Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace

About Us

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Our Founder


RSVP was founded in 2000 with the goal of presenting uplifting vocal concerts to raise money for local Sacramento charities. Because many of our singers are professional musicians, RSVP has the chops to perform a wide variety of music personalized to each charity. Whether classical or sacred, pop, gospel, or even Irish folk music, every RSVP concert is a unique and memorable experience.

 “I wanted to create a choir whose music would bring people together by highlighting the good things that are happening all around us. ”

~Julie Adams
Founder

Read more about our origin story here:

Our Mission

Founded in 2000, RSVP’s mission is bringing people together through the arts and giving back to the community. RSVP nurtures the community with its highly-praised, dynamic concerts while providing concrete, financial contributions that continue to make a difference long after the applause.

Core Values

We believe in using our talents to support local charities with funding and exposure. All concerts are free, and the musicians volunteer their time. At each concert series you’ll learn about a different local charity serving your community, and 100% of your voluntary donations collected at the concerts go directly to that evening’s charity. Each season, RSVP raises thousands of dollars to support a wide range of organizations tackling such issues as hunger, homelessness, illiteracy, domestic violence, and many other causes.  Such as:

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Our Origin Story

RSVP began as a dream, as many good ideas seem to do, but this was an actual dream that came to me one night in the mid 1990’s. I had been thinking for quite some time about how my life as a musician could be a life of more value in the world but I didn’t have any great ideas – and then there was this dream. I dreamt that an old college friend of mine was showing me a map of the world and explaining how I needed to create a choir that would feed it. That was basically it.

When I awoke, I knew that a “Food Choir” was something I needed to create. I sat upright in bed, on fire with an unformed idea. I didn’t even know what a “Food Choir” would be but I felt an urgency to figure it out. As my mind whirled, it came to me that I could create a choir dedicated to feeding people spiritually, physically and emotionally. Dedicated to it. That was the key.

I have always been in love with the concept of reconciliation, bringing people together and breaking down the barriers between people. The basic definition of reconciliation is to restore to friendship or harmony, so the first idea was Reconciliation Singers, perfect! Still, I felt strongly that Voices of Peace would convey the meaning as well.

It wasn’t until I put the two together that I realized the name RSVP would imply to all who heard the choir to respond to this concept that, at our best, we should work to reconcile differences between people, setting aside the things that keep us from loving and helping one another. Remember, I was still sitting up in bed on a Saturday morning, filled with excitement at what this could be.

The wheels in my mind kept spinning. I wanted to create a choir whose music would bring people together by highlighting the good things that are happening all around us. Pairing those good causes with music that would bring insight to their work was the next idea. Finding great musicians was a priority so the choir wouldn’t be limited by any music.

I adore the nuances of small ensemble music so that was the direction. The music could be any type – jazz, classical, renaissance, pop, inspiring, funny or heart wrenching. It was all meant to bring people together around good. I wasn’t concerned about the name but I began to think about what to call this choir.

It took four years to begin. We relied on borrowed music and donated rehearsal and concert spaces to get started. Amazing musicians realized that this was a way for them to use their music to give back to the community. Community members got behind the choir once they heard us and found out that we were going to donate every penny we raised at our concerts to wonderful, uplifting causes. Soon we had donors, board members and an audience.

Innumerable people have been “fed” by our choir and the numbers keep growing. I am grateful that I was given this dream and that so many have seen value in the idea. It began with one person but over the years hundreds have made it come true.

~Julie Adams
Founding Artistic Director
Reconciliation Singers Voices of Peace

Meet RSVP's Artistic Director

Melissa Fulkerson

Raised in Sonoma County, California, Melissa has been deeply involved in music since early childhood. Her father was an accomplished guitarist, bassist, and vocalist, which kept the house filled with music and musicians. Melissa began piano in the third grade and was involved in bands and choirs throughout high school. By eighteen, Melissa was performing alongside her father and other widely recognized musicians.

At Santa Rosa Junior College she studied under world-renowned saxophonist Bennett Friedman, and studied voice with San Francisco Opera member, Bill Neely. While there, she earned the opportunity to perform alongside world-class artists such as Al Garth, Charles McNeal, and Julia Dollison with whom she also studied privately while earning her bachelor’s degree in jazz studies from California State University, Sacramento (CSUS).

During this time, she competed in the preliminaries of the Miss America Scholarship Program, winning the award for Best in Talent in consecutive years.

Melissa has taught a variety of music related subjects at Natomas Charter School, American River College, Sierra College, CSUS, and University of Pacific. She is currently on faculty at CSUS and the Director of Vocal Jazz at University of Pacific.

Melissa’s performance credits include:

  • CSUS Vocal Jazz Ensembles, Vox2, C sus, and Jazz Singers, under the direction of Kerry Marsh (who we’ll humbly point out is one of RSVP’s most accomplished past singers).
  • Downbeat Award-winning albums from CSUS, as well as Ben Folds’ “University A Capella” album.
  • The San Francisco Symphony at Davies Symphony Music Hall in San Francisco.
  • The Vegas Stage Orchestra for the inaugural episode of The Vegas Stage television special.
  • Featured vocalist for Northern California’s premier jazz manouche group Le Hot Club Swing, 1920s group The Gatsby Gang Band, Sacramento’s The Beatles Guitar Project, and others.
  • Melissa is also a skilled recording artist; appearing on albums by Ben Folds, Kari Wahlgren, and Solabel.
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covid-19 measures

For your own safety and others, all audience members will be required to wear masks during the concerts, regardless of vaccination status.  We will also be sectioning off areas to provide better distancing of audience participants.
 
Masks will be provided in the lobby if you do not have one.
 
Singers and performers will be providing proof of a negative test before the performances and will be wearing masks when not on stage.
 
We will be monitoring health authority guidelines and will adjust our own measures should it be necessary.  Thank you for your understanding. 
  
For those that still can not be with us in person, we will be posting encore performances of this concert on our YouTube channel.  Please also consider donating to the charity.
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