The Northeast Piedmont Chorale will perform its spring concert at McGregor Hall in Henderson on Sunday afternoon, April 23. The concert is free and open to the public, and Director Cindy Edwards said the concert’s theme – “What A Wonderment” – describes perfectly the selections that will be performed.
The audience will see and hear “a trend in our musical selections,” Edwards said on TownTalk, “all about the wonder about the world that we live in.”
Chorale baritones Tom Burleson and Harvey Jackson joined Edwards to talk about the upcoming performance, as well as the state of the chorale. Which is quite, good, by the way.
Since Edwards became director in 2016, the chorale has doubled in size, from just shy of 40 to close to 80. Seventy-five performers are scheduled to take the stage for the spring concert, Edwards noted.
(The chorale will perform the spring concert at New Hope Baptist Church in Raleigh on Friday, April 21 at 7:30 p.m. The church is located at 4301 Louisburg Rd. in Raleigh.)
“For next season, we’ll have an even bigger choir,” she said. “I’m very, very pleased about the size of the group.
Although there are a handful of chorale members for whom music is a vocation, Jackson said the majority are just like him and Burleson – folks who’ve sung in church or school groups, but who aren’t music majors.
Jackson, who serves as vice president of the chorale board, said the upcoming concerts are the result of “many, many hours (of practice) put in by 70-plus people. This stuff doesn’t happen by accident.”
In addition to the two-hour weekly practices, Edwards offers “sectionals,” where smaller groups can come together to practice their particular parts. And individuals spend hours and hours outside the common practice time to listen and learn their parts.
Burleson said the process is important. “It’s painstaking and time consuming,” he said. “But if we didn’t want to do it, we wouldn’t be there. There’s a great reward.”
Edwards said the group has worked hard to create what she hopes will be a memorable performance. “The choir is ready – they need an audience…they sound beautiful.”
Kristen Allred accompanies at piano for some of the musical selections, but there will be a full orchestra to offer accompaniment as well.
The concert will begin with “A Shaker Celebration,” sure to delight the audience with its processional, and handbell and drum accompaniment. The program continues with “Te deum,” which translates to “We praise thee, O God” a 20-minute master work of composer Dan Forest.
The group will perform “Alleluia For Our Time” by Raleigh composer, Jay Althouse, whom Edwards described as someone who has become a close friend of the chorale.
After a short break, the theme of the concert focuses on the world around us – earth, stars, sky and water.
The chorale will perform “Earth Song,” followed by a couple of a cappella selections.
Local musicians Wayne Kinton and his son David Kinton provide electric guitar and double bass accompaniment to the Bluegrass-style “Touch the Sky” from the movie Brave.
The chorale’s final selection, complete with full orchestra, is “The Impossible Dream.”
Visit www.npchorale.org to learn more about the Northeast Piedmont Chorale.
CLICK PLAY!