Loveland Chicken Farmer Celebrates 15 Years with the May Festival
Steve France brings the low tones to each May Festival performance, and if asked, he could also bring the eggs. This Loveland resident and bass in the May Festival Chorus has kept up to 150 chickens in one year, though now he is down to seven hens. Now, he is using his spare time to renovate the barn at his 150-year old home to better care for his feathered friends.
Steve has been teaching middle school math for 28 years, and currently serves as the 7th grade math teacher for Kings Junior High. He and his wife Joy moved to the Cincinnati area from Columbus, Ohio, when their daughter Eva was born. Now Eva is a junior at St. Louis University, studying Communications and English.
In 2003, Steve heard that the May Festival Chorus would be singing Verdi’s Requiem – a piece he had particularly enjoyed performing as a member of the Columbus Symphony Choir. The opportunity to sing it again clinched his decision to audition for the May Festival.
"I consider myself lucky to have the chance to sing in the May Festival Chorus. The social and emotional benefits of performing music are countless...but the icing on the cake is working with professionals and a top rate organization. The weekly demands of rehearsing both at home and at Music Hall are always rewarded with fabulous concerts."
Steve’s favorite May Festival memories of his time with the May Festival include his two opportunities to perform the Shostakovich Symphony No. 13 Babi Yar, which uses exclusively male voices. He will also always remember his opportunity to perform a solo with Sir James MacMillan, who conducted his own work, the deeply spiritual Seven Last Words from the Cross.
To learn how you can become a member of the May Festival Chorus, please visit our auditions page.
Hear some of Steve’s favorite choral works from his time with the May Festival here.