After nearly 18 months of silence, Fort Dodge Choral Society will present a free concert at 3 p.m. on Aug. 1 at Grace Lutheran Church, 211 S. Ninth St.

The concert, entitled “Silent No More,” celebrates the group’s return to singing and a belated greeting for Ludwig van Beethoven’s 250th birthday.

Guest soloists Collin Ellsbury and Spencer Domer will join the choir and pianist Jeanette Hinkeldey to bring Beethoven’s works to life.

Ellsbury, a Fort Dodge native and graduate of Fort Dodge Senior High, will be a junior at Oklahoma City University this fall. He is majoring in vocal performance, music theater, philosophy, and political science. He was a prize winner in Opera Hawaii’s 2020 vocal competition and sang Guliemo in “Cosi fan tutte” and appeared in Maltby and Shire’s “Closer Than Ever” at OCU last year.

Domer will be a junior at Millikin University in Decatur, Illinois, where he majors in vocal performance. He recently performed in Union Avenue Opera’s production of “Barber of Seville” in St. Louis, MO, as well as singing several roles with Millikin Opera Theater.

The program will include choral selections from Beethoven’s “Mass in C Major,” “Mount of Olives,” and Beethoven’s D Major Piano Variations. In addition to singing solo parts with the choir, soloists will perform several Beethoven songs.

To open the program, conductor Bruce Perry has chosen “A Silence Haunts Me,” by Jake Runestad. The 2019 winner of the American Choral Director’s composition commission, the piece sets Beethoven’s letter to his brother, describing the composer’s loss of hearing.

The concert will also be streamed to Fort Dodge Choral Society’s FaceBook page. For more information, visit FDChoralSociety.org.