WEDNESDAY, MARCH 22, 2017 7:30 PM
The Palladium Theater – 253 5th Ave. North, St. Petersburg
Tickets: $20 in advance, $25 day of the show http://www.mypalladium.org/one-city-chorus/
The Tampa Bay area has a new community institution – the One City Chorus! This exciting chorus of 90 singers was founded last October with the belief that singing in a group builds community and leads to a better understanding among people of differing races, cultures, creeds and communities. Their songs of social justice, civil rights, diversity and equality will have you on your feet cheering. Just what we need in these turbulent times! Their February debut at the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum was sold out so getting tickets early is recommended. They’ll be joined by St. Pete’s equally exuberant Tribal-Disco-Gypsy-Bluegrass band, the uber-popular Urban Gypsies of Florida. Don’t miss this exciting evening!
One City Chorus http://www.onecitychorus.org/
The Urban Gypsies of Florida http://www.urbangypsiesofflorida.com/
More about the chorus…
The underlying philosophy of the chorus is that singing in a group builds community and leads to better understanding among people – that in the process of singing together, people form friendships with people of differing races, cultures and creeds that they might not otherwise come to know, and that these friendships change the world. That’s why the chorus has no auditions. It welcomes everyone – experienced and inexperienced singers alike. Since its first rehearsal at the Carter G. Woodson African American History Museum in St. Petersburg in October 2016, the chorus has grown to a group of over 90 enthusiastic members.
The chorus’ repertoire features songs with themes of social justice, civil rights, diversity and equality – songs such as “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Around”, “Imagine”, “Peace Salaam Shalom”, “Woke Up This Mornin’ with my Mind Stayed on Freedom”, “Turn this World Around”, “Freedom is Coming “ and “We Shall Not Be Moved.”
The group is led by Jon Arterton who holds a Master’s Degree in Choral Conducting from The New England Conservatory of Music in Boston and an MFA in Acting from Smith College. He was the founder and musical arranger of The Flirtations, the a cappella singing group seen in the film Philadelphia and on HBO, Good Morning America and MTV. He conducted the 150-voice Outer Cape Chorale, a community chorus in Provincetown, Massachusetts, for thirteen years before moving to the Tampa Bay area in January, 2016. He also conducts Diversity: The Voices of Sarasota and recently led rehearsals of the 200-voice chorus for the Florida Orchestra’s performance of “Sing Out Tampa Bay.”