D.M. Davis Voice Choirs
D.M. Davis Male Voice Choir
About the D.M. Davis Male Voice Choir
Membership in the D.M. Davis Male Voice Choir is by invitation only, with each member expected to attend regular practices once each week, represent the chorus through music in our various communities, and pass on good music by the education of young singers.
Rehearsals are held at the Markay Cultural Arts Center on Main Street in Jackson, each Tuesday evening 7:30 to 9 p.m. If you are interested in singing with the Choir, let your interest be known to any of the members. We are always considering new members.
Musical renditions vary from Barbershop to Gospel to Glee Club style; from comedy to serious; from love songs to patriotic to religious.
The D.M. Davis Women’s Voice Choir
D.M. Davis Women’s Voice Choir
The D.M. Davis Women’s Choir also honors the memory of the late local music maestro, D. Merrill Davis, while also making beautiful music for local and regional audiences. Some of the members have spouses or other family connections to the men’s choir while other members are members of various church choirs while others have performed in other community choirs, and still others whose only qualification is a love of singing.
Prospective members need only to show up for one of the weekly practices scheduled for 6 p.m. each Tuesday at the Markay.
History of the D.M. Davis Voice Choirs
The long history of male choruses is closely intertwined with the Welsh traditions in the Southern Ohio hills. Chief among the musical legends of these hills is the late D. Merrill Davis of Jackson. As a music educator in the public schools for many years, and director of the Welsh Eisteddfod, he instilled the appreciation of good music in the hearts of his students.
The group is named for long time Jackson chorus director and educator, the late D. Merrill Davis, with whom many of the older members have had a long musical association.
Davis established and directed many church and civic musical groups including two all male choruses, the Cavalcade Choristers and the St. David’s Day Men’s Chorus, until the late 1970s. It is in his loving memory this chorus in named.
The D.M. Davis Male Voice Choir was established in Jackson, January 12, 2009 when Michael Adams and Wilbur McCormick met with the Southern Hills Arts Council Board of Trustees and proposed that they provide a home for a new male choir at the Markay Cultural Arts Center.
In addition to Adams and McCormick, Ayron Lord and Paul Berridge were collaborators in the planning of, and the inviting of the first members of the new chorus. The first meeting was held at the Markay on February 17th, 2009 with thirty-eight present. The Senior Director is Wilbur McCormick with the aid of Director Bryce Werntz. The Pianist is Stevie Jarvis. The group is named for long time Jackson chorus director and educator, the late D. Merrill Davis, with whom many of the older members have had a long musical association.
The roots of the Women’s Choir go back to 2015 when it was suggested that some of the wives of the Male Voice Choir sing with the men at the men’s Spring Concert. The women sang five songs on their own and two with the men and that first experience was both successful and enjoyable.The Women’s Voice Choir is directed by well-known local singer and choir leader, Rick Noel.
