The Peninsula Singers invite you to take a musical journey down life’s road in their ambitious spring concert, the Long and Winding Road. The trip promises to be filled with songs from childhood to first love, from marriage to wisdom and from sorrow to joy.
Artistic director, Glenda Korella was drawn to one of the last pieces Paul McCartney wrote for the Beatles as the theme for the concert.
“Though McCartney was writing about the Beatles’ breakup, he could still see that the road he was taking would always lead to someone important waiting at the door,” Korella said. “’I thought this was a beautiful message as well as a theme around which I could plan our concerts. As the years pass, my admiration just grows for McCartney’s storytelling skills and his beautiful music.”
The road begins in childhood with the enduring Welsh lullaby “All Through the Night” and John Denver’s salute to happy days we spent jumping up and down on “Grandma’s Feather Bed.” On the other hand, parents have their say with “Kids” from the comedy musical Bye Bye Birdie, where the Singers wonder why kids can’t be “like we were/ perfect in every way.” Of course, what would life in song be without music that celebrates love, courtship and marriage? And so the concert will include “I’m in Love with a Wonderful Guy” from South Pacific with soloist Adrienne Dyer and “Get Me To the Church on Time”, from My Fair Lady, featuring soloist Syd Waldron.
Travel down life’s road will always include sharp turns, detours, and poor visibility. That’s when we need companions and especially friends who help us navigate the highway. And so, to salute friendship, Korella has chosen a beautiful arrangement in four-part harmony of Simon and Garfunkel’s “Bridge Over Troubled Water”, that promises “when tears are in your eyes, I will dry them all.”
The Singers’ traditional Spotlight on a Young Artist will feature violinist Philip Manning, a 20-year-old University of Victoria music major who performed with the Peninsula Singers in 2004.
In the intervening eight years, he has garnered numerous awards and scholarships and has performed twice with the Victoria Symphony.
“I’m excited and honoured to be invited back to play after a few years,” Manning said. “I appreciate the Singers’ great attitude about music and audiences. I’m also excited to be helping them in their contribution to the local music scene.”
Storyteller Lee Porteous and soloist Sherry Majocha who will sing “Memory,” a spoof of “Memories” by Andrew Lloyd Webber, all about misplacing car keys and hoping Ginkgo Biloba might help.
Profits from the concerts will benefit the Saanich Peninsula Hospital Foundation’s Music Therapy Program.
Concerts take place April 27 to 29 at the Mary Winspear Centre. Tickets are $11 for kids under 12 and $22 for adults; available at the box office, 250-656-0275.
Visit www.PeninsulaSingers.ca for more information.
Win tickets
The Peninsula News Review has a pair of tickets to the Peninsula Singers’ April 27 show at 7:30 p.m. To enter: email your name and phone number to editor@peninsulanewsreview.com with ‘winding road’ in the subject line. Deadline is April 18 at 4 p.m.
