And Now for Something Completely Different!

Master Chorus Eastside just finished a highly successful collaborative Verdi Requiem performance, so now, in our usual spirit of exploration, we are moving on to our next endeavor, our very popular All-American Independence Celebration.  In one sense you can’t move any farther from a passionate, Italian, opera-driven mass for the dead than in our Celebrate America concert series.  But in another sense the music is equally as satisfying and equally as valuable, because it involves our heritage, and because our audience gets to sing along with us!

MCE has long regarded our informal, family-friendly Independence Celebration as a gift to our local community.  It grew out of a desire to commemorate the 4^th of July, foster enjoyment of our richly diverse culture, and get Americans singing.  We used to sing together with family and friends for entertainment; that doesn’t happen as often anymore.  And in the face of a steam roller of a pop culture, our young people are losing touch with our vast legacy of song. 

So, in our own individual way, we are leading the charge to preserve our traditions and our singing culture.  Our All-American Independence Celebration is a barn concert (it really is held in a historic barn, Pickering Barn in Issaquah), and in American barn-concert tradition, you’ll hear wonderful folk song arrangements, sturdy frontier shape-note hymns, choral arrangements of jazz and spirituals and gospel numbers, and patriotic tunes.  And it’s interlaced with historical commentary, insights into American music and culture, and of course, sing alongs—tunes you may not have sung for years!

This year’s theme is The American Melting Pot, and we will examine the many influences that have shaped American music and us as Americans.  Watch future blogs for more details!

And come and enjoy one of the two performances, 3:00 and 7:00 PM on Sunday June 24!

Dr. Linda Gingrich

Artistic Director and Conductor

Master Chorus Eastside