BC Chamber Singers to celebrate with Bon Voyage Concert
May 29—It's a great time to sing the praises of the BC Chamber Singers.
After a two-year fundraising effort, the Bakersfield College performance group raised the needed $175,000 to fund its performance trip to Central Europe on June 12. That sum was raised with no assistance from the college.
To celebrate meeting this landmark goal, the musical group will offer a Bon Voyage Concert on Saturday in advance of its trip.
Dr. Jennifer Garrett, director of choral and vocal studies at BC, said the audience will enjoy a sneak peek of the repertoire planned for the trip, which includes stops in Vienna, Austria; Prague, Czech Republic; and Germany.
She wrote in an email, "We are performing all of the music we are taking on tour, which includes music written by composers in all of the places we will visit."
Pieces will include those by Mozart and Anton Bruckner for Vienna, Bedrich Smetana and a Moravian folk song in honor of Prague, and German composers Bach, Josef Rheinberger and Franz Biebl.
The concert will also include work by U.S. composers such as Andrea Ramsey and Morten Lauridsen as well as an American folk song, spirituals and an arrangement of "Come Fly With Me" by Frank Sinatra.
"The Chamber Singers have worked so hard and we hope so many will come to the concert!" Garrett wrote. "There will be so much variety!"
The evening will begin at 5:30 p.m. Saturday with a taco bar dinner with all the fixings and dessert in the Black Box Theatre in the Edward Simonsen Performing Arts Center on campus, 1801 Panorama Drive. The concert will follow at 7 p.m.
Attendees will also be able to bid on raffle baskets before the show.
Admission is $20 for dinner and the show, $10 for just the show. Those who want dinner must purchase their tickets at bit.ly/bcchamberbonvoyage by 8 p.m. Thursday.
Concert tickets will also be available at the door.
Stefani Dias can be reached at 661-395-7488. Follow her on Twitter at @realstefanidias.
