Chorus' Spring Program to Include Brass, Beatboxing, Brahms!

“Singing and/or speaking in public can be daunting,” says Gene Nichols, “but making music together is so joyous! I’m delighted that there are enough people who love group singing to devote a part of their week to benefit from this practice: hence, Quoddy Voices.”

The chorus will present spring concerts on Friday, May 16 at 7 pm, and Sunday, May 18 at 3 pm. Chorus and soloists will be featured alongside dual-keyboard accompaniment, performed by Lee Downing and Jane Lanctot; Nichols is director.

“Two people at a piano is such a pleasurable pastime—quite the parlor self-entertainment in the days before electronic and social media—that we wanted to honor that and combine it with singing together,” notes Nichols. 

The group’s program opens with a work by Quoddy Voices’ founding director John Newell, the finale of his song cycle “Children of the Light.” Brahms’ Liebeslieder Waltzes, the featured work, follows, with a soprano solo shared by Jenny Z. Gillies and Manuela Brice. Next, the group present “To His Coy Mistress” from P.D.Q. Bach’s parody of the Brahms work, “Liebeslieder Polkas.” Circus-themed works follow, by Charles Ives, who often made music based on reminiscences from his childhood. “Down East” and “The Circus Band” will feature Nichols and Gillies on low brass instruments.

In commemoration of the 250th anniversary of the first naval battle of the American Revolution, Machiasport’s Battle of the Margaretta, the group will perform “The Birth Of Liberty”, composed by former UMM music professor Dr. John R. Akins, with violin, ‘cello, euphonium and percussion added to the choral/keyboard mix.

The concert will conclude with a continuous medley, including British folksong “The Weaver and the Factory Maid” (with four soloists, fiddle, and toy piano); jazz composer Duke Pearson’s “Cristo Redentor”; the Chambers Brothers’ arrangement of “People Get Ready” with Angelina Bestwick, soloist; Procul Harum’s “A Whiter Shade of Pale”; Donna Summer’s disco classic “I Feel Love,” with five vocal soloists, two synthesizers, and a beatboxing chorus; Rodgers and Hart’s standard “Blue Moon” (both as a swing ballad and over-the-top doo-wop); a Mozart fugue; and a joyous finale, “Now Welcome Summer”, by Robert Washburn.

Tickets for the concerts are $15; attendees 17 and under will be admitted free of charge; no one will be turned away for lack of funds. Tickets may be purchased here, or at the door beginning 30 minutes prior to each performance. 

Eastport Arts Center is at 36 Washington Street, Eastport, and is handicapped-accessible.