The Oxford Community Chorus gave a musical salute to America’s 250th with a flag waving, red, white, and blue concert performed for a packed Oxford Performing Arts Center on Tuesday, June 23, 2026.
OPAC executive director John Longshore said the encore of seating demand with the record-breaking audience for the Christmas concert has led to the decision to make future OCC concerts free ticketed events similar to OPAC’s annual season reveal programs.
Longshore noted that not only have the audiences grown significantly, but the chorus itself has grown from 32 to 80 members over the span of only a few years.
Those 80 chorus members, backed by a 27-piece orchestra, and directed by Don Gober, took the audience on an American musical journey spanning 250 years through the program of 14 different musical pieces including stirring marches such as “The Stars and Stripes Forever,” patriotic classics including “This Is My Country,” a salute to the Armed Forces, and thoughtful stories in song like “The Folded Flag.”
After giving a long and loud standing ovation to the performance, many stopped by OPAC’s Martin-Lett Gallery to visit the “Flags of the American Revolution” exhibit, part of OPAC’s year-long recognition of the nation’s 250th anniversary.
The event also served as a working laboratory for students enrolled in OPAC’s Live Production Workshop which introduces students to the art and science of live event production.
“Arts education is central and deeply important to what we do here at OPAC, and we are glad to help train the next generation of sound and lighting production folks,” Longshore said.
The annual Fall Holiday Concert is scheduled for Tuesday, November 17, 2026, at OPAC beginning at 7 p.m. Rehearsals for this special concert will be on Tuesday evenings from 6:30 p.m. to 8 p.m. beginning September 1, 2026, at OPAC. All current and former chorus members and other vocalists who would like to be part of it are encouraged to attend.