Sonora Master Chorale is a group of experienced musicians dedicated to the development and presentation of classical and semi-classical music to the Mother Lode communities. It was conceived in 1996 to feature in the Sonora Bach Festival by its founder and conductor Melina Cherling. The Chorale has performed with the Mother Lode Friends of Music Orchestra in Menotti’s Amahl and the Night Visitors, Handel’s Acis and Galatea, and Handel’s Messiah. Lighter entertainment includes Festival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tribute to Cole Porter and Gilbert and Sullivan H.M.S. Pinafore, the Sonora Bach Festival and  an all John Rutter program featuring the Rutter Requiem. On November 12 they will perform the Rutter Mass of the Children at the Seventh-day Adventist Church.
 
Melina Cherling (conductor and soloist) studied voice and conducting under Elaine Brown at Temple University.  She has given recitals  in the US and abroad and was a member of  the San Francisco Opera Chorus. Locally, she has starred in many shows at CAR and sings with the Columbia College Community Chorus.  Melina is founder/director of the Sonora Opera Guild and the Sonora Master Chorale, and is chairperson of the St. James Concert Series and past director of the Sonora Bach Festival.