Chatham Chorale presents "America Sings"

In between Memorial Day and Independence Day, the Chatham Chorale and Chambers Singers will offer Cape audiences a joyous celebration of American music in its multitude of forms. Performances take place on Saturday, June 3 and Sunday, June 4 — both at 3:00 pm at the Brewster Baptist Church. Concert proceeds will benefit the Chorale and the Cape and Islands Veterans Outreach Center.

“This program takes listeners on a journey through time, from the very beginnings of American choral music right up to the present,” says Music Director Joseph Marchio. “You’ll hear music from the 18thcentury by William Billings and Josiah Flagg, beloved 20th century arrangements by Alice Parker and Aaron Copland , and Boston composer William Cutter’s 2008 setting of a Shaker hymn.” The concerts also spotlight American musical theater, in excerpts from Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma. The American classical repertoire is represented by Samuel Barber’s famous song “Sure on This Shining Night.” And there’s plenty of rousing patriotic music to stir the heart: local composer Ann Diers’s “We the People” (her setting of the Preamble to the Constitution); our favorite medley of military tunes, the “Armed Forces Salute”; and exciting arrangements of “America the Beautiful,” “Battle Hymn of the Republic,” and “The Star-Spangled Banner.” These concerts feature longtime Chorale accompanist and Cape Symphony keyboardist  Donald Enos on piano and organ.