This week, I'm going to Crossville, Tennessee. A friend and soprano colleague, Brenda Frye, has gotten me involved in a celebration at Uplands Village, a unique retirement community there. They have commissioned a choral setting of a poem by James Clark. It will be part of a big concert. The poem, "The Call" has a section that goes:
Come up higher, Come up higher.
From the lowlands and the mire,
From the mists of earth's desire,
From the vain pursuit of pelf,
From the attitude of self,
Come up higher, Come up higher.
Pelf? I didn't know what that meant... Money. Dishonorable gains. Anyway, the setting gives the many residents and audience a chance to sing in the piece, with a line separate from the onstage choir. A big sing-a-long! Crossville is also home to the amazing Cumberland County Playhouse.
Oh, and if you're in North Carolina, go see GIANNI SCHICCHI and my BUOSO'S GHOST on the 28th and 29th at UNC-Chapel Hill.
A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM, opera a cappella now available at Albany Records
