The Joy of Spring

Popular meets classical as the VocalEssence Chorus and Ensemble Singers share the Fitzgerald stage with special guest star, Maureen McGovern, known as “The Stradivarius Voice.” The concert features music for spring from Renaissance madrigals to Broadway hits, along with classical favorites by Bach, and Brahms and Mendelssohn — all centered on the theme of springtime and the changing of the season — delighting the audience with a bouquet of charming and beautiful sounds.
Maureen first appeared with VocalEssence in Gershwin’s Of Thee I Sing in 1999. Her charming performance as the winsome Mary Turner garnered acclaim from critic Michael Anthony, who wrote in the Star Tribune, “Her opulent tone and immaculate pitch would enhance any show.” Together, Philip Brunelle and Maureen McGovern have selected songs for The Joy of Spring that will highlight her “Stradivarius Voice” as well as the “glorious, full throated singing” (Star Tribune) of the 120-voice VocalEssence Chorus. The concert will begin with a set featuring the 32-voice Ensemble Singers sampling romantic and classical music from days of madrigals to the 20th century. Following a solo set by Maureen with songs like “It Was Just One of Those Things,” “Spring Can Really Hang You Up the Most” and “Blues in the Night,” the first half closes with the VocalEssence Chorus & Ensemble Singers performing the choral version of the Blue Danube Waltz. After intermission, the Ensemble Singers will premiere “Coming of Spring,” a beautiful new work by Carleton College professor Gao Hong with the composer herself on pipa (Chinese lute, of which she is a world renowned master). Then Maureen returns to sing a suite of light-hearted tunes with the backing of the Ensemble Singers & Chorus—all the way from “Tiptoe Through the Tulips” to “Somewhere Over the Rainbow.”
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