Celebrate the season with song

It's become a Christmas tradition and this Sunday will again be filled with music as the Santa Clara Valley Choral Society present its annual concert celebrating the season with song. The free concert will be presented at 3 p.m. at the Church of Latter Day Saints, 604 Ojai Road.The Choral Society features singers from the river valley cities of Santa Paula and Fillmore. Anyone who loves to sing can join; all it takes is a commitment to rehearsal - weekly meetings that start in September - and a willingness to pay for the sheet music and help fund the salary of the musical director. Although the annual Christmas concert is free, donations are always welcome.Bruce Vandervalk of Thousand Oaks is the new musical director and is looking forward to Sunday's concert.A graduate of the American Conservancy of Music in Chicago and Northwestern University, Vandervalk said he joined the Santa Clara Valley Choral Society when “one of the members remembered me [from his tenure as the director of music at an area church] and thought I might be available. . .and I was.”Vandervalk, a native of Australia, also leads the choir of the Trinity Presbyterian Church of Camarillo and has been involved in music professionally “in different capacities for about 30 years,” he noted, where his deep interest in composition and arranging has been put to good use. He is also the music librarian for the Conejo Symphony Orchestra in Thousand Oaks.The showcase of Sunday's concert will be “Gloria” by Vivaldi and several “shorter pieces in addition to that; I've composed a setting of text by Longfellow, ‘I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day’ that will also be performed.”