By Emma G. Harrison, Editor-in-Chief
On Tuesday, October 27, 2026, Pellissippi State held its annual Fall Choral Concert, the fourth of eight concerts in the Pellissippi State Fall 2026 Concert Series. The Fall Choral Concert showcased both of Pellissippi State’s choirs, Concert Chorale and Variations. The performance stands out as one of the best I have ever heard.
Concert Chorale is open for any Pellissippi State student to join, whereas Variations allows students to join by audition only. There are some other differences, like time commitment and scholarship opportunities, but when it comes to quality of work, I can safely say that both choirs showed up on Tuesday to give the audience a beautiful performance.
Concert Chorale opened the concert with five performances directed by Pellissippi State Associate Professor and Program Coordinator, Megan Humphrys. The first song of note was “No Time,” a Traditional Camp Meeting song arranged by Susan Brumfield. Chorale had a trio of three soloists, Khole Alexander, Beighlee Watt, and one of Imaginary Gardens’ editors, Rylen McGuire. When asked how her experience was, McGuire stated, “Choir has given me a community and an opportunity to meet new people and connect through my favorite thing ever, music, and I’ll always love it for that. There’s no other feeling like meeting other people that are just as passionate about something as you are.”
Speaking of community, the following two performances were some of my personal favorites for that reason. “Si Tuvieras Fe,” a Latin American folk song arranged by Rory Cooney and Beth Lederman and “Ashokan Farewell” by Jay Ungar and arranged by Carole Stephens. In “Si Tuvieras Fe,” the Chorale beautifully dedicated this song to Latin America. Joining the Chorale, Justin McAllister played the congas, and Humphrys played the güiro, a percussion instrument of Latin American origin made of a serrated gourd and played by scraping a stick along its surface, adding the perfect sounds to honor Hispanic Heritage Month. In “Ashokan Farewell,” Chorale was joined by a fiddle played by Pellissippi State’s Shelby Kartal, who gave the audience a stunning performance.
Switching places with Chorale, Variations continued the concert with a set of six songs ranging from traditional hymns to a German requiem. My favorite from this set was “Autumn” by Kevin A. Memley, with a solo by Arina Arvat. Not only was this song beautifully performed, but Arvat’s solo addition to this piece was outstanding. This is Arvat’s last semester with Variations, so she is ending her time with Variations and Pellissippi State’s music department on a high note.
To close out the concert, Pellissippi State’s Chorale and Variations choirs came together with the college’s bluegrass ensemble to honor the passing of Dolly Parton with “Light of a Clear Blue Morning,” a beautiful song that really captured the power of music. The bluegrass ensemble featured a few members of Pellissippi State’s bluegrass band, Hardin Valley Thunder. Members Isaiah Crisp on bass, Shelby Kartal on fiddle, and Annie Linn Quinn on guitar all self-accompanied, while Bryson Bodenheimer and Talan Sikes joined in playing the pedal steel and guitar, respectively. I might be slightly biased since I am a huge fan of Dolly Parton, country, and bluegrass music alike, but adding Pellissippi State’s bluegrass ensemble was a perfect addition to this performance.
Just when you thought that Annie Linn Quinn couldn’t possibly do more for the song, she opened “Light of a Clear Blue Morning” with a really moving solo that concluded the night with passion. When asked what it meant to be able to sing a song for Dolly, Quinn said, “I love Dolly so much…her loss was really hard for everybody in the world, especially people in East Tennessee, especially people who love her music and play similar music. So, it was really, really nice to get to sing a song like that, and to honor her in that way. I think all of us…everybody in the choir, the whole group, really all felt that way, but I think me personally, it was really nice to get to have my own personal moment, just publicly honoring Dolly.”
This concert was a night well spent. And if you are feeling a little left out since you missed this concert or maybe you are really in the mood for bluegrass now, well, no worries! Pellissippi State has four more concerts for you in their concert series, and wouldn’t you know, the next one just so happens to be the Fall Bluegrass Concert happening next week on November 10, followed by the Fall Instrumental Concert on November 19, then the Fall Jazz Concert on November 24, before closing out the concert fun with the Holiday Spectacular on December 3. Just remember, all concerts are held in the Clayton Center of Performing Arts and begin at 7 p.m., so be sure to get there a few minutes early to save yourself a seat. See you there!
