Songs For The Season

Ozarks Chorale brings diverse voices together

A community of singers young and old will perform holiday music for all to hear.

The Ozarks Chorale is a community-based choir with membership from all over the Ozarks and features singers ranging in age from 15 to 80, says Beth Withey, its artistic director and conductor. The choir is a nonprofi t organization with 56 singers that was founded in 1994 and rehearses in Eureka Springs, she explains. The group performs several concerts throughout the season, and one of them will be “Spirit of the Season” tonight at the Jones Center chapel auditorium.

Withey says she is fascinated by the diversity in the group.There are singers who are classically trained and have been performers in choirs for a long time, and then “we have people who don’t even read music but just love to sing,” she adds.

“They really create a gorgeous sound together,” Withey says.

The upcoming concert is about the rhythm of the season, she says. “Calypso Noel” uses congas and calypso rhythms. There are also songs from the great American spiritual tradition that are very rhythmic and powerful, such as a jazzy number called “Merry Christmas Jazz.”

Other songs the choir will feature are classical pieces like Mozart’s “Alleluia,” traditional carols, jazz standards such as “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas” and “I’ll Be Homefor Christmas,” and a traditional Hanukkah piece called “Bidi Bom.”

The Ozarks Chorale will also be performing a medley called Medieval Carol Fantasy, which includes the songs “Fum, Fum, Fum” and “The Holly and the Ivy.” Loretta Crenshaw will sing a solo in “I’ll Be Home for Christmas,” and Mary Bartell will be the soloist in “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.”

“We’ve tried to really broaden our horizons, I think, this time,” Withey says.

Withey says this concert is upbeat and cheerful, and she believes it is a great way to start the holiday season.

“There’s something about choral music that is so poignant and moving and touches people,” she says.

Whats Up, Pages 21 on 11/30/2012

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