We’re excited to bring back our Summer Singing Sessions this year and expand them to new communities. We’ve selected a whimsical repertoire this summer, and we hope you’ll enjoy singing them with your Encore family!
ENCORE CHORALES
- Homeward Bound (SATB, piano), Marta Keen, arr. Jay Althouse
- The Phantom of the Opera: Medley (SATB, piano), Andrew Lloyd Webber, arr. Ed Lojeski
- The Phantom of the Opera
- Think of Me
- Angel of Music
- All I Ask of You
- Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again
- The Point of No Return
- Sing for Joy! from “Judas Maccabaeus” (SAB, piano), G.F. Handel, arr. Linda Spevacek
- Turn the World Around (SATB, piano), Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman, arr. Larry Farrow
Our Summer Session Chorale repertoire opens with Marta Keen’s elegant Homeward Bound, one of the most popular and widely performed contemporary choral works of all time. Within, Keen sets a text that calling us home after a long absence:
If you find it’s me you’re missing
If you’re hoping I’ll return
To your thoughts I’ll soon be listening
In the road I’ll stop and turn
I’ll be homeward bound in time.
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera was the longest running show in Broadway history, celebrating its 10,000th performance in 2012. Throughout our summer sessions, we’ll learn six of Webber’s most famous numbers: The Phantom of the Opera, Think of Me, Angel of Music, All I Ask of You, Wishing You Were Somehow Here Again, and The Point of No Return, all arranged for choir by Ed Lojeski.
Our third work this summer is G.F. Handel’s Sing for Joy!, based on a duet from his oratorio, “Judas Maccabeus.” Handel’s work was devised as a compliment to the victorious Prince William Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, upon his return from the Battle of Culloden. Arranged for three-part choir by Linda Spevacek, Sing for Joy! calls us to “sing out in a joyful song!”
And we’ll close out our summer programming with Larry Farrow’s exciting arrangement of the famous Harry Belafonte and Robert Freedman tune, Turn the World Around. With its Jamaican-inspired island tempo and rhythm (often in a bouncy 5|8 meter), Turn the World Around is a vibrant reminder that building community makes the world a better place for all.
ENCORE ROCKS
- Can’t Buy Me Love (SATB, piano) The Beatles, arr. Audrey Snyder
- Here Comes the Sun
- In My Life
- Can’t Buy Me Love
- Don’t Stop Me Now (SATB, piano), Freddie Mercury/Queen, arr. Mark Brymer
- Hallelujah I Love Her So (SATB, piano), Ray Charles, arr. Alan Billingsley
- I’m Still Standing (SATB, piano), Elton John, arr. Pete Schmutte
Our Summer Session ROCKS repertoire opens with a five-minute medley of Beatles tunes, arranged for choir by Audrey Snyder. In her Can’t Buy Me Love, Snyder sets Here Comes the Sun, In My Life, and Can’t Buy Me Love, the last of which was included on the group’s album “A Hard Day’s Night,” becoming the fourth highest selling single of the 1960s.
We move next to Freddie Mercury’s (of the band Queen) Don’t Stop Me Now, arranged for choir by Mark Brymer. Appearing on the band’s 1978 album “Jazz,” Don’t Stop Me Now initially reached No. 9 in the UK charts, but only No. 86 in the US. Since then, however, the single has become popularized through its use in advertisements, television shows and films, and through covers by other artists, and was recently voted as the “third-best Queen song” by readers of Rolling Stone.
Our third tune this summer is Hallelujah I Love Her So by the American icon Ray Charles. This rhythm and blues song was written by Charles in 1956 and subsequently released on his self-titled debut LP. With exuberant lyrics celebrating the joy of love, Hallelujah I Love Her So peaked at No. 5 on the Billboard R&B charts and was covered by the likes of Stevie Wonder, Peggy Lee, and the rock band Humble Pie.
Elton John’s hit I’m Still Standing, released on his 1983 studio album “Too Low for Zero,” closes out our summer ROCKS repertoire. Thanks to significant airtime on MTV, I’m Still Standing became a major success for John, peaking at No. 1 in Canada, No. 4 in the UK, and No. 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100.
SENTIMENTAL JOURNEY SINGERS
- Oh, What a Beautiful Mornin’, Richard Rogers, arr. Kirby Shaw
- I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing, arr. Mark Hayes
- You Can’t Hurry Love, arr. Roger Emerson