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Songs of Innocence and Dreams. May 2008. Our spring concert consisted of lullabies and nursery rhymes by composers both classic and modern, as well as folk song settings from England, Canada, Samoa, Wales, and elsewhere.

Herself a Rose. January 2008. To celebrate winter, the concert featured a variety of works both sacred and secular. Highlights included Benjamin Britten's Ceremony of Carols and the premiere of a new piece, "Herself A Rose,"by Eleanor Daley in honor of WVC founder Mary Lycan. Also included were Magnificats by Porpora, Dufay and Lana Walter, and pieces by Byrd and Purcell.

Welcome Love. May 2007. Featured a second performance of our last-commissioned work, Lana Walter's Welcome Love. The four a cappella settings of 17th-century love poems were a chorus favorite from the moment we began preparing them for their premiere in 2004. "She treats us like grownups," was the response from many singers to Ms. Walter's user-friendly but never trivial vocal writing for all parts.

Courage to Grow and Change. January 2007. Featured Amy Beach's The Chambered Nautilus, a major work with lush, impressionistic harmonies we first performed in 2000. Its text, by Oliver Wendell Holmes, challenges the listener to summon the courage to grow and change. We also premiered a new work by Eleanor Epstein. Funded by a major gift from the Gidwitz family in honor of President Sue's bat mitzvah, these newly-commissioned arrangements of Hebrew songs will make a significant contribution to the repertoire of Jewish music for women's voices.

Dancing Day: Music of the British Isles. May 2006. Hope you didn't miss our a cappella sound on Gustav Holst's "Ave Maria"! Benjamin Britten, William Byrd, Imogen Holst, John Tavener, and John Rutter; and a Scottish folk song, "Tarry Wool." The centerpiece was a choral suite, The Dancers, by Welsh composer Grace Williams. This rediscovered work from 1954 has wonderful texts by, among others, Hilaire Belloc and May Sarton, and is scored for strings and harp, as well as soprano soloist and women's chorus.

Angels, Birds, and Witches. January 2006. Mendelssohn's "Surrexit pastor bonus," with its Easter angel dialogue; Emma Lou Diemer's Hope is the Thing , a suite of Emily Dickinson settings with references to our featured friends; and John Govedas's "Mulligatawny Macbeth," a setting of the Witches' Song from Macbeth replete with shrieks and cackles. This concert included guest instrumentalists on oboe and organ.

She Sells Sea Shells. May 2005. A salt-water program featuring Amy Beach's The Sea Faeries, the Afro-British composer Samuel Coleridge-Taylor's "From the Green Heart of the Waters," Leonie Holmes's "The Estuary," and a French folk song, "Roulez juenes gens, roulez," about the girls who go down to the docks to meet the sailors.

Yonders Mountain. January 2005. From Zion, the temple mount in Jerusalem, to our own Appalachians. This concert was a musical mountain tour. Highlights: Nicola Porpora's "Ecce nunc" (1742) in its first modern performance; Arvo Part's "Peace upon you, Jerusalem," Schubert's "Coronach," and a folk song, "At the foot of Yonders Mountain," collected and arranged by the folklorist Annabel Morris Buchanan.

Oh Canada. May, 2004. A chronological sampler of Candian pieces: music of indigenous peoples; folk songs imported from France, the British Isles, and many other countries; and performancse of European sacred works.

My Spirit Rejoices. February, 2004. A "best of" program including favorites from our first decade and a newly-commissioned work: music from medieval convents, 18th century Venetian conservatories, 19th century European choral societies, and American colleges and women's club choirs.

American Quilt. May 2003. Pieces involving quilt-like juxtapositions. A medieval mystical text unexpectedly set over a repeated scat pattern, or to vibraphone and marimba accompaniment. Familiar folk songs with interpolated lyrics, or even a no-holds-barred swing piano accompaniment. Blues rhythm and canonic counterpoint, not often found on the same program, coexisting in the same piece. The result wass a vibrant and engaging repertoire, most enjoyable for us to prepare.

Seasons of Her Life May 2002. Music illustrating just that, including "The Harp Weaver", Elinor Remick Warren's musical adaptation of Edna St. Vincent Millay's 1922 Pulitzer Prize-winning poem.

In My Mother's House February 2002. Songs about the Virgin Mary, and songs about "other" mothers, including "Nancy Hanks" by Katherine K. Davis, and the Triangle area premiere of Lana Walter's "Magnificat".

Where There Is Love May 2001. Music expressing different aspects of love, including "Three Flower Songs" by Amy Beach, and "Mag auch heiss das Scheiden brennen" by Mary Wurm.

Songs of the City February 2001. The Triangle area premiere of Gwyneth Walker's "My Girls", on texts by the African-American poet Lucille Clifton.

A Room of Her Own September 2000. Music honoring the times and places women have found to compose or to sing music together, including an arrangement by Amy Beach of Oliver Wendell Holmes' poem "The Chambered Nautilus", pieces by Hildegard of Bingen and Ysaye Barnwell (of Sweet Honey in the Rock), and an audience sing-a-long of "The March of the Women", a suffrage song, by Dame Ethel Smyth.

Pacific Rim: A Farewell to Old England Forever May 2000. Our first commissioned piece: "Magnificat 'Regina coeli'" by Katherine Dienes of New Zealand, as well as "Past Life Melodies" by Sarah Hopkins and Helen Caskie's "Three New Zealand Country Songs".

Promised Land: Music for Passover and Easter May 1999. "Go Down, Moses" and other spirituals by Marylou India Jackson, three sections of Lana Walter's "Petite Mass", and music by Katherine Dienes*.

Music for a New World January 1999

Music Hath Charms May 1998

Lilith, Diana, Mary January 1998

Wade in the Water: Spirituals and other Music May 1997. Including "Dream Song" by Mabel Wheeler Daniels.

Christmas Concert December 1996

Cradle of Fire: Women's Experiences of War June 1996. Ranked by Spectator magazine as one of the Triangle's ten best classical concerts of 1996. Included "The Captives' Hymn" and "Largo from Dvorak's New World Symphony" by Margaret Dryburgh.

Vivaldi Magnificat January 1996

Mystery, Madness, Nonsense May 1995

Votes for Women January 1995. Revivals of songs from the women's suffrage movement, including "Votes for Women" by Mary Louise Carlton, and "Three March-songs" by Adelaide Thomas.

Spring concert May 1994. "Three Shakespeare Songs*" by Amy Beach and spirituals arranged by Mary Lou India Jackson.

Images of Women in Music January 1994. "March of the Women*" and "Laggard Dawn" by Ethel Smyth, and "Les sirenes" by Lili Boulanger.