While you’re thinking of what to tell Santa you want this year, come hear The Market Street Singers in…    

 

My Grown-Up Christmas List

 

With special guests, the Rockin’ Recorders!

 

The Market Street Singers invites you to a sound celebration that’s often reflective but not always serious. From Renaissance motets to Justin Bieber with ukuleles, you are certain to find something on your Christmas music list. The storms of the holiday rush, famous carols in a gospel hue, the reassuring lights of Chanukah…we’ll cover a wide range of holiday moods. We’re particularly happy to feature an appearance of the Rockin’ Recorders, a trio of young women from the Music Center of the Northwest who do remarkable things with their wooden flutes.

 

And, of course, there will be a holiday sing-along.

 

Saturday, December 15, 7:30pm at First Lutheran Church Ballard (NW 65th & 20th NW, across from Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ).

 

This is a free event. Contributions are gratefully accepted

 

The Market Street Singers, based in Seattle, is registered with the Washington State’s Charities Program as required by law. Additional information is available by calling the State Charities Program at 800-332-4483 or visiting  www.sos.wa.gov/charities.

 

Visit the Market Street Singers online for more information: www.marketstreetsingers.org

 

Friend us on Facebook!

Time to celebrate the holidays with a concert by your favorite chorus. It's fun and it's free so join us on the 15th!

 

The Market Street Singers invite you to our 8th annual Rummage Sale

Saturday,October 6th from 9 AM to 4 PM

St. Luke's Episcopal Church

5710 22nd Avenue NW (by the Ballard Library)

 

Cash only please.

For more information please visit http://www.marketstreetsingers.org or find us on Facebook.

Some examples of items for sale are:

• Clothing: all styles, sizes for children, women (VINTAGE DRESSES!) and men

• Clothing accessories: belts, boots & shoes, gloves, purses

• Backpacks, camping gear, tents

• Bedding, linens, curtains

• Books: hardbacks, paperbacks

• Cameras, projectors

• CDs, DVD’s, Tape’s, Video’s, Players, Radios

• Fabric, patterns, arts and crafts, yarn

• Household items: tools, small appliances, blenders, toasters, dishes, glassware, utensils

• Jewelry and eyeglasses

• Paintings and wall hangings

• Toys, skates, games, bikes, trikes

• School supplies: stationery, photo albums

• Small furniture: small chairs, nightstands, end table, small bookshelves

The Market Street  Singers sing the music of…

Gilbert & Sullivan and Lerner & Lowe

A Ballard Artwalk Event

Saturday, September 8, 7:30pm

First Lutheran Church Ballard

(NW 65th & 20th NW, across from Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ).

Join us for a light, end-of-summer concert featuring music by two of the most popular songwriting teams in the history of music theater. Whether you’re a fan of Gilbert and Sullivan’s “topsy-turvy” light operas of the 18th century London stage, or the more contemporary Broadway and movie productions of Lerner and Lowe, you’ll enjoy many favorites and perhaps hear a new song or two. We’ll mix it up with selections from Camelot, Patience, Gigi, Iolanthe, Paint Your Wagon, The Mikado, My Fair Lady, and a slightly reinterpreted H.M.S. Pinafore.

Plenty of good humor and romance are winning combinations for a musical September evening in Ballard. Check out the Artwalk before and after the show.

This is a free event, but contributions gratefully accepted.

Click this link for a map and directions to First Lutheran Church Ballard: http://www.ballardfirstlutheran.org/map.html

Visit the Market Street Singers online:  www.marketstreetsingers.org

Friend us on Facebook!   The Market Street Singers - Facebook

Summer fun

We took a break from rehearsing for our September 8th concert last week and held our annual choir picnic at Golden Gardens. We had a little more sun than last year and the temperature was a bit warmer but it was still brisk at the beach. Chris B. served as grillmaster providing hot dogs for all and members brought salads, fruit and yummy desserts. Gordon brought his ukelele and strummed out a few tunes for us. Chris V. and Brandon sang in Italian. Penelope, Rosalyn and Mariah got some rounds going. Meghan brought her darling kids. It was a lovely time. And now back to rehearsals!

More pictures on Flickr!

Free English Choral Concert!

Free choral concert this weekend! We're getting up a group. Why don't you join us?

