Myriad of voices make harmony for annual concert
Choral director Marvi Davis says everyone’s voice has its own color and the key to making beautiful music is blending those colors together.
“We make the sound unified,” she said. “It’s the most exciting thing in music, when you make those voices come together in choral music without the help of a piano or an orchestra — just using their own voices.”
Davis is the director of the Crown of the Continent Choir and Headwaters Ensemble. She is marking her first year leading the choir and is preparing for its eighth annual spring concert Welcome Spring on Saturday, May 12 at the O’Shaughnessy Center downtown.
The Crown of the Continent Choir, in its eighth year, is a non-audition community choir of about 50 local singers, focusing on inspirational and upbeat choral music of the world.
“Music is for everybody,” Davis said. “It’s just there and it makes us human. The Crown Choir is open to anybody that just wants to sing — the voice is the only instrument that we carry with us. It’s a community choir with a wide range of voices, but it’s unique because of its mission to sing for fun, spiritual fulfillment and tolerance, environmental stewardship, social justice and community service.”
Raised in Whitefish, Davis has extensive experience in choral arts as a singer and in music education.
She and her husband, Charles, retired to Whitefish a few years ago where they quickly became involved in the Flathead Valley music scene. Charles sings in the Crown choir and plays the French horn in the Glacier Symphony. Marvi also teaches voice at North Valley Music School and plays the piano for church services and sings in the choir at Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in Columbia Falls and sings with the Kalispell Compline Choir.
“Music is my soul,” Davis said. “My brain is filled with it day and night. Music touches a part of person — it’s a means of expression.”
Davis began her music education as a student at Whitefish High School then later attended St. Olaf College, Northern Montana College and the University of Alaska Fairbanks, earning degrees in music and biology, and a master’s in music/vocal performance.
She married Mike Conn while in college, but a year after the couple moved to Alaska he passed away. She stayed and later met Charles Davis, whose father was the head of the music department at the University of Alaska, where she earned her master’s degree.
She eventually began focusing on teaching choral music and founded the Alaska Chamber Chorale, which achieved national recognition. She’s also been a frequent soprano soloist and recitalist, and has had roles in more than 12 operas and solo performances with ensembles and orchestras in Alaska, Washington and Montana.
When the couple moved back to the Flathead, they quickly became involved in the community music scene.
“I thought I’d give it up and six months later some people were asking me to sing in the choir,” she said. “Then I was asked to conduct a piece for the choir.”
The choir has a wide variety of members, Davis notes, with various ages, job and faiths. The choir rehearses Wednesdays at the Flathead High School choir room from 7 to 8:15 p.m.
The free concert Welcome Spring is on Saturday, May 12 at the O’Shaughnessy Center in Whitefish. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. and the performance begins at 7:30 p.m.
This concert finale is also the Crown Choir’s annual fundraiser, including a silent auction featuring gift baskets and many unique items and a drawing of special Mother’s Day prizes. Everyone will enjoy complimentary treats from Sweet Peaks ice cream.
For more information on the Crown of the Continent Choir, visit www.crownchoir.org.