“All Creatures Great and Small” Spring Choral Concert

Cantate Children’s and Youth Choir will present its annual spring concert, “All Creatures Great and Small,” on Sunday, May 3, 2026, at 4:00 PM at St. John’s Episcopal Church, 205 Elmwood Avenue, Lynchburg, VA 24503.

Now in its thirty-third season, Cantate is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) organization dedicated to providing healthy vocal training and exceptional musical experiences for children and youth throughout Central Virginia. The choir is comprised of 40 singers ages 7 to 18 from Lynchburg and the surrounding communities.
Inspired by John Rutter’s lovely setting of “All things bright and beautiful,” the program’s theme celebrates creatures that swim, fly, and walk. The concert opens with several 17th-century canons about deer, cranes, and a swan. Among music depicting creatures that swim are Franz Schubert’s famous art song “Die Forelle” (“The Trout”) and Emma Lou Diemer’s charming “Dolphins.”

Selections featuring creatures that fly range from French children’s songs about hens to lively pieces about birds, bees, and crickets. Creatures that walk are represented through a setting of the spiritual “All God’s Children Got Shoes” and a Spanish song about a boy and his burro. The concert concludes with the delightful “All God’s Critters Got a Place in the Choir” by Bill Staines, arranged by Erica Phare-Bergh, featuring fiddle and piano accompaniment.

Peggy Haas Howell serves as Music Director and Conductor, with Elizabeth Wilkinson as Assistant Director and Accompanist. In addition to her role at Cantate, Ms. Howell is Organist and Choirmaster at St. John’s Episcopal Church in Lynchburg, and serves as National Vice President and Councillor for Competitions and New Music for the American Guild of Organists. Ms. Wilkinson is Organist and Choir Director at Grace Memorial Episcopal Church in Lynchburg.

Ms. Howell has directed Cantate since 2009. Under her leadership, the choir has performed with Opera on the James, the Lynchburg Symphony Orchestra, the Charlottesville Ballet, the University of Lynchburg Choral Union, the Jefferson Choral Society, the University of Virginia Chamber Singers, and the Parish Choir of St. John’s Episcopal Church. She previously founded and directed the Jefferson Youth Chorale (2003–2012) and served as Director of Chorale at Randolph-Macon Woman’s College (1996–2000).

The concert is free and open to the public. Donations are appreciated, and an offering will be collected. For more information, visit cantatechoir.org.