The Choir of Christ's College of Cambridge is performing Saturday at 8 pm at Seattle First Baptist Church. Great opportunity to hear English choral music properly done. Details here.

Let's all dance and sing

I love Matt Harding's videos. Here's his new one...

Isn't he fantastic?

A Little Choral Humor :)

One-Liners

Q: What's the dictionary definition of "tenor"?
A: Any baritone who joins a choir that doesn't already have enough tenors.

Q: How many altos does it take to change a light bulb?
A: All of them. One to change the bulb, and the rest to complain about how high it is.

Q: How many sopranos does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Only one. She holds it up, and the world revolves around her.

Q: How many tenors does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: They can't, because "It's too high!"

Q: How many basses does it take to change a light bulb?

A: None. They think it's more macho to walk in the dark and bang their shins.

Q: How many choral conductors does it take to change a light bulb?

A: No one knows....no one's looking!

Economic Impact

We're doing our part for the local economy! Each season we support music stores, print shops, Ballard restaurants and bars, piano tuners, the church that rents us our performance space, the NW Senior Center and many, many other local businesses. Join us at our next concert and keep things growing in Seattle!


Email from the Seattle Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs...

Dear Colleague:

The nonprofit arts and culture industry in Seattle generates almost half a billion dollars in annual economic activity—$272 million by the city's nonprofit arts organizations in addition to $175 million in event-related expenditures by their audiences.

This is according to Arts & Economic Prosperity IV: The Economic Impact of Nonprofit Arts and Culture Organizations and Their Audiences recently released by Americans for the Arts.

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Here are the Seattle highlights:

• $447.6 million in annual economic activity
• 10,807 full-time equivalent jobs
• $248.2 million in household income
• $38.2 million in local and state government revenues

The study's numbers help us tell the important story: The arts mean business in Seattle. And the arts give back. They are one of the few public investments that result in cultural, social and economic good.

This study could not have been completed without the data collected from the 50 nonprofit arts and culture organizations (listed below) and their nearly 1,400 audience members who took the time to complete surveys. And based on the level of participation, Seattle's economic figures should be considered conservative.

If you are interested in estimating the economic impact of your nonprofit arts and culture organization on the local economy, Americans for the Arts has a simple calculator on its website where you can also learn more about the study's national findings.

Seattle's nonprofit arts sector is an industry that supports jobs, generates government revenue and attracts cultural tourism. In the coming months, I will be out in the community telling the story behind these numbers. I hope you will join me in sharing this study and its results as a powerful tool to advocate for increased public and private investment in the arts.

Sincerely,

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Vincent E. Kitch Director

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A special thank you on behalf of the city and the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs to our
survey participants: 

5th Avenue Theatre Association

Nature Consortium

Seattle International Film Festival

826 Seattle

Nordic Heritage Museum Foundation

Seattle Opera

A Contemporary Theatre, Inc

Northwest African American Museum

Seattle Public Theater

Artist Trust

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Northwest Girlchoir

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Seattle Repertory Theatre

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Arts Corps

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On the Boards

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Seattle Shakespeare Company

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Burke Museum of Natural History and Culture

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One Reel

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Seattle Symphony Orchestra, Inc.

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Experience Music Project |
Sci Fi Museum & HOF

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Orchestra Seattle and the Seattle Chamber Singers

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Seattle Theatre Group

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Floating Bridge Press

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Pacific Northwest Ballet

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Shunpike Arts Collective

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Freehold Theatre Studio Lab

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Pratt Fine Arts Center

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Space City/Suyama Space

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Hedgebrook

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Rain City Rock Camp for Girls

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The Early Music Guild of Seattle

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Henry Art Gallery

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Rain City Symphony

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The Esoterics

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Historic Seattle

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School of Acrobatics &
New Circus Arts (SANCA)

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Town Hall Association

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Lake Union Civic Orchestra

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Seattle Art Museum

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UW World Series at Meany Hall

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Langston Hughes Performing Arts Center

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Seattle Children's Theatre Association

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Wing Luke Museum of the Asian Pacific American Experience

Macha Monkey Productions

Seattle Classic Guitar Society

Wing-It Productions

Museum of History & Industry (MOHAI)

Seattle Girls' Choir

Youth in Focus

Music Center of the Northwest

Seattle International
Children's Festival

New season, new music!

