by Dennis Dalman
The Great River Chorale and their audiences are soon going to have lots of tuneful fun with the Three Great B’s: Broadway, Beatles, Bernstein.
The St. Cloud-based chorale group will perform two concerts: 7:30 p.m. Friday, April 10; and 4 p.m. Sunday, April 12 at First United Methodist Church at 1107 Pinecone Road in Sartell. The second performance was added because last year’s lone concert was an overflow standing crowd.
The chorale, comprised of members from cities throughout central Minnesota, was also chosen to give a headliner performance of Broadway, Beatles, Bernstein at the prestigious Northern Voice Festival at 10 a.m. Saturday, April 25 at the new Ordway Concert Hall in Minneapolis.
All of the songs in the concert are either by the Beatles or Broadway show-stoppers written by the likes of Leonard Bernstein, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Stephen Sondheim and Claude-Michel Schonberg.
The songs to be performed are the following:
From Broadway musical hit-makers Rodgers and Hammerstein: It’s a Grand Night for Singing and Oh, What a Beautiful Morning
By Broadway musical master Stephen Sondheim: Children Will Listen and For Good (Wicked)
From Broadway musical Les Miserables by Claude-Michel Schonberg: Bring Him Home
From Candide, a musical by Leonard Bernstein: Make Our Garden Grow.
From the Beatles’ song list: With a Little Help from My Friends, Yesterday, The Long and Winding Road, In My Life and Here Comes the Sun
Tickets for the concert can be purchased at the door or at greatriverchorale.org.
Great River Chorale is a 55-member community choir comprised of people from throughout central Minnesota. Each year the chorale presents holiday concerts, collaborative concerts with local and regional guest artists and free outreach concerts. Now in its 14th year, the Great River Chorale was named in 2013 as the St. Cloud Symphony Orchestra’s principal choral partner. The group has been featured many times on Classical Minnesota Public Radio’s Regional Spotlight show and was selected for MPR’s 2013 Taste of the Holidays CD.