New director to expand cultural offerings

A Martinez resident and elementary school music teacher was recently named the director of the Paine College-based Augusta Chorale.

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Phyllis Anderson, the music teacher at Euchee Creek Elementary, will direct her first concert with the chorale in December. She started rehearsals with the 50-member chorus this month.

She replaces long-time Director Ellis Johnson, who retired this summer. Anderson, a native of Virginia who has lived in the Augusta area since 1978, said one of her first objectives "is to provide a wonderful musical experience for not only the audience that comes to the concert but also for the members (of the chorale)."

Anderson, who obtained her doctorate from the University of Georgia, is a former assistant professor of music at the college. She left Paine College in 1991 to begin teaching at Grovetown Elementary, before moving to Euchee Creek Elementary.

As director of the chorale, Anderson said she will work to expand cultural offerings in the Augusta area and bring Richmond and Columbia counties together.

"I think (this job) will be an opportunity for me to unify the different groups," she said. "I think that is valuable."

Cheryl L. Eldridge, the president of the chorale, said the group is delighted to have Anderson as its director.

"She is one who is very capable of doing the job and living out the legacy that our previous music directors have (built)," she said.

Anderson said she intends to expand performances beyond Paine College and incorporate music the chorale has never performed before.

"Having the opportunity to get back on the podium, it will be a chance for me to express to my listeners the wonderful joy of music," Anderson said, adding that she is proud to show her pupils what she is doing with music.

"I'm going to have to look for ways not only to bring children to the music I will be performing, but to get children involved in the arts in Augusta," she said.

Anderson's first performance as director for the chorale will be at 4 p.m. Dec. 9 at Paine College. For more information, visit www.augustachorale.org.