Last night, the community chorale I sing with was invited to sing in the "Dancing with the Stars" Utah Extravaganza. It was a big variety show held at the UCCU Center on the UVU Campus. (That's the big basketball arena.) We performed with the UVU symphonic orchestra plus two community orchestras, three community choirs, six amazing vocal soloists, back-up dancers, and the headliner dancers from LA, Val Chmerkovskiy and Jenna Johnson (Champions on "Dancing with the Stars."
We didn't have much time to practice and didn't get much information about what to expect other than we were singing the chorus parts to a few Broadway numbers like "Tradition" and "Sunrise, Sunset" from The Fiddler on the Roof with marvelous local actor Daniel Hess. It turned out quite fun. Dallyn Vail Bayles took down the house with his numbers "Bring Him Home" from Les Miserables, the David Foster duet "The Prayer" with Amy Keeler, and "To Dream the Impossible Dream" from The Man from La Mancha.
The show was produced by Nate Keller and 90-year-old icon Carl Bacon. I remember Carl Bacon from when my Aunt Janie Thompson did many big shows at BYU with him (the precursor shows to The Stadium of Fire). Despite his advanced age, it made a lot of sense as we learned that there were a lot of his grand and great-grand children in the cast.
The orchestra was huge! The conductor Dr. Cheung Chau is incredible not only as a conductor but as a cello soloist. His wife, Dr. Blanka Bednarz is a fantastic solo violinist as well as the conductor of the Utah Valley Youth Orchestra that was also part of the show. The evening was packed with a lot of talent and very entertaining.
This evening caused me to ponder on the significance of having opportunities in the community for people to participate in good orchestras and community choirs and occasionally get to do something big. I have lived in many places where people wanted to be in performing groups, but had no groups to perform with. Utah Country, with two big universities and many feeder music programs in the high schools, and local community orchestras and choirs plus some top-notched dance studios seems absolutely saturated with opportunities for talented people. And there are motivated producers that make performance opportunities possible.
On a less lofty note, for this Easter, even our Stake and the neighboring Stake, have combined to put together a 40 piece orchestra and a 75 voice choir to sing a concert on Good Friday. It truly is amazing to have so much talent around here!
The show was produced by Nate Keller and 90-year-old icon Carl Bacon. I remember Carl Bacon from when my Aunt Janie Thompson did many big shows at BYU with him (the precursor shows to The Stadium of Fire). Despite his advanced age, it made a lot of sense as we learned that there were a lot of his grand and great-grand children in the cast.
The orchestra was huge! The conductor Dr. Cheung Chau is incredible not only as a conductor but as a cello soloist. His wife, Dr. Blanka Bednarz is a fantastic solo violinist as well as the conductor of the Utah Valley Youth Orchestra that was also part of the show. The evening was packed with a lot of talent and very entertaining.
This evening caused me to ponder on the significance of having opportunities in the community for people to participate in good orchestras and community choirs and occasionally get to do something big. I have lived in many places where people wanted to be in performing groups, but had no groups to perform with. Utah Country, with two big universities and many feeder music programs in the high schools, and local community orchestras and choirs plus some top-notched dance studios seems absolutely saturated with opportunities for talented people. And there are motivated producers that make performance opportunities possible.
On a less lofty note, for this Easter, even our Stake and the neighboring Stake, have combined to put together a 40 piece orchestra and a 75 voice choir to sing a concert on Good Friday. It truly is amazing to have so much talent around here!
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