Welcome to June! Our spring concerts are over and it's time for a new season at the Market Street Singers. Did you know that we're one of the few choral groups in Seattle that keeps singing through the summer? It's a great time to come check us out if you've been considering joining us. We keep things light and breezy in the summer with a lighter music selection. This season we'll be entertaining ourselves (and our audiences, we hope!) with musical theater. We'll be singing a selection of pieces from Gilbert and Sullivan and Lerner and Loewe.

We start rehearsals for our new season this Tuesday, June 5th. Can't wait to see what Chris V has picked out for us. They Call the Wind Maria? Get Me to the Church on Time? If Ever I Would Leave You? We Sail the Ocean Blue? Three Little Maids from School Are We? The possibilities are nearly endless!

Report from Folklife

We had a great sing-a-long at NW Folklife on Saturday. It was a gorgeous day and lots of people came out early to enjoy the festival. We had more than a hundred people at the classical sing-in we hosted at noon! The music went well and everyone seemed to enjoy themselves. We were in a little courtyard next to Intiman Theater that had good acoustics and shade (not usually a problem in Seattle, I know, but we were happy to have it on Saturday!). It was even pretty with blooming rhododendrons and a climbing hydrangea. Thanks to Chris V. for leading, to Ingrid for playing, to all the choir members who came for participating, to the festival-goers for singing and to the weather for cooperating! More pictures on Flickr (see the link to the right) but here's what it looked like...

Come sing with us!

What are you doing this weekend? Going to Folklife? The Market Street Singers will be there hosting a Classical Sing-a-long on Saturday, May 26 at noon in the Intiman Choral Courtyard. We provide sheet music and our fabulous accompanist, Ingrid. You all provide the voices. (OK, we'll help.) We'll be doing an hour's worth of choral favorites, the kind of songs you probably know if you've ever been in a choir. We did something like this last summer on our own and the people from Folklife liked it and asked if we would bring it to the festival. Way fun! Please come!

Sharing the music

Life lessons for us all. It's the music and the giving that count.

Another thank you!

One more thank you for the publicity from the fine folks at Ballard Market. They have our concert info up on their sign on 15th (south bound side) as a free service to the local community. In fact, we owe them thanks for years of support. Did you know that if you shop at Ballard Market, save your receipt and pass it on to your favorite choir member or bring it to one of our events, we can turn it in for a cash donation from the Market? Such an excellent program to support local non-profits. Shop local and support community arts!

One week away!

Our concert, Turn the World Around, is coming up next weekend and we've got some big publicity hitting this week. We'd like to give a huge thanks and shout out to these two supporters of the local arts community!

First, Art Zone with Nancy Guppy has a really nice promo for the concert toward the end of this week's program. It first aired last night but it will be repeated all week on Channel 21 and on KCTS 9. Or you can go to their website to stream the program any time. Nancy does great things for the arts in Seattle. If you don't know her (although, who in Seattle doesn't know her?) this is your chance to start watching her show or friend her on Facebook for regular arts updates.

And second, KING-FM will have several spots mentioning the concert and playing recordings of some of the pieces we'll be performing. (Not our recordings...not yet. Something to work for in the future.) Tune in to hear Sean MacLean on Northwest Focus, KING's show that focuses on local performances, play three of our pieces. Monday, May 14th at 8:15 he'll play "How Can I Keep from Singing," Tuesday, May 15th at 8:24, "This We Know," and Friday, May 18th at 9:45 he'll play Verdi's "Chorus of the Hebrew Slaves" aka "Va Pensiero." All times are approximate. I'm a huge fan of Sean's (and a "founding member" of listener supported KING-FM) so I'm pretty excited to hear him mention us.

Tell your friends about these two great programs and how they are supporting the arts in Seattle. And come to the concert next Saturday or Sunday to provide your support in person!

A little boasting about our members

We have such a great and varied group of singers in The Market Street Singers. We love finding out little tidbits about their non-singing lives. Today we'd like to boast a little about soprano, Rhiannon Held, who is soon to become a first-time (but not the last time!) published author. Her novel, Silver, will be published in June by Tor Books. They recently posted this excerpt on their website. We'll let you know where she'll be signing copies in the Seattle area as soon as the book comes out!

