Submitted by Gary Alexander

The Lopez Community Singers end their third season with a late spring concert at 4:30 p.m. on Sunday, June 9, at Grace Church with a program that mostly recalls the youthful days of our singers and many in our audience. Eight of our 13 selections were popular hits from the 1960s and early 1970s, all arranged in four-part harmony for our 23 voices under the direction of Angel Michaels of Friday Harbor, who is fresh off of her annual “Barbershop Bonanza” production from June 1, the previous weekend.

For the first time, our singers will not be accompanied by Marge Stensrud. Covering the keyboards will be Holli Kongorski. For many of the songs from the 1960s and ‘70s, we also welcome the rhythm section of Phil Paige, Danny Gilbreath and Calvin Lovenosky on guitar, bass and drums, respectively. For a Duke Ellington tune, we’ll enlist two of our tenor singers to play trumpet and clarinet, and for a classic Scottish toast we’ve recruited Shari Mariotti on violin, so maybe it took seven musicians to partly replace Marge!

Most of our audience can relate to these songs from our youth. It’s hard to feel old when singing “Feelin’ Groovy” or music from “Hair” (back when we had a full head of it), but in the interest of variety, we will also add four art songs, including a poem by Rilke, written in French and set to music by a composer with a world-class reputation, Morten Lauridsen, who lives part of each year on San Juan Island.

There is plenty of parking. The concert should run about an hour, so everyone will be home in time for dinner. There is no charge for attendance, but as we are a self-supporting ensemble, donations are welcome.

Anyone wishing to sing with Lopez Community Singers in the fall is welcome to talk with Angel Michaels or with any of the singers, or contact Angel by email at islandsongstudio@gmail.com.