The Quick Center for the Arts and the Summer Festival Chorus celebrate its 15th anniversary with Americanarama | Press Releases

One of the most popular summer events at the Quick Center for the Arts is the Summer Festival Chorus, a collaborative tradition created fifteen years ago with director Dr. Carole Ann Maxwell and the Quick Center's executive director Tom Zingarelli. The anniversary celebration will be held on Saturday, July 26 at 7:30 p.m. Dr. Maxwell conducts the chorus and members of The Greater Bridgeport Symphony Orchestra Brass and Percussion, the popular jazz performer and composer Joe Utterback and accompanist Beth Palmer in a concert titled, "Americanarama." Michael A. Ciavaglia is assistant conductor.

This year's chorus of eighty-plus enthusiastic singers hails from locations as near as Fairfield and Bridgeport and as far away as Port Chester, N.Y. While there are always new members who join for a summer jolt of musical discipline and camaraderie, there are also several who savor their experiences from the beginning of this festive tradition.

Gail Petty of Wilton, an original chorus member, looks forward to being a part of the rehearsal and performance each summer. "I love working with Carole Ann. She is so professional in her approach and because of her attitude I realize how much I have grown as a performer over the years. Carole Ann's energy is an infectious experience. This year my husband has caught the choral bug and is singing with us."

The evening's program explores the rich diversity of American music with selections from the Henry Krieger and Tom Eyen Broadway musical "Dreamgirls," Randol Alan Bass' "Gloria," "Take Me to the Water," a gospel piece, Charles Ives' "Circus Band," Rodgers and Hammerstein's "Carousel Waltz" and the rousing "Battle Hymn of the Republic."

Ticket are available online at www.quickcenter.com or by calling the Box Office at (203) 254-4010. The toll free number is 877-ARTS-396. For more information, please visit the website at www.quickcenter.com.