WOMEN'S VOICE ENSEMBLE WILL SING

Voce Festiva, a vocal ensemble composed of some of the region's top women vocalists, will perform Dec. 15 at St. Mark Lutheran Church, 1900 Cape LaCroix Road.

The name means "with a festive voice." The ensemble performs mostly a cappella, though some selections in this concert's program will be accompanied on harp by Chadie Fruehwald.

Some of the songs will be recognizable as traditional Christmas tunes, others won't be.

The group consists of sopranos Stephanie Fridley, Mary Mims and Lori Shaffer, mezzo-sopranos Christie Shinn, Chadie Fruehwald and Marsha Caughlan, and contralto Leslie Jones.

Jones is a member of the Southeast music faculty, and Shaffer and Fruehwald teach at the Southeast Music Academy. The other singers teach music at Jackson and Nell Holcomb schools.

Voce Festiva formed in the summer of 1999. This will be their sixth performance.

"This is real therapeutic for all of us," Mims said. "We need an outlet for performance ... This serves a really great purpose allowing all of us to come together as singers."

Mims said the group chose to sing a cappella because "it challenges us as singers" and because they don't have to worry about finding a piano.

The free concert will begin at 7 p.m.