Jerry Gustafson
The SaddleBrooke Barbershop Chorus is delighted to present this years’ concert, “Goodtime Barbershop and Variety Show,” on Friday, Dec. 13, at 7 p.m. at the DesertView Performing Arts Center. Save the date and reserve your seats! The chorus was established in 1998 and has performed shows each December. Director Nancy Bergman joined the chorus as our director in 2003 and has improved performances each year. She is a Sweet Adeline Quartet International Champion as well as a long-time director, coach, and music arranger.
The chorus will sing many Christmas favorites and other upbeat songs for your enjoyment, and joining us this year is a very special Adeline barbershop chorus from Scottsdale.
The Scottsdale Chorus is a group of more than 100 very talented musicians. They are six-time international champions of the Sweet Adelines annual contest, an international organization of more than 22,000 singers and 600 chapters. You know that they are really good to have won so many times in very intense competitions. You will enjoy hearing their wonderful sounds and blending melodies. They will sing a variety of upbeat enjoyable songs, plus some Christmas songs. This chorus has three quartets: C’est La Vie, Ms. Cellaneous, and Spinoff. Ms. Cellaneous performed with the SaddleBrooke Chorus at the Christmas show a few years ago and was extremely well received. The quartet not only has great singers, it is also hilarious. For more information, visit scottsdalechorus.org.
Their director since 1993 is Lori Lyford who has numerous awards and achievements within Sweet Adelines as well as the music field. She is a choral music teacher at Chandler High School in the Phoenix area and directs both boys and girls barbershop chorus groups, which she started at the school. The SaddleBrooke Chorus was very pleased to have each of those groups as guests for previous Christmas shows. They were both delightful entertainers and very enthusiastic young people.
The two groups will join together to sing a few songs: “Silent Night,” “Lida Rose” (from The Music Man), and “The Exodus Song,” a very powerful piece of music. An enjoyable part of the concert for the SaddleBrooke Chorus is singing with a group as talented as this.
More details will follow in future articles. Last years’ concert was sold out, so be sure to save the date and get your reserved seats for Dec. 13! You can purchase tickets at the SaddleBrooke TWO administrative office, next to the MountainView Clubhouse, or at their website, www.dvpac.net.