I hope this is published before Saturday: letter to the editor of the Appleton Post-Crescent:

Full disclosure again: I'm a proud parent of a member of the Lawrence Academy of Music Girl Choir, so I'm biased, all right?  But I think I'm biased in the best way.

I attended a Girl Choir concert for the first time last December and I was completely bowled over by how terrific it was.

The five choirs each sang three or four songs, from Brahms to Pablo Casals, Holst to Mozart, and Grieg to Vivaldi; and they all joined forces for a wonderful finale that involved over 240 girls on-stage accompanied by two pianists performing a four-hand Gypsy dance piece from Serbia!  It was heavenly.

Now comes their spring concert, "Folk Songs and Fairy Tales".  The same five choirs will be joined by the very youngest performers in the Ragazze choir -- 280 girls in all. They'll perform two concerts, at 2:00 and 7:00 this Saturday, April 4th, at the Lawrence Chapel.  The tickets are a steal at $10 for adults and $7 for children at the Lawrence Box Office.

This will be a larger concert with more varied entertainment.  The girls will be joined by percussionists, pianists, story tellers, an Irish band complete with bodhran and tin whistle, and the Trinity Irish Dancers.  Songs performed will include compositions from Brahms, John Rutter, Ralph Vaughan Williams, Woody Guthrie, and folk songs from America, England, Scotland, Ireland, Ecuador, Russia, Norway, Japan, and Africa.

I've been going to the rehearsals for the Primo Choir, the 3rd and 4th grade girls.  They will charm your socks off, and I know that the skill and beauty of the girls in the more advanced choirs will amaze you.  They shook the house in December and I'm sure they will this Saturday.

These girls are startlingly, thrillingly good.  This is your chance to be near to the angels.

Steve Erbach
Neenah

0 comments so far...