Michael Delos as guest soloist

Michael Delos will be singing the baritone solo in Earl Robinson's "Ballad for Americans" at our upcoming concert. In addition to an active performing schedule and private teaching, he is also an adjunct professor of voice at Cornish College of the Arts. Check out his bio on their website. We're very excited about partnering with him on this project. We hope you'll be there to hear it!

See concert details on our website!

Concert coming soon!

Market Street Singers Present Turn the World Around

The Market Street Singers present:

Turn the World Around

Music With a Message

Saturday, May 19, 7:30pm

and

Sunday, May 20, 3:00pm

First Lutheran Church Ballard

(NW 65th & 20th NW, across from Smokin’ Pete’s BBQ).

No one doubts the persuasive power of music. Composers have long deployed memorable melodies and well-crafted lyrics to get a point across. Sometimes these messages are clear and rousing, other times they are subtle and quietly inspirational. Music like this comes from every corner of the world and opens pathways to positive change.

The Market Street Singers invites you to a celebration of some of the best choral music with a message. This diverse program covers such themes as social justice, equality, and world peace not only from folk and popular traditions, but also from classic masters such as Haydn, Verdi, and Holst.

The highlight will be “Ballad for Americans” by Seattle composer Earl Robinson. This 1939 work, a cantata for baritone soloist and choir, is an allegorical exploration of American history and progress, from a distinctly American point of view. Although the Ballad was first performed by Paul Robeson and later also recorded by Bing Crosby, it is rarely heard today. We are proud to present a specially revised and updated version by the composer for his 80th birthday Seattle concert gala held in 1990.

Locally renowned baritone Michael Delos will be our soloist.

Also with…

Chris Vincent, conductor

Ingrid Verhulsdonk, accompanist

This is a free event. Contributions gratefully accepted.

Click this link for a map and directions to First Lutheran Church Ballard:

http://www.ballardfirstlutheran.org/map.html

Educational Video

Want to more about famous classical composers? Just listen to the King's Singers. (BTW, they are so freakin' awesome!)

Connected!

Yay! The Market Street Singers website now has a "blog" button on the navigation menu so you can find this page more easily. Now I just have to get some other members interested in writing posts and we'll be cookin' with gas!

New season, great new music!

We had a great first rehearsal of the season last night, dipping our toes into some of the fantastic music that we'll be singing for our concert in May. The theme of the concert will be music for change, music that took a stand for some political or social cause. Sound dry? SO not true. I was choking back tears during more than one first reading of a piece last night. Of course, as an opera lover, the highlight of the evening for me was getting to work on Va Pensiero from Verdi's Nabucco, an anthem for unification of Italy when it was first written and performed. Check out this video from the Rome Opera recorded this fall to see what is means to modern Italians. Not a dry eye in the house!

Thanks to Roger in the tenor section for first posting the video on our Facebook page. Unless your Italian is really good, be sure to click on the CC button at the bottom of the player for the English translations!

Funded!

The Market Street Singers are extremely proud to announce...


WE HAVE BEEN AWARDED THE CIVIC PARTNERS GRANT FROM THE SEATTLE OFFICE OF ARTS & CULTURAL AFFAIRS IN 2012!!!

This is one of the most prestigious grants award by local government, even more so than the Department of Neighborhoods grant that we received while producing the Shilshole on the Pacific Rim concert in 2006. We don't yet know what level of support we will receive (we'll be told in January) and that may not be a huge sum, but just being selected is no small honor as it represents a meaningful endorsement by the city and our peers (a team of people who are very much in the know about music and choirs in Seattle). It also looks great to future possible grantors. Here are key portions from the city's very complimentary awards letter:


"On behalf of the Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, we are pleased to notify you that based on the score you received in our peer panel review process and current budget projections, your organization is set to receive Civic Partner funding in 2012.


Congratulations! Your organization has passed rigorous review for public impact, quality and capacity by an independent peer panel of professionals with wide knowledge of the cultural sector. The city is proud to invest in your programs and services, knowing that your work is central to the vibrancy and quality of life in Seattle.


For planning purposes, you may count on Civic Partner support from the city in 2012 and are welcome to use our commitment in approaching other funders. Funding amounts are contingent on the city budget so as always, the Seattle Arts Commission, our citizen advisors and advocates, will count on your continued support in communicating the impact of these funds."

Huge thanks and kudos to everyone who worked on the grant application, especially Lucinda!