The Salina Chorale spring concert is 4 p.m. Sunday, April 21, 2024. (CONFIRMED)
The Salina Chorale spring concert is 4 p.m. Sunday, April 21, 2024. (CONFIRMED)
UPDATED: APRIL 21, 2024
Dear Friends of the Salina Chorale,
The Salina Chorale has finished its 44th season of active singing with the 2024 spring concert.
We have been excited to work with our beloved director Bill Tuzicka while preparing for and presenting our final choral performance under his direction on Sunday, April 21, 2024, before his planned retirement from leading the Salina Chorale. Our spring concert was performed at the Stiefel Theatre for the Performing Arts in downtown Salina, Kansas.
We are very pleased that current members, and many former and new members of the Salina Chorale, joined us for this final concert semester with Bill. We love how he shapes and molds us as choral singers, and we enjoy his many anecdotes and stories. There really is just one Bill Tuzicka. He is one of a kind.
As we did for the fall 2023 semester, we were again able to secure the use of the same rehearsal space on Monday evenings, starting Jan. 22, in- the Multi-Purpose Room of Sunrise Presbyterian Church located at 825 E. Beloit Avenue, on Republic Avenue. .For further details about singing with us, please see our Sing With Us page.
Bill Tuzicka shared with us that as we were nearing the end of our Christmas performance at Sacred Heart Cathedral on Sunday, December 17, 2023, he looked out at us and saw that we were fading toward the end of the concert. But we finished strong with the final two pieces.
For our spring concert, Bill thought about which of his favorite choral pieces he wanted us to present, landing on 46 songs for consideration. He finally whittled these down to 13 pieces.
Here are the 13 songs we presented for this farewell performance (not in this order) -- and for which we have been rehearsing weekly on Monday evenings since January 22nd.
Cantique - (Gabriel Faure)
Corner of the Sky - (Stephan Schwartz, arr. John Cacavas)
Kittery - (William Billlings, Ed. by Irving Lowens)
God Be In My Head - (Walford Davies)
Home and the Heartland - (Bill Whelan)
Home on the Range - (Arr. Mark Hayes)
Old Irish Blessings - (Denes Agay)
One Tin Soldier - (Dennis Lambert & Don Groinick) featured in the film Billy Jack
Prayer for the Children - (Kurt Bestor; Arr. Andrea S. Klouse)
River in Judea - (Lyrics - Linda Marcus; Music - Jack Feldmann; Arr. John Lewavitt)
Shenandoah - (Arr. James Erb)
That Lonesome Road - (James Taylor & Don Groinick)
You Are the New Day - (John David, Arr. Peter Knight)
Our talented community singers have been amazing for their enthusiasm and dedication. And his last hurrah for Bill and the Salina Chorale this spring will be a concert for all of us to remember for a long time. As for the members of the Chorale, we have been enjoying a final semester of Bill's jokes and anecdotes with us in rehearsal.
And we send a shout of thanks to our long-term and returning sponsors for staying with us and sustaining us through changes and difficult times. We hope that you will give us your support once again. Thank you so much for your consideration.
To the rest of you, our wonderful audience members for our performances, we are grateful for your attendance, your applause and your appreciation for what we do. It was an honor and great pleasure to present this 2024 spring concert for you.
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We are on a search for our next director of the Salina Chorale. This person will be directing our next "Carols of Christmas" concert in December, with rehearsals likely beginning in August.
This year, we will not be serving as chorus for the Salina Symphony"s Christmas Festival concerts, as those will next be presented in December 2025. This year, instead, the Symphony will be performing Tchaikovsky's "The Nutracker."
At some point during the fall semester, tickets will be made available for purchase from Salina Chorale members, until a week before the concert, and then in the Sacred Heart Cathedral lobby before the concert. Adults are $15, Students in grades 1-12 are $10, and Children in kindergarten and younger are free.
Hoping you will join us for this wonderful performance, live and in person. Watch our website for the news about the new music director when it is ready to be announced.
B. J. Banks
President of the Salina Chorale