Trends come and go in the film industry, but one thing remains constant: songs and the silver screen are like peas in a pod. A symbiotic relationship, of sorts, in which both benefit by luster that they add to one another.
Music and the movies go hand-in-hand to embody the soundtrack of our lives.
In back-to-back performances, San Juan Island’s community chorus, the San Juan Singers, will celebrate this enduring, and endearing, relationship in its annual spring concert, Friday and Saturday, beginning at 7:30 p.m., at San Juan Community Theatre.
Directed by Angel Michaels, with piano accompanist Jenepher Reeves and several musical guests, “Silver Screen Serenades—Hollywood’s Hits” will showcase a celebrated collection of songs written specifically for movies and others popularized thanks to the silver screen.
One of the latter is Carl Orff’s “O Fortuna” from the Carmina Burana—it’s opening chorus has a long history of use by the movie and television industries to both heighten and underscore dramatic scenes and messages; productions include Excalibur (1981), Speed (1984), Cheaper by the Dozen (2003), The Matrix Revolutions, and most recently, a Hershey’s syrup commercial.
“We’ll have selections in a two-piano and percussion arrangement that Orff stated he actually preferred over the massive orchestral arrangement most often heard,” Michaels said.
Animated films will also share the spotlight as the Singers’ song list will include well-known hits such as “Go the Distance,” from Disney’s Hercules, “When You Wish Upon a Star,” from Pinocchio, and “Let it Go,” from the widely popular and recent “Frozen,” starring featured guest vocalist Joely Loucks of Friday Harbor.
In addition to Loucks, featured guest performers include cellist Sasha von Dassow, who will lend musical accompaniment on several numbers, as well as Sue Collado on clarinet, Michael Linehan on percussion, Grisha Krivchenia on piano and the Singers’ own Georgann Greene, on violin, and Teresa DeGraaff on timpani.
The San Juan Singers spring concert is co-sponsored by SJCT Business Partner Lake Kennedy McCuloch CPAs. Tickets; $15 adults, $8 students, $5 student RUSH (day of the show) can be purchased online at www.sjctheatre.org, or at the SJCT box office: Tuesdays-Fridays, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturdays, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m.
