Local tenor Paul Moore has some surprises in store when he and some musically talented friends take to the stage at the Vernon Performing Arts Centre Saturday.
As in past concerts, Moore says there will be a mixture of deep commitment to musical performance, as well as his desire to connect people to music through laughter.
“I get asked if I’m an opera singer who is funny or a comedian who happens to be an opera singer. I like to do both; it engages and calms people and it’s fun, so I continue,” said Moore.
Moore studied voice in Victoria, Montreal, Toronto, and New York as well as Salzburg, Austria and Tel Aviv, Israel, with some of the most influential teachers and coaches of the opera world.
He has performed with symphonies and opera companies across Canada as well as with New York City Opera before he left the business of performing for the business of being a dad.
“I am so excited to present this concert. I have a wide range of favourite types of music, and so do the musicians I work with regularly. My hope is that the beauty, the intensity and the fun nature of music will be honoured during this show,” said Moore. “I feel that people will come away having learned something new and having had an amazing time.”
Joining Moore will be his Vernon-based choir, The Kokanee Singers, who, along with accompanist Mabel Thibault, will perform a varied repertoire of classics, including Danny Boy, Singing In The Rain, Ubi Caritas, Sure On This Shining Night, and well as compositions by Maurice Durufle and Samuel Barber.
Moore will also be joined by singers Darren Roesler and Patricia Howorko, and accompanied on the piano by Graham Vink and Emerald Holt, to perform some operatic repertoire, including famed Puccini aria Nessun Dorma and Bizet’s The Pearl Fishers Duet (where Moore will be joined by Roesler), German lied from Franz Schubert and Italian songs from the 1700s.
Mezzo soprano Howorko will perform the well-known aria, Voi Che Sapete from Mozart’s Marriage of Figaro.
Audiences will also be able to jive to Moore and the 17-piece Dreamland Band, a big band out of Kelowna, who will perform some Frank Sinatra and Michael Bublé favourites such as Come Fly With Me, Sway, Fly Me To The Moon and It Had Better Be Tonight.
“The first rehearsal I had with the Dreamland Band was amazing. We went through the repertoire I had suggested and they brought forth ideas of songs on their lists,” said Moore. “From that collaboration, we chose a couple of the songs for this concert. I am enjoying working with such an accomplished and supportive group and between us, we plan to bring some wonderful pieces to the stage.”
Paul Moore and Friends are at the Performing Arts Centre Saturday at 8 p.m. Tickets are $35/adult, $32/senior, $25/student (18 and under) at the Ticket Seller, 250-549-7469, ticketseller.ca
