On Thursday, March 19, spring arrived via great music and song with the Sun Lakes Chorale. Our spring concert was held at the United Methodist Church in Sun Lakes, and based on the audience response, both spring and the concert were well received.

As in past concerts, the chorale presented the full-house audience with a wide variety of choral pieces to bring a bounty of emotions to each and every attendee. Our goal is always to touch each of you in some way, whether it be melancholy or upbeat, We hope some of our performance touched you and you will remember that feeling and want to come back for the next concert.

This spring, we went from Latin “Festival Sanctus” to South African “Modimo” to more recognizable classical jazz and vocal rag numbers, like “Jeepers Creepers” and “Blue Skies,” with many numbers in between. Fun and light numbers included “The Preacher and The Bear” and “High Hopes” as well as a memory-evoking number like “Song for the Mira” and a soul-lifting number such as “Like a River in My Soul.” And who can’t be in a good mood and ready for spring and baseball when they hear “Take Me Out to the Ballgame”?

All of this is skillfully coordinated and conducted by Bart and Chris Evans. With the amazingly smooth piano accompaniment of Caroline Brown and the ever-present tempo being provided by BJ Van Noy, the chorale masters harmony, syncopation, and presentation comfortably and with confidence. The chorale is always fortunate to bring in some extremely talented guest accompanists, and this concert was no exception. We enjoyed the musical talents of trumpeter Kevin Bollinger and oboist Marc Goldstick. Our own member soloists included Mary Park, Carlin Knight, and Jack Perin. We, like the audience, applaud our musical director, conductor, and all our soloists and accompanists.

And we thank everyone who attended, and we sincerely hope we made a memorable evening for you while welcoming spring to Sun Lakes.

See you in the fall.