WEEKEND: Port Townsend’s Community Chorus to perform wartime songs this weekend
Published 12:01 am Friday, April 17, 2015
NOTE: “Today” and “tonight” refer to Friday, April 17.
PORT TOWNSEND — Music from World Wars I and II will fill two venues this weekend as the Community Chorus of Port Townsend and East Jefferson County — along with a select group of musicians — offer their spring concerts.
There will be familiar songs such as George M. Cohan’s “Yankee Doodle Boy,” “Over There,” “Pack Up Your Troubles in Your Old Kit Bag” and “Keep the Home Fires Burning,” as well as a modern composition using the lyrics of the poem “In Flanders Fields.”
“Requiem for a Soldier,” the theme song from the television series “Band of Brothers,” also is on the program, as is a new work from Port Townsend composer Karl Bach.
Bach has set music to a poem written by a Navy friend of his who recently died.
Also in Chimacum
The Community Chorus will step up at 7 p.m. today and Saturday at First Presbyterian Church, 1111 Franklin St. in Port Townsend, and at 3:30 p.m. Sunday at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer, 45 Redeemer Way in Chimacum.
Admission is a suggested $15 donation via www.ptchorus.org, while more information awaits at 360-385-1402. A limited number of tickets is available at Crossroads Music, 2100 Lawrence St. in Port Townsend.
Leslie Lewis, director of the chorus, said she hopes to honor the people who served and sacrificed throughout the world wars.
“As a community, I believe it is important to pause and reflect upon major events in our history. We can do this so well as a community chorus,” she said.
Vets recognized
At all three concerts, the chorus intends to recognize veterans of WWII who are in attendance, as well as sing a medley of armed services songs to honor all active and retired veterans.
Tom Berg, a survivor of the Dec. 7, 1941, attack on Pearl Harbor, will play the violin with this medley.
The concerts feature pianist Lisa Lanza, who Lewis said shares in the musical leadership of the chorus.
The program also includes guest musicians Kim Clarke, trumpet; Jim Goldberg, drums; Connie Rosenquist, violin; and a guest appearance by Exact Change, a women’s vocal ensemble.
