Lift the Spirit Choir

We will be combining our Winter Solstice Open Sing with the Wonderground Singers Solstice Sing!

Wednesday, Dec 17th, 7:00- 9:00pm

Good Shepherd Church

960 Monacan Trail RoadCharlottesville, VA, 22903

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We would love to create more performance opportunities! Please reach out if you have suggestions/requests!

Contact: ashlynn.manning@gmail.com

Ashlynn Manning Teng is a vocalist and music teacher who has been facilitating music and movement with adults and children for over 20 years. She has a B.A. in Music from Oberlin College and an M.A. in Curriculum and Instruction (Critical Pedagogy) from CU Denver. Ashlynn performed for many years with comedic performance art band Suspicious Package, composed and performed electronic pop and folk music in New York and Central America, fronted gypsy jazz bands in Montauk, NY and Boulder, CO and taught elementary school music in public schools. Ashlynn is a lifelong dancer and a Yoga Alliance certified yoga teacher.  She sings alto with the Virginia Consort. 

After the Covid pandemic closed schools and her classes of elementary students dissolved into online coursework, she felt called to bring voices together to feel vibrations in the body in real time. Because singing in harmony with other voices has always lifted her spirit more than anything else in life, she decided to start a community choir and call it "Lift the Spirit." Within a few weeks of reaching out to singing friends in the Boulder/Denver area, two co-leaders joined in founding the first group, Roy Willey and Kathleen Hooper, who started rehearsing in the fall of 2021. 

That choir is still going strong in CO and is in its 12th season! https://liftthespiritchoir.com/home

Ashlynn now has a 2-yr-old son here in Charlottesville, where she teaches private voice and piano lessons.  Her teaching studio: www.ashlynnmanningteng.com

Lori Derr is a vocalist, teacher, and devotee of the skill and spirit of musical improvisation.

Lori has recorded, performed, and taught as a jazz vocalist for over 20 years. In 2011, she began studying with the legendary Bobby McFerrin and his musical colleague, master vocal improviser/author Rhiannon. Studying with these master teachers for over a decade, she became a leader in the style of groove-driven, spontaneous vocal group compositions via leader-led circle singing, as taught by Bobby McFerrin, and via Rhiannon's co-created leader-less “Vocal River Forms.”

 Lori is thrilled to teach, lead, and co-lead all levels of singers in these joyful improvisational musical experiences. Lori holds Levels I, II, and III certificates in Somatic Voice Work, the Lovetri Method, from the Contemporary Commercial Music Vocal Pedagogy Institute at Shenandoah University, Winchester, VA.

Katrien Vance  has sung all of her life, from madrigals and all-state choir in high school, to a cappella in college, to the Virginia Consort, with whom she has sung alto since the late 90s. She teaches instrumental music and directs the 5th-8th grade Chorus at North Branch School, where she also teaches English and math to 7th and 8th graders. 

In 2000, Katrien founded and directed the Blue Ridge Family Chorus, which allowed her to realize a vision for adults and their children singing together.  With no formal musical training, she has spent her adult life finding ways to sing with people and expand her own musical experiences through piano lessons, recorder lessons, playing with the Crozet Community Handbell Choir, and even taking a ukulele class this summer. She also loves improvisational music and creating circle songs with groups and has participated in three summer week-long workshops with Bobby McFerrin and members of Voicestra, as well as gathering with like-minded singers here in Cville when the opportunity arises. Most recently, she has become the “house band” for the Playback Theater improv troupe in Crozet.