A group of local singers and choral students invite the community to an upcoming celebration of song.
The Foothills Festival Singers will hold its spring concert at 5 p.m. Sunday, May 4, at First Presbyterian Church of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥, directed by Robert Summerell, choral director at Freedom High School, and Jim Gossler, retired FHS choral director.
The choir is made up of 43 local singers who perform in the annual ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ Combined Choirs Christmas concert each year. The group includes choral students from Freedom and East Burke high schools. They began rehearsing their spring program in March.
“This is not a worship service, but a concert with four of the pieces being either folk songs or secular music,†Gossler said. “Several of the pieces refer to ‘coming home’ in both an earthly and a heavenly sense. I think the audience will recognize many of the folk songs in a medley called ‘An Americana Songbook.’ The choir especially likes a recent work by Z. Randall Stroope called ‘Dance for Love,’ whose text is a letter home from a returning soldier after the American Civil War.â€
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Summerell chose selections he thought the singers would respond well to and enjoy.
“While the concert doesn’t follow a particularly planned theme, there does seem to be an unspoken, underlying theme that highlights creating music for music’s sake,†he said. “Audience members will hear a varied repertoire that features arrangements of American folk music, spirituals, hymn tunes, in addition to an original composition by the founder of Foothills Festival Singers, J. Jerome Williams. I am especially looking forward to conducting ‘For This Joy,’ a piece that pairs an ecumenical text with a familiar hymn tune. The arranger dedicated the piece to her late friend, who was both a chorister and clarinetist. Our performance of the piece will feature clarinet soloist, Avery Lindecamp, a talented member of the Freedom High School Patriot Winds and Chamber Singers.â€
In addition to Lindecamp, the concert will feature Freedom students Michael Vasquez-Macario on flute/piccolo and Emery Evans on percussion, as well as the East Burke High School Chamber Singers under the direction of Jennifer Duckworth.
“Robert Smith (music director at First Presbyterian Church of ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and St. Stephens Lutheran Church of Hickory) will be accompanying on both piano and organ and is a huge key to our success,†Gossler said.
Summerell shared how he has enjoyed working with this year’s choir.
“What a tremendous blessing, honor, and privilege it is to conduct and sing with this group for multiple seasons now,†Summerell said. “With each opportunity to share my love of music in this way, I feel an even greater sense of community than I did the season before.â€
The concert is free and open to the public. A freewill offering will be taken during the performance to help with expenses.
“I would encourage people to come to support this effort by this multi-generational choir to present both familiar and new music to the community and sustain the arts locally,†Gossler said. “I hope concert attendees will enjoy the variety of moods and emotions presented and appreciate the dedication of the singers to produce a program in only eight rehearsals.â€
Summerell said he is looking forward to “the joy of community members coming together under one roof to celebrate the beauty of singing.â€
“All are invited to enjoy an evening of well-done, artistically informed choral music, free of charge,†he said. “Join us as we continue to celebrate ¾ÅÐãÖ±²¥ and Burke County’s rich history of singing!â€
