This Saturday, the Heber Valley Choir, Orchestra, Jazz Ensemble and special guest Doug Stone will perform an Americana-themed concert in Midway.
“This is a small, relatively rural Utah community that has a robust community of musicians that yearn to play together,” says co-Conductor Chris Bala. “It's just not an orchestra concert or a choir concert or a jazz ensemble concert; it's combined. And it's going to reflect the character and the vitality of our community, with a phenomenal musician, Doug Stone, to kind of top it all off.”
The Heber Valley Choir and Orchestra formed four years ago from what was the Paradise Ensemble. Since last fall, it’s been performing again after canceling shows for over a year because of the COVID-19 pandemic.
In addition to Wasatch County, some of the roughly 100 musicians also come from Park City and Utah County.
The first show of this year was March 10, when the community orchestra played in the Wasatch County schools production. The orchestra also plays with Cowboy Poetry performers in the fall.
This Saturday, the choir will perform numbers like “The Battle Cry of Freedom,” Irving Berlin’s “Blue Skies” and “Deep River,” an American spiritual in a combined performance with the orchestra.
The orchestra will play Morgan Gould’s “American Salute” and Henry Mancini’s “Moon River” among others.
The jazz ensemble will wrap up the evening with combined performances with the orchestra and vocalist and Stone as the featured saxophone soloist on “Ain’t That a Kick in the Head.” The ensemble and Stone will also play a few without the orchestra.
The concert’s at 7 p.m. Saturday at Midway Town Hall, 75 North 100 West. Tickets are available at hvmusic.org, and people 17 and younger can attend for free.
