I believe it was 2016 when Jon Arterton and James Mack visited me at the Palladium. They planned to start a city-wide choral group and wanted to make the Palladium their performance home.
I loved the idea and they seemed organized and capable of pulling it off. I figured I hear from them in a year.
Instead, a few months later, Jon booked a date for One City Chorus’ debut concert at the Palladium. We agreed to split the door to keep their costs down. Again, I assumed maybe 150-200 people, all related to the singers, might show up.
Instead, that concert played to over 400 people, who applauded vigorously and told me how much they loved the performance by this mass of amateur singers, doing songs of justice and community. I thanked them as I wiped away tears. The show was incredibly moving.
Choral music was one of the biggest victims of the pandemic. Singing spreads germs along with joy!
But now One City Chorus is back this Sunday, Feb. 19, at 4 p.m. on our Hough Hall stage. Bill DeYoung, the arts writer at St. Pete Catalyst, shared some of the history of the chorus this week. That story appears below. To read the story on the Catalyst site, please follow this link. For tickets and more information, please follow this link.
One City Chorus to sing out Sunday
By BILL DEYOUNG/St. Petersburg Catalyst
One singing voice, times 60. That’s a powerful sound. Anybody who’s ever been part of a chorus or sat in an audience in close proximity to a large group of singers, knows the impact all those voices have together.
One City Chorus takes that idea – strength in numbers – and attaches it to a mission.
“Our primary purpose isn’t to be able to perform in Carnegie Hall,” explains Jon Arterton, co-founder and conductor of the St. Petersburg community group. “Our purpose isn’t to be the Master Chorale – they have a different goal.”
One City Chorus is made up of amateurs – everyday people who want to bind their voices with those of others, in order to make a joyous and purposeful sound. The group – which Arterton brings to the Palladium Theater for a matinee concert Sunday (Feb. 19) at the Palladium Theater – sings about social issues. Sunday’s performance is titled “Songs of Hope, Justice, and Freedom.”
A community chorus is just that – a cross section of the community. “There’s something about the variety of humanity involved,” Arterton says. “I think the majority of people go ‘That’s brave of them – and it’s something that I could do, too.’
“One reason why we sing all of our music ‘off book’ is we want that direct communication with the audience, in a way that you don’t get if you’re holding musical scores and hiding.”
One City Chorus was launched in 2016. Arterton and his husband, James Mack, had been living in the Cape Cod area where Arterton, who holds a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from The New England Conservatory of Music, was directing the ambitious Outer Cape Chorale.
“We did that for 15 years before we moved down here,” Arterton explains. “And we did mostly the great classical oratorios and so forth, but we also did other programs – we did an all-Beatles concert, which was the best-attended concert we ever did.
“I don’t want to say I got bored … it become more and more difficult for me to think about pieces that I wanted to do. We happened to just come down to St. Pete for a couple months, to get away from the cold one winter, and we started going to events at the Carter Woodson Museum.
“I just started thinking ‘You know, this community here could have a community chorus that specializes in music about social justice.’ It was a very exciting concept for us to come here and start it, and have it take off so quickly.”
For the first couple of years, rehearsals were held at the Woodson Museum. With the onset of Covid-19, it seemed unwise to jam so many people into such a small space. Once the air cleared, rehearsals were moved to Lakewood United Methodist Church – the group now meets on Monday evenings.
There is no audition process. Anyone who wants to lift their voice is welcome.
Says Arterton: “They come from a wide variety of backgrounds and musical experiences. Some of the people haven’t sung since they were in grade school, if ever, and some people have Master’s degrees in Voice. Not many … not as many as I’d like.”
He also expresses a strong desire for more people of color to join the effort.
Sunday’s concert will feature a set from the 40-member Diversity – The Voices of Sarasota. At the end of the program, the two choruses will join together and sing.
One voice, times 100. That’s a powerful sound.
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