About Us

Touch of Class Chorale is a community choir in Vancouver, Washington that was founded in the 1970s by Orrell Peru, director of the choral music department for the Battle Ground School District in Southwest Washington. His unique spirit and teaching style instilled a lifelong love of choral music in those he taught year after year, and as he neared retirement, many of his alumni students approached him with the request to continue singing with, and for, him in some way. Hence, the Touch of Class community choir was born.

Through several different iterations, the choir has continued to perform and share the joy of choral music in Clark County for 50 years. We have members today who were in the original group, singers who have been members for 10 or 20 years, and more recent members who joined a season or two ago. At its heart, Touch of Class is a family – a family created by the love of making music together, and a family bonded by caring for each other. Read more about us in this piece published by The Columbian.

We’re always looking for new singers to join our choir. No auditions or music reading ability are required. All we ask is that you come, love to sing and want to have fun doing it!

Members pay a registration fee each season that helps our non-profit choir cover expenses such as sheet music purchases and venue rental fees. Financial assistance is available.

There is also a costuming fee for female singers to purchase a black performance dress from our supplier. A select number of gently used dresses from former choir members may be available depending on the season. Men wear their own black tuxedo jacket, black slacks, and black bow tie for winter performances, and black slacks with black dress shirts for spring performances. Colored ties are provided by the choir for spring concerts. Tuxedo jackets can often be purchased at a discount from Mr. Formal’s rental fleet.