THE GREATER Freeport Community Chorus will perform spring concerts on Saturday in Freeport and on Sunday in Yarmouth.
The program features the music of American composers Aaron Copland, Stephen Foster, Charles Ives, Cole Porter Jerome Kern and others who drew inspiration from rural tunes and landscapes.
“Simple Gifts,” “O, Susannah!,” “All The Things You Are” and “I’ve Got You Under My Skin” are among the featured songs. In addition to the moving Civil War tune, “Tenting Tonight,” the classic song, “Over the Rainbow” will be
According to artistic director Virgil Bozeman, the musical selections are an exploration of the creative and home grown spirit in American cultural and musical.
“Our goal was to explore composers who were breaking new ground with forms and styles that were uniquely American, either with greater degrees of sophistication, such as with Copland and Porter, or as resources in their own deeply personal musical experiments, like Ives,” Bozeman said.
A release from the chorus describes other aspects of the conference as follows: and music by Ives, vividly captures a child’s excitement and curiosity over the arrival of a traveling circus with all of its color, noise and excitement. During intertwining lyrics and melodies at the end of the piece, one will hear “Riding down from Bangor on the midnight train…”
“Simple Gifts” has a special connection with Maine, composed in 1948 in the Shaker community of Alfred. It became the basis for a theme and variations in the ballet and orchestral suite, “Appalachian Spring.”
Other songs by Aaron Copland will include “Zion’s Walls” from his group of “Old American Songs” and the charming children’s song, “I Bought Me a Cat.”
The most intriguing piece on the program is “And The Trees Stood Like Beautiful Buildings,” Nick Page’s “edifice in sound” honoring the famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright. It features ethereal and minimalist choral textures accompanied by piano, tuned crystal glasses, wooden blocks and steel cello.
The mixed voice chorus, in its 18th year, is directed by Virgil Bozeman, choral director at Richmond Middle/High School and chairman of Maine Music Educators Association District III.
Dorothy Cuprak of Richmond accompanies the chorus on piano.
The chorus’ mission is to enrich the community by promoting and fostering an appreciation for choral music that is stylistically and culturally diverse. Members from 22 communities in the Mid-coast region gather weekly to rehearse and share their enjoyment of singing. In addition, the group performs at local holiday celebrations and outreach programs.
Interested singers are invited to join in September or January. More information is available on our website or at info@gfccweb.org.
Tickets to this weekend’s concerts cost $10 for adults or $8 students and seniors. Children younger than 12 get in free.
Advance tickets available at the Freeport Community Center Thrift Shop and Music & Moore in the Topsham Fair Mall. Tickets will be sold at the door.
For more information, visit www.gfccweb.org or call 751- 6301.
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