Everett Chorale celebrates summer with song

What better way to celebrate earth’s beauty and the bounties of summer than with song?

There are folk songs, pop songs, spirituals and madrigals and songs that pay tribute to nature. All are on the program of the Everett Chorale’s summer concert Sunday at the Everett Performing Arts Center.

“For the Beauty of the Earth: Choral Songs of Nature” will include some familiar folk tunes along with some not so familiar — though beautifully inspired — choral classics.

The folk song favorites include “Shenandoah” or “Across the Wide Missouri” which pays homage to the Shenandoah River Valley in Virginia and can take us back to the Civil War times. Though the words, “Oh Shenandoah, I long to see you, away, you rolling river,” can stir nostalgia for just about any place.

Along with “Shenandoah” the chorale will present “What a Wonderful World” made popular by Louis Armstrong.

The song hit a new wave of popularity when it was included on the movie soundtrack selections of “Good Morning, Vietnam.”

“What a wonderful world” has this familiar chorus:

“I hear babies cryin’, I watch them grow

“They’ll learn much more, than I’ll ever know

“And I think to myself

“What a wonderful world.”

The Everett Chorale will also present choral classics by Brahms and John Rutter, spirituals and a couple of “madrigals about some chickens,” said music director and conductor Lee Mathews.

The concert will kick off with “A Hymn of Grateful Praise” and end with “A Gaelic Blessing.” The chorale will also sing some of the Brahms folks songs including “Awake! Awake!” and “In the Night,” as well as a “sacred collage,” which includes “A Mighty Fortress,” Mathews said.

“For The Beauty of the Earth” will be presented at 3 p.m. Sunday at Everett Performing Arts Center, 2710 Wetmore Ave., Everett.

Tickets are $16 and $14. Special discounts for groups of 10 or more are available. Tickets can be purchased at the door or go to www.everettchorale.org.

Herald staff