana, Pinkham’s Christmas Cantata, The Prince of Peace Is Come by Christian Gregor, Mozart’s Coronation Mass and Mass in C minor, Haydn’s Lord Nelson Mass, Rutter’s Gloria, and Requiem settings by Fauré, Duruflé, Rutter, and Mozart. Mr. Garber won the prestigious Raymond W. Brock student composition award in 2000, a national contest sponsored by the American Choral Directors Association. Aaron was selected to compose the 2011-2012 theme song for Rotary International, which Aaron premiered in San Diego in 2011. The compositions of Aaron Garber have been heard across the United States and in locations throughout the world, including Canada, Thailand, Austria, Romania, and Tanzania. Aaron is published by Concordia Publishing House and Augsburg Fortress Publishers. In addition to composing and conducting music, Aaron enjoys leading tour groups with his business, the International Tour Company. With Mr. Garber, the JCS has toured and performed in England, Scotland, France, Canada, Northern Ireland, the Republic of Ireland, Germany, Austria, and most recently in England and Scotland for the second time. Aaron Garber holds a Bachelor of Arts in Music from Bridgewater College, where he was named 2007 Young Alumnus of the Year. He also has a Master of Music in Choral Conducting from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. |
Rose M. Peak is a graduate of Radford University with a Bachelor of Science in Music Education and is a certified independent music teacher and piano instructor who resides in Rustburg, Virginia. She serves as a national adjudicator for the National Guild of Piano Teachers, a division of the American College of Musicians, and is active in the Virginia Federation of Music Clubs, the American Guild of Organists, and the Music Teachers National Association. Ms. Peak is a Hall of Fame member of the National Guild of Piano Teachers.
Ms. Peak is in her twenty-second year as the accompanist for the Jefferson Choral Society and has toured with the choral society on their seven international tours to France and Italy; Scotland and England; Canada; Ireland; Austria, Germany, and Iceland; and most recently on a second trip to England and Scotland, accompanying on piano, keyboard, and organ. Rose accompanies the Virginia Episcopal School’s Glee Club and serves as the chapel organist. Ms. Peak is also the organist and choir director for Quaker Memorial Presbyterian Church in Lynchburg, Virginia. Soloists and InstrumentalistsThroughout the season the choir is joined by professional soloists and instrumentalists. These individuals are drawn from across the Commonwealth and beyond.
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