Thursday, December 15, 2011

Holiday Salon Hoopla!

The Holiday Singer's Salon made me proud. How happy I was to see my younger students, getting up there and singing in their sometimes solemn, sometimes silly, but always sincere way, sharing their talents and hard work for all to hear. Cynthia Lau sang "O Holy Night" with such quiet grace, as to be truly moving and Nicole Sotelo was heartbreakingly sweet in her version of "Silent Night". Kaylee Dellart shared her considerable talents in a lighthearted, lilting "Let it Snow".
How great was it to hear Erick Deshaun Dorris's hip and cool Nutcracker Suite? (Not sure how he titles it but fun times...)? Who did not enjoy Marie Cole Hunt's stunning rendition of Gesu Bambino? Yowsa! I was really gratified, as well, to see how far Omar Jano has come in his performance ability, with "Imagine". I hope he will do more then one song for us next time! And Andrea Ott regaled us with a lovely rendition of "That's Him" from One Touch of Venus, and the holiday Classic, "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".
The Red Apples did a little swingin' blues for us, and Jaroslaw Golembiowksi and myself shared some of our original songs as well as a few Christmas tunes.  Maggie Dahlberg, was great as always, attending to all things Deagan Studio as well as accompanying students and first-comers on the keys.  What more could one want? Well how about a Chirstmas sing-a-long, featuring Jaroslaw on the baby grand and David Lenef on ukulele!? Wha???You got it. What fun that was. Never have I heard such an outrageous version of "The Twelve Days of Christmas"! Never.
The Singer's Salon is getting a good start but has plenty of room to grow. Some have come and observed and not yet performed. (But they will, oh they will!) Others have yet to actually show up-you know who you are- and still others have still to find us. I want to encourage everyone with an interest in the Art of the Song to come and share whatever their level of experience. The Salon is for music, merrymaking and camaraderie. It is for learning and daring and doing.
The January Salon has been pushed ahead to January 15, (normally we are shooting for the second Sunday of the month, but we need some holiday recovery time...) so put it on your calendar.
Quandaries, queries or questions? Give me a call at 773-474-8471 or hit me up here or on facebook.