December 02, 2007 07:17 pm
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By Jo Ellis
Globe columnist
CARTHAGE, Mo. — Carthage is blessed with having two of the finest soprano voices I’ve ever had the privilege of hearing. They belong to Sharon Croley and Virginia Terry. While I am definitely not qualified as a music critic, I know that each time I hear them sing, I find myself on the verge of appreciative tears.
Both have followed similar musical paths, beginning music lessons around the sixth grade. Virginia started with a voice teacher in Kansas City. She also took private lessons through Jenkins Music Co. that continued into her college years. During a one-year stint at Pittsburg State University, she sang the lead in “The Mikado.” Returning to a Kansas City university, she sang in the choir. She and a coed male singer were the only ones chosen to sing in a Kansas City choral group that backed up national operatic stars who performed in Kansas City.
Every summer, Virginia sang with the Kansas City Philharmonic. She was selected for the lead in Mozart’s opera “The Abduction from the Seraglio,” performed by the Kansas City Lyric Opera group.
“Opera was my love,” she says. She also was a soloist at three churches in the city. Marriage and children slowed her singing career, but soon after she and husband George moved to Carthage, she became choir director for the United Methodist Church in 1972, holding the position for 20 years. At the church’s request, she returned as choir director from 2003-2006.
She participated in local productions presented by the Carthage Music Club and was a soloist with the Mid-America Singers in Springfield. As a soloist with the Shenandoah Singers at Crowder College, she has sung for the governor in Jefferson City and at a major recital hall in New York City.
“The voice is a muscle, and like all muscles it is affected with age,” Virginia says. Although she is looking toward retirement now, she continues with a few special performances. Once a month, she solos for early services at the United Methodist Church, and she is scheduled to sing at the Christmas Eve service as well.
Elizabeth Wright, a music teacher at Mark Twain Elementary School, shaped Sharon’s early musical interests. She also was a vocal student of Lorraine Hammons Riley, of Joplin. Sharon attended college in Kansas City and studied at the Conservatory of Music under Joseph Victor Laderoute, a French-Canadian tenor. “He was a taskmaster,” she recalls. “He scared the living tar out of me.”
While living in Boston in the 1960s and working at a bank, she continued her musical activities by singing at churches. She had fun singing for many Catholic-Italian weddings for co-workers. Sharon later moved to Dallas. After making it through two auditions, she was accepted into the Dallas Civic Chorus. “We were all working people, and we gave two to three concerts per year,” she says. “It was a wonderful experience, and I still have a close friend from those days.” She spent a total of six years in Dallas.
She returned to Carthage in 1972 and became a member of the St. Gregory’s Choir at Grace Episcopal Church, under the direction of Ida Ruth Locarni, another of Carthage’s great sopranos. In addition to “wonderful sacred music,” Sharon likes to sing German and Italian arias and light musicals. “My parents and family loved to hear me sing and were great supporters,” Sharon says. Her willingness to sing at weddings and funerals is a way “to return a talent that was given to me.”
“In my earlier years, I used to be a dramatic soprano (capable of hitting high notes with both flexibility and intensity). Now I consider myself a mezzo-soprano,” she says. Sharon will be singing for a program titled “Lessons and Carols” on Dec. 16 at Grace Episcopal Church. Count yourself fortunate if you have the opportunity to hear either of these women perform.
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