“Sunshine, Rain and Romance” is the theme of the Lebanon Community Chorus Spring Pops concert scheduled for 3 p.m. on April 10 in the Lebanon High School Auditorium.
The chorus was organized in 1965 and is still going strong, said director Paul Rowton. One of the main purposes of the choir is to further the appreciation and performance of music in the Lebanon area.
Rowton is one of eight Sweet Home members of the choir. Others include Susan Thompson, Fran Anderson, Jody Seward, Linda Rowton, Brenda Suing, Jan Barthel and accompanist Bill Langdon.
Rowton is retired from Sweet Home High School where he was the choir teacher. He is in his first season as the Spring Pops concert director.
“It is very exciting to be working with a choir in the same room in which I learned to love choral singing as a high school student more than 50 years ago, a musical homecoming,” Rowton said. “It is especially rewarding to have the choir singing up to eight parts on my “Oregon” song, which I wrote in 1975, expressing my love for the varied aspects of nature in our beautiful state.
“Another high for me is that my longtime close friend, Tim Mausen, who grew up in Sweet Home, will be singing his first solo since eighth grade. Tim was a highly respected teacher and coach in Sweet Home and then Lebanon for many years. Those of you who know him that way owe it to yourselves to come see Mr. Mausen in this new setting.”
The chorus performs a classical music concert in December that is directed by Lebanon High School choir teacher Kevin Wong.
The choir also sponsors a children’s choir, directed by Colleen Rydholm. The children’s choir will begin the second half of the Spring Pops with two songs and then be joined by the adult choir on “Can You Feel the Love Tonight?” from “The Lion King.”
A ladies trio will offer a humorous rendition of “It’s Raining Men.” Rydholm will direct the Gracenotes, a women’s group, singing the familiar “Lollipop.” The bass and tenor section will sing “Aura Lee,” an old love song that became the melody for Elvis Presley’s “Love Me Tender.”
The choir will perform a variety of sunshine, rain, romance and friendship songs, including “Somewhere Out There,” “Come Rain or Come Shine,” “Yesterday,” “Fire and Rain,” “Singing in the Rain,” “I’ll Be There,” “Love Walked In,” and the old classic, “Over the Rainbow.”
“Bring your ‘Honey’ out to the concert, hold hands and listen for your favorite ‘our song,’” Rowton said. “If you don’t hear it, there will be plenty of opportunity to adopt a new one.”
Often, the chorus has staged benefit concerts, most recently providing help to the Lebanon High School music department and the Lebanon soup kitchens, Rowton said. As with many groups, the chorus is experiencing a shortage of funds and is unable to do a benefit at this time.
The goal is to attract a large audience and generate enough income in the next few months to do a benefit next year, Rowton said. The chorus is a tax-deductible nonprofit organization.
Admission to the concert is $8 for adults and $5 for students.