Summertime technically isn\u2019t here yet, but local choir group the Southwest Singers is ushering it in early with its upcoming show \u201cSummer Is in the Air.\u201d<\/p>\n
Choir director Ruth Wilson Francisco said attendees of this season\u2019s concert can expect big band music with \u201ca smattering of popular guys like Andrew Lloyd Webber.\u201d<\/p>\n
Southwest Singers will be performing \u201cAll I Ask of You,\u201d Webber\u2019s popular \u201cPhantom of the Opera\u201d tune. Big band classics like \u201cPutting on the Ritz,\u201d as well as other recognizable tunes like Cole Porter\u2019s \u201cIn the still of the Night\u201d and Louis Armstrong\u2019s \u201cWhat a Wonderful World\u201d are on the program, and the choir also plans to premier one of its most difficult pieces to-date: a medley of George Gershwin songs.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur most challenging piece is the Gershwin medley. We\u2019ll be doing the most recognizable Gershwin tunes: \u2018Swanee,\u2019 \u2018Rhapsody In Blue,\u2019 \u2018Embraceable You,\u2019\u201d said Francisco. \u201cWe have a great library of music, but as a small, chamber choir there are some things I can\u2019t do that require a lot of voices. Gershwin kind of does, and it shows that even thought we\u2019re small we don\u2019t want to limit ourselves to things that are kind of easy.\u201d<\/p>\n
All in all, Francisco says concertgoers are in store for a \u201cconglomerate of songs that people are going to enjoy.\u201d<\/p>\n
The choir will be accompanied by Joyce Steffen and also features new member Tom MacIntosh, who joined the choir in January after moving to the area from Nebraska.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe had to push the concert up by two weeks, but I wasn\u2019t worried. Even during the first three weeks, they were picking up the music so quickly. We really work on a lot of harmonies, and they do beautifully.\u201d<\/p>\n
After the concert, attendees are encouraged to hang around for the informal reception and meet some of the Southwest Singers and their neighbors. The reception will feature light snacks.<\/p>\n
\u201cSummer is in the Air\u201d will be performed May 1 and May 2 at 7 p.m. at the First United Methodist Church in Cortez, followed by the informal reception. The concert is free, but donations are accepted.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
program features big band favorites<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[5961,5843],"tags":[21,559],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-113163","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-arts-and-entertainment","category-living","tag-cortez","tag-music"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113163","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=113163"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/113163\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=113163"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=113163"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=113163"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=113163"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}