The audience in McLeod was electric Saturday evening as the Virginia Women’s Chorus hosted their 9th annual Women Against Violence concert. Aptly titled “Lift Me Up,” the benefit concert consisted of nine different musical groups from the University and the greater Charlottesville area who performed in support of the Sexual Assault Resource Agency.
The Sexual Assault Resource Agency — also known as SARA — is a local non-profit which works to eradicate sexual violence through education and advocacy. The agency provides a variety of resources for the city of Charlottesville and several surrounding counties, giving free and confidential support to all survivors. Audience members were encouraged to donate via QR codes provided after the event by members of the chorus.
The Virginia Women’s Chorus is an all-female, student-run chorus consisting of undergraduate and graduate students of the University. The benefit concert was started in 2016 by Director KaeRenae Mitchell after learning of a violent attack against a young woman. The concert aims to bring awareness — through music — towards women affected by violence.
Frances Liu, president of the Virginia Women’s Chorus and second-year College student, discusses the importance of agencies like SARA to the University community.
“[Mitchell] wanted to start this so that we can raise money for agencies that benefit women, and especially focus on the new ones,” Liu said. “We feel that local agencies will have a bigger impact.”
The concert was composed of a variety of musical groups including, but not limited to, the Virginia Glee Club, The New Dominions and the Virginia Belles. Each group performed two songs, arranged by group members. According to Liu, finding concert participants was quite easy.
“Most groups are very happy to be here… they were happy to help our cause to fight against women, violence against women,” Liu said.
The Virginia Women’s Chorus kicked off the concert with their rendition of the Rihanna song “Lift Me Up,” a reference to the concert’s namesake. After, they sang “Landslide,” originally performed by Fleetwood Mac. Here, the chorus highlighted graduating fourth-years with a musical accompaniment consisting of the acoustic guitar, banjo and bass guitar.
Following the Virginia Women’s Chorus was their brother group, the Virginia Glee Club, who incorporated the djembe — a traditional African drum — into their otherwise all-vocal performance. The Virginia Belles, the oldest all female-identifying a cappella group at the University, were next, giving a performance of Etta James’ “Sunday Kind of Love” and Lady A’s “Need You Now.”
The Virginia Gentlemen, the oldest a cappella group at the University, were a crowd favorite, eliciting a series of cheers and interjections from the audience as they performed the sweet sounding “Crazy Love” by Van Morrison and the upbeat “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit. The Flying V’s “rockapella” group followed, diverging from the other a capella groups to deliver a rock-centric performance.
Next came the No Fella A Cappella group from the nearby Albemarle High School who felt the love of the audience. Despite being the only high school a capella group among the lineup, No Fella A Cappella held their own next to the other groups, performing “BIRDS OF A FEATHER” by Billie Eilish and “I Won’t Say (I’m in Love)” from the movie “Hercules.”
The University’s oldest all-gender a capella group, The New Dominions, had a performance full of energy as both performers and audience members danced along to their rendition of “The Feeling” by Sammy Rae & The Friends — which included a solo performer with backup harmonies — and “Advice from Ray” by Zinadelphia.
This energy could be felt among all the groups that performed Saturday night, as Grace Blake, music director of The New Dominions and second-year College student.
“We were so excited,” Blake said. “Everybody kind of knows each other, so we’re all super excited to see people sing solos.”
Hoos in Treble, an all-female a cappella group at the University since 1999, followed The New Dominions. Taking to the stage in their iconic bright pink heels, the group performed the catchy Lake Street Drive song “Hypotheticals” and Bon Jovi’s “Livin’ On a Prayer.” Caroline McLaughlan, president of Hoos in Treble and third-year College student, said that she enjoys the work that it takes for concerts, such as this one, to run smoothly.
“I’ve been so passionate about this role [as President] ever since first-year,” McLaughlan said. “When you’re doing something that you love, it doesn’t even feel like work.”
The night ended with the Academical Village People, a group notorious for not taking themselves seriously with their raunchy stage presence. This reputation was immediately proven as the group ran and jumped on stage only to have to take a beat due to shortness of breath. The minute to catch their breath before their first song was well worth it as they gave a memorable performance of Chappell Roan’s hit song “Good Luck, Babe!” The group finished with a performance of Bastille’s “Pompeii” to a crowd eager to sing along.
Each performance was a solid representation of the musical community at the University with each group bringing their own style to the benefit concert. All around, the energy was felt within McLeod as performers and audience members alike demonstrated their support of the Virginia Women’s Chorus’ cause.
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