This history of the Bucks County Choral Society has been prepared by Fran Waite and Kingdon Swayne for members and friends of the Society in connection with the Society's tenth anniversary year, 1982-83.
The First Five Years
Beginnings -- the Johns' Era
In the 1972-73 school year, David Johns was a director of choral music at Central Bucks West High School and a master's degree candidate in music education. He sensed a gap in the cultural life of the Doylestown community, and resolved to try to fill it. That winter he placed an advertisement in the Daily Intelligencer inviting singers in starting a community chorus to come to a first rehearsal in the choral music room at Central Bucks West. Seven brave souls responded. But it was an idea whose time had come, and by the end of the school year the group had forty voices, an official identity as the Bucks County Choral Society, and a successful concert under its belt. That first concert was held on the afternoon of June 3, 1973, in the Lenape Junior High School auditorium. Accompanied by Tina Buonomo, the performance featured excerpts from Brigadoon and other pieces.
Six months later, on December 2, 1973, the chorus performed its second and last concert under David Johns' direction at Lenape. The work was Handel's Messiah, accompanied by members of the Bucks County Symphony Orchestra. Current members who have been with the Society since its first year include Carola Benecke, Elizabeth Burke, Norman Christy, Doris Daniels, Verna Horoff, Pat McCann, Lois Moore, Bill Moore, Peggy Nace and Fran Waite.
