The Columbian | Serving Clark County, Washington

February can be cold and dreary, but several local music events are ready to deliver warm sounds that will make your spirit glow. These events accent a variety of performers, ensembles, and musical styles from jazzy religious choral music to solos played by teenagers.

The Vancouver USA Singers will offer a light-hearted cabaret program over the coming weekend at Roosevelt Elementary School. This annual show, which includes dessert and non-alcoholic drinks, provides the choir with a casual setting from which to showcase its talented members individually and in small ensembles.

“We will do a lot of popular show tunes like ‘Seasons of Love’ from ‘Rent,’” music director Jana Hart said. “We will also perform ‘Sing to Love’ from ‘Die Fledermaus,’ ‘Sunrise, Sunset’ from ‘Fiddler on the Roof,’ and numbers like ‘All You Need is Love.’ The men are singing ‘There’s Nothing like a Dame’ from ‘South Pacific,’ and some of the ladies will do ‘I Love You a Bushel and a Peck’ and ‘Adelaide’s Lament’ from ‘Guys and Dolls.’”

All of the numbers will be accompanied by pianist Carol VanderPloeg or a band that consists of photographer Chris Bidleman and high school music teachers Steve Burpee and Robert Schultz. They have played together since they were friends at Lewis Junior High in Vancouver.

On Feb. 27 at St. Joseph Catholic Church, the Bravo! Vancouver series will present a one-of-a-kind take on the Catholic Mass with Dave Brubeck’s “To Hope! A Celebration.” Brubeck is a jazz pianist who is acclaimed internationally for his standards such as “Take 5,” “In Your Own Sweet Way,” and “Blue Rondo à la Turk.” He composed “To Hope! A Celebration” after dreaming about the music and joined the Catholic Church shortly after completing it.

According to Michael Kissinger, music director of Bravo! Vancouver, this concert will feature a choir of 60 voices, soloists, piano, rhythm section, and brass.

“It’s very melodic, very rhythmic, high energy, a fun piece and very different,” Kissinger said. “We did it in Alice Tully Hall with the Duke Ellington School of the Arts Jazz Orchestra in New York City back in 2001 just before 9/11. It’s a great piece, and it’s time to hear it again.”

Skyview Concert Hall is the setting for a performance by Aaron Meyer and The Vancouver Big Band on Feb. 12. Sponsored by The Vancouver Symphony, this concert will have a pops and jazz atmosphere. Meyer is an acclaimed rock violinist who has collaborated with Pink Martini, Smokey Robinson, Aaron Neville, The Temptations, and Everclear. Special guest vocalist Shirley Nanette will join the 17-member Vancouver Big Band for a variety of big band pieces.

“We’ll do a lot of terrific pieces,” said trombonist Douglas Peebles. “We’ll play some numbers from the ’30s and ’40s songbook. We’ll also perform ‘Nevertheless,’ which was a torch song for Frank Sinatra in the ’50s. One of the newer pieces is ‘Do You Call This a Living’ by Wayne Bergeron. He’s a hugely popular studio trumpet player. And the trombones will be featured in a version of ‘Beginning to See the Light.’”

At the end of the month, you can hear some of the best young instrumentalists at the Vancouver Symphony’s Young Artists Competition. Now in its 17th year, this competition will take place at Trinity Lutheran Church where the contestants will perform in front of a panel of judges and a live audience. Cash awards for the top three winners in each category (strings, piano, and brass/woodwinds) are $1,000 for first place, $500 for second, and $250 for third. The first-place winners also will perform with the Vancouver Symphony in its April concert.

Print this article