Voices Summer Chorus Performs “American Songs, Poems & Spirituals”
Natalie Sherman Jollis receives congratulations and check from Voices conductor Dr. Sue Klausmeyer and Voices member John Paul Middlesworth
Who:
Voices Summer Chorus, led by conductor Dr. Sue T. Klausmeyer
Voices Summer Chorus began in 2002. Their performances typically feature a theme and include guest performers. In the past, the chorus has been joined by Shakespearean actors, bluegrass band Kickin Grass, Cai Flamenco and Fred Astaire Ballroom dancers, a Native American youth group, Mexican Mariachi band Los Galleros, African drummers Khalid Saleem and His Rhythms of Life, a jazz trio, and a Beatles band called Back Beat. Collaborations with community partners is at the heart of Voices’ mission to foster and share the art and joy of choral music, enriching and educating the community through performances of music from diverse cultural and historic periods.
When & Where:
Friday, July 18th at 7:30 pm
University United Methodist Church
150 East Franklin Street, Chapel Hill
About “American Songs, Poems & Spirituals”:
This performance is a celebration of American choral music including sentimental favorites from Samuel Barber, Aaron Copland and Randall Thompson, along with songs from hit musicals (George Gershwin, Leonard Bernstein and Irving Berlin), new works by today’s brightest composers and “blow the roof off” arrangements by masters of the American spiritual. Natalie Sherman Jollis, winner of Voices’ high school poetry competition will recite her poem “American Dream,” along with three additional guests reciting poems by American poets.
Sherman Jollis, an East Chapel Hill Hill sophomore, said, “I wanted to write a poem that embraced all parts of the “American Dream”, good and bad. To me the “American Dream” is the glue that holds our very diverse country together, a stereotype of what it means to be American. All of us go about achieving this ideal in different ways, some taking it for granted, others hopeful, all at times frustrated and discouraged. But, with all its imperfections, at least some part of all of us still believes that the dream is real. And I think that is what sets Americans apart.”
Tickets: Tickets are $17 and $7 for students. They can be purchased online at www.voiceschapelhill.org/buy or at the door.
Why: Voices is is one of the Triangle’s oldest and most distinguished choral groups with a rich history spanning over three decades. Now in its 33rd season, Voices has grown from a small group of adult singers that performed with student choruses from Frank Porter Graham Elementary School and Phillips Middle School in 1980 to the thriving 130 member choral group today. In addition to the larger chorus, Voices also has a smaller, select ensemble, Cantari. Both choruses perform fall and spring concerts featuring an orchestra and soloists.
Category: Press Releases
