What’s Happening Week of Dec. 5
Ruthfred Acres Woman’s Club
The Ruthfred Acres Woman’s Club will meet at 11:30 a.m. Dec. 8 at St. Clair Country Club, 2300 Old Washington Road, Upper St. Clair.
At the meeting, the club will be gathering gifts for a family from Bethel Park.
The club’s charity of the year is the South Hills Interfaith Movement. The club treasurer will be accepting monetary donations through March 2022 in lieu of the annual Christmas basket raffle.
To attend or for more information, contact Pat at 412-833-3034.
Mendelssohn Choir concerts
The Mendelssohn Choir of Pittsburgh will present a concert series, “The Promise of Light,” including performances at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2040 Washington Road, Upper St. Clair.
The Dec. 10 concert is at 7:30 p.m., and the Dec. 11 event, the choir’s first sensory-friendly concert, is scheduled for 2:30 p.m.
To welcome the community back to live music experiences, and with support of the Buncher Family Foundation and Highmark Blue Cross Blue Shield, the choir has made the concerts free of charge.
“The Promise of Light” features pieces by some of choral music’s most popular composers, fresh new voices in choral music, and well-known songs by the Fleet Foxes, Carole King, and Dolly Parton, as well as reflections by the likes of Robert Frost, Ogden Nash, Mary Oliver, Amy Gerstler, Margaret Atwood, and Joseph Campbell.
For more information, visit https://www.themendelssohn.org/.
Bethel Park holiday concert
The Bethel Park Community Foundation’s popular Dean Streator Concert Series will resume with its annual holiday concert at 2:30 p.m. Dec. 12 in the Bethel Park Community Center.
Doors open at 2, and masks and vaccination cards are required.
The concert is free, but contributions to the Community Foundation are welcome. The foundation funds scholarships and projects which benefit residents of Bethel Park in the areas of arts and culture, health and recreation, education and safety.
The holiday program will feature Community Band South, directed by Jim Bennett and Max Gonano; Bethel Park High School’s Top 21, under the direction of Todd Kuczawa; and the Handbell Ringers of Southminster Presbyterian Church, Richard Pinkerton, director.
Bethel Women’s Club
The Bethel Women’s Club invites local women to join a holiday celebration on Dec. 15 at the South Hills Elks Lodge, 2789 South Park Road, Bethel Park.
A social gathering will be followed by a luncheon and business meeting, with holiday music by the Sunshine Boys afterward.
For more information or to make reservations, call Pat at 412-831-1861. Checks for the luncheon must be received by Dec. 10. Sarris candy bars will be available for purchase, with proceeds benefitting South Hills Interfaith Movement and Meals On Wheels.
Holiday concert
The South Hills Chorale will perform its holiday concert at 7:30 p.m. Dec. 17 at Westminster Presbyterian Church, 2040 Washington Road, Upper St. Clair.
The program features Christmas and Hanukkah music, plus a Christmas carol sing-along.
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased at https://www.southhillschorale.org/, from any chorale member or at the door. For more information, email southhillschorale@gmail.com or call Pat, 412-221-9109.
For 61 years, the 80-member group of singers has performed for thousands of people, holding two major concerts a year. The chorale also performs outreach concerts at senior living communities and for other events.
Music scholarship competition
Keynotes of South Hills is accepting applications for next year’s Music Scholarship Competition, scheduled for May 14 in the Fine Arts Theater at Mt. Lebanon High School.
Cash awards totaling up to $12,000 will be presented. Instrumentalists must be under 26 years of age by June 1, 2022 and vocalists must be under the age of 30. The student must be a full-time music major at a college, university or music school or a graduating high school senior accepted for admission as a full-time music major.
Contestants must be legal residents of Allegheny, Washington or surrounding counties of Pennsylvania for the past year. Deadline for application is April 30.
For an application, contact the scholarship chairman, Toni Kvederis, at 412-892-8395 or jj.kvederis@verizon.net.