By Elizabeth Hulsbrink
Geneseo Current
Close your eyes for a moment. Take a deep breath, and as you exhale, listen to all the sounds around you… sounds of birds singing, the breeze in the trees, a gentle wind chime playing a tune. Perhaps you hear the sounds of a busy street, cars buzzing by, people talking. Or maybe, you are sitting in an office, 90s soft rock playing on the speaker, computers humming, phones ringing. Does it matter?
Does any of it matter?
On Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the Geneseo Community Choir performed it’s 16th annual concert at the Geneseo High School Concert Hall, featuring local vocalists and instrumentalists, under the direction of Pam Edwards with accompaniment by Lynne Haars. This year’s theme, “Does It Matter” was selected in “hopes to open the audience’s minds to a renewed level of awareness of the many aspects of “Does it Matter”” replied Pam Edwards. She also shared that the theme selected would encompass “Gray Matter, mental health matters, care for the earth matters, music matters, YOU matter, justice, healing, peace, and democracy matters.”
The song selections were dedicated to bringing all these “matters” to attention. From Beethoven’s “Hymn to Joy”, Shaw’s “With a Voice of Singing”,Webber’s “Memory” from Cats, to Lojeski’s “Do You Hear the People Sing” from Les Miserables and even Michael Jackson’s “Earth Song”, the combined voices and instruments lifted the audience and roused a sense of awareness of what we can do with all this “matter”. The children’s choir sang, danced, and giggled their way through Schubert’s “To Music”, Berlin’s “Play for Me a Simple Melody”, and Huff’s “Mary Poppins Medley”, all of which were under the direction of Amy Croft, accompanied by Miss Edwards, and assisted by Denise Eiker and HannaWiyrick.
Two very special soloists were Isabella Haney and Addison Dykstra. Both are 2024 graduates of Geneseo High School. Haney’s clarinet solo, “Excerpt from Clarinet Concerto No. 2 Mvt. 3- Alla Polacca” by VonWeber, and Dykstra’s “Never Enough” from the musical The Greatest Showman by Pasek and Paul, left the audience reaching for more. Both were performed with absolute perfection.
For a grand finale, all the combined voices of the adult choir, children’s choir, brass section, percussion, string bass, guitar, and even dancers wowed the crowd with the jazz/swing classic, “Sing, Sing, Sing” by Prima (arranged by Kern), “Bridge Over Troubled Water” by Simon (arranged by Shaw), and “God Bless the USA” by Greenwood (arranged by Brymer). Some audience members found themselves humming along and dancing in their seats. Not a dry eye in the house! Standing ovations and cheers filled the hall.
Spectacular work in just 4 short rehearsals with the adults, and 5 rehearsals with the children. The 114 members of this year’s Community Choir range from incoming 8th graders to great grandparents, and come from all walks of life. The 25 members of the Children’s Choir are incoming 4th – 7th graders. All these musicians participate simply for the love of music.
This year’s performance also included the First Lutheran Church Handbell Choir lead by Melinda Wildermuth, with audio provided by Larry Lord, and videographers Lucas Kaiser and Carter Eastburn. The concert will be played on Geneseo’s Channel 50 at a future date.