A native New Jerseyan, Valerie has been an amateur musician all her life. In high school she entertained commuters once with her high school chorus, singing in the NY Bus Terminal. Before Hopewell Valley Chorus she sang in the Mercer Madrigal Singers, where she met her husband, and accompanied the Mostly A Cappella singers on classical guitar and piano (not at the same time) as well as performing around Mercer and Bucks Counties in the Crossing Consort on guitar and recorder. Currently she performs classical guitar duets as “Duo Migliorare” and is in several pick-up guitar ensembles.
She joined Hopewell Valley Chorus as a soprano in 2000 because a conductor once told her she was “a soprano with a fear of heights.” Even after voice lessons she discovered that isn’t the case and is back in her beloved alto section. She has been a member of the board in a few stints, including Music Consultant, Membership, VP, President, and is alto section leader. As Librarian she has started updating the archives for the first time in HVC’s 60 years. With a few committed members of HVC, every piece of music in the seven file cabinets is being put in order and listed on a spreadsheet. “It’s a lot easier to be organized for someone else than in my home,” she said. She also gets together members of HVC to entertain any former members who are in nursing homes and has organized caroling with HVC members and even at a local grocery store for their and our 50th anniversary.
She’s sung twice in Carnegie Hall and once in the Trenton War Memorial in choruses and while performing at Carnegie was a thrill, her favorite singing memory was performing at William Scheide’s Princeton home, singing a Bach piece and seeing the portrait of Bach that he owned.
In addition to music, Valerie enjoys cooking and for a few years was a recipe tester for Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
Valerie lives in Titusville with her husband, who also is an amateur musician, and now that their children are grown and on their own has a music room set up with a keyboard, guitar stand, autoharp stand, and music all over the place.
A native New Jerseyan, Valerie has been an amateur musician all her life. In high school she entertained commuters once with her high school chorus, singing in the NY Bus Terminal. Before Hopewell Valley Chorus she sang in the Mercer Madrigal Singers, where she met her husband, and accompanied the Mostly A Cappella singers on classical guitar and piano (not at the same time) as well as performing around Mercer and Bucks Counties in the Crossing Consort on guitar and recorder. Currently she performs classical guitar duets as “Duo Migliorare” and is in several pick-up guitar ensembles.
She joined Hopewell Valley Chorus as a soprano in 2000 because a conductor once told her she was “a soprano with a fear of heights.” Even after voice lessons she discovered that isn’t the case and is back in her beloved alto section. She has been a member of the board in a few stints, including Music Consultant, Membership, VP, President, and is alto section leader. As Librarian she has started updating the archives for the first time in HVC’s 60 years. With a few committed members of HVC, every piece of music in the seven file cabinets is being put in order and listed on a spreadsheet. “It’s a lot easier to be organized for someone else than in my home,” she said. She also gets together members of HVC to entertain any former members who are in nursing homes and has organized caroling with HVC members and even at a local grocery store for their and our 50th anniversary.
She’s sung twice in Carnegie Hall and once in the Trenton War Memorial in choruses and while performing at Carnegie was a thrill, her favorite singing memory was performing at William Scheide’s Princeton home, singing a Bach piece and seeing the portrait of Bach that he owned.
In addition to music, Valerie enjoys cooking and for a few years was a recipe tester for Cook’s Illustrated magazine.
Valerie lives in Titusville with her husband, who also is an amateur musician, and now that their children are grown and on their own has a music room set up with a keyboard, guitar stand, autoharp stand, and music all over the place.
Valerie Nelson
Librarian