A beloved part of the city of Corona is the Circle City Chorale. Comprised of both an adult choir (C3) and a children’s choir (C4), the chorale is made up entirely by participants who have a love for singing and giving back to their community. Since the group’s founding in 2010, the Circle City Chorale has been feeding Corona’s soul with their gorgeous music.
I have personally been greatly impacted by the Circle City Chorale throughout the span of my life. I first joined the children’s choir as a tween, and was consistently involved for multiple years until I was in high school. I later rejoined the group (now with the adult choir) when I turned 18. I have always been in awe of this organization for their beautiful singing and harmonies, as well as the fact that something so wonderful could exist in my own backyard. I genuinely looked forward to every Monday evening where I'd get to spend 2 hours singing music that I thoroughly enjoyed while also challenging myself with new harmonies and dynamics in the process. Being part of the Circle City Chorale genuinely impacted who I am today and developed my love for both music and community.
The Circle City Chorale performs during multiple seasons throughout the year, sharing their music through seasonal concerts and community service opportunities. The group’s community service includes performing at senior living facilities, various libraries (such as the Corona Public Library and the El Cerrito Library), and recreational City of Corona events. When I look back at my time in the group, one day of outreach in particular sticks out to me. Members who volunteered for this opportunity performed at three different senior living facilities in Corona. It genuinely felt so good to sing for people and know that we were brightening their day by doing so. The most impactful part of the day, though, was when we performed at our last facility of the day, which was a memory care facility. The residents of the facility differed from the last two locations, as they were experiencing Alzheimer’s and other forms of dementia. We were honestly unsure how performing for the seniors would go, but we were surprised at how strongly we connected with the attending residents. Music has a profound capacity to spark memories and emotion, especially for people who struggle with these cognitive functions in their everyday lives; this was strongly reflected during our time there. During some of the songs, a few people even stood up to dance alongside and sing with all of us, as we were singing a piece that brought back memories from their youth. The staff there were really touched by the chance to see the seniors in a more light-hearted and sentimental mood, and it’d be remiss to pretend like a few tears weren’t shed from us as well. I’ll always remember how this day taught me how music makes a real, tangible impact on the people who create it and those who they share it with. The Circle City Chorale continues to volunteer within the community today, providing instant joy for anyone who will listen.
The Circle City Chorale is also wonderful in providing a setting for community connections and bonding. It’s often so difficult for adults to make friends. Adults are busy with work and other life commitments and even if time is available, it can be difficult to find community spaces that foster social interaction. The Circle City Chorale creates a perfect place for music-lovers within Corona (and the larger Inland Empire) to form those connections with others who share a similar interest in singing. Its members are some of the most caring and genuine people that you will ever meet, who will quickly turn into a second family. When I was involved in the group, I was super nervous as to how I’d fit in with everyone, as I was freshly 18 and the youngest person there at the time. However, everyone was super accommodating and I never felt like an outsider. I was always included in rehearsals, sectionals, performances, and in casual conversations. Even after I left the choir due to life changes, everyone continued to show me the utmost kindness whenever I reached out or randomly ran into them. There truly is no bond like the one you build with people you sing and make music with.
A major reason for the group’s passion and authenticity is its founder, Angela Jett Rosser. Angela, also known as “Anji” by her friends and family, was a highly skilled musician and music teacher, who had a profound superpower to connect with anyone she worked and interacted with. I’ve always been so in awe of Anji’s innate ability to fill an entire room with her bright presence, any conversation with love and understanding, and transform any song she conducted into an achievement of joy and beauty. I have innumerous fond memories of Anji conducting C3, where she really pushed us to perform in ways we didn’t was possible. She was somehow able to shape a shaky, raw sound into one that was so united and powerful that it shocked everyone in the room that we could sing so beautifully. She brought people of all different backgrounds and experiences together in a way that made the music we created incredibly personal and interconnected with one another. It’s rare to find someone who was as real and impactful as Anji was in every single thing that she did.
On May 3rd, 2026, Angela Jett Rosser passed away unexpectedly. I only found out this past week about her tragic passing and to say I was devastated by this news would be a massive understatement. There’s no way for me to even talk about this loss without feeling an all-consuming sense of pain and sorrow. Anji was truly the heart and soul of Corona, and she is intertwined through so many lives that her impact is truly incalculable. Her efforts have greatly shaped Corona’s largest performing arts organizations (CAT and the Circle City Chorale), as well as the individual lives of her students through the music lessons of her company, Melody Manor Music. It is actually impossible to step foot in Corona without feeling the love that Anji dedicated into the lives of every single person living here.
I am evidently writing this piece as a means to process my grief over her passing, as I was blessed with getting to know Anji and work with her through different points of my life. However, I also hope to use this article to honor the incredible work that Anji did in her lifetime and highlight its continued existence today. It’s undeniable that her absence will be felt moving forward, but the future of Corona’s performing arts programs lies in our hands now. Anji planted the seeds that blossomed into a gorgeous garden, but someone needs to keep watering the flowers so they can continue to bloom. It’s essential that we support performing arts extracurriculars, especially for youth groups that provide our children with the opportunity to learn about music and make friends outside of home and school. Our understanding of the music scene in the IE should extend outside of just singers and bands performing on stages and private venues. We should also be giving our love, time, and money to other performing arts groups, such as choirs, orchestral bands, and live theatre, who also provide us with unique forms of creative expression and joy.
Please consider further supporting the Circle City Chorale, either through their website (https://circlecitychorale.org/) or their social media (they are most active on Facebook as Circle City Chorale, as well as @circlecitychorale on Instagram). You can donate to the group on their website (they have provided amounts and calculations as to how that money would aid the group), as well as support them by attending their upcoming concerts. Notably, they have a performance on Saturday, June 13th at 4 p.m. in Corona, and tickets can be purchased through their website. I cannot stress how wonderful this group is, and I hope that anyone reading this gets the opportunity in the near or eventual future to experience the audible legacy of Angela Jett Rosser.
(Below, I will be sharing some pictures of my time in the Circle City Chorale, shoutout to my mom for taking so many awesome photos of us! If you’re confused trying to look for me, they are from a time before I transitioned into Nathaniel. On a little tangent, I’m glad I actually got the opportunity to come out to Anji last year when planning an event with the Circle City Chorale; unsurprisingly, Anij was incredibly understanding and immediately referred to me by my new chosen name, even though she knew me for so long by my birth name. While I am honestly devastated that I never got the chance to sing for Anji with the voice I have today, I’m reminded how important it is to use my voice now without holding back, whether that be when singing in a choir, on my own, or even through my writing.)
