“All nature sings and round me rings the music of the spheres,” words from the hymn “This Is My Father’s World,” is an apt description for “Ring in Spring,” a concert on Sunday, April 22, at 4:00 pm in Marion’s First Congregational Church. Flutist Wendy Rolfe, soprano Patrice Tiedemann, and The Occasion Singers will combine their talents with the church’s Meetinghouse Bells.
In addition to “This Is My Father’s World” (in an arrangement for flute and bell choir), musical selections will include “Chi’il bel sogno” from Puccini’s La Rondine, “My Hero” from Oscar Straus’s operetta The Chocolate Soldier (sung by Vivian Vance during the fourth season of I Love Lucy!), “The Ash Grove,” an English folk song, the Irish ballad “Londonderry Air” (also known as “Danny Boy”), the spiritual “Shine on Me,” “Vals Venezolano and Contradanza” by Cuban composer Paquito D’Rivera, and a selection of Brazilian choros and Japanese jazz. The performing artists will be accompanied by pianist Michelle Gordon and by Cassandra Morgan, choir director of the First Congregational Church.
The concert will raise funds to support the First Congregational Church’s annual Cantata Sunday, which assembles an area-wide group of singers and instrumentalists during the Christmas season to perform a major choral liturgical composition under the direction of Cassandra Morgan.
Tickets are $12 and may be purchased at The Bookstall on Front Street in Marion and at the door. For more information and reservations, call 508-748-2067. The First Congregational Church, located at the corner of Front Street and Main Street in Marion, is handicapped accessible.