Valley Harmony to present tribute concert on May 13

“Between glory and sadness, beauty and pain” is just one of many ways people have described Leonard Cohen’s song “Hallelujah.” With the recent death of this world famous Canadian poet, musician and songwriter, Valley Harmony decided to offer up their ninth annual Community Concert as a tribute to Cohen.

With no surprise, the concert is titled “Hallelujah” and will be performed Saturday, May 13, at 7 p.m. at Newark Valley’s United Church of Christ located at 32 South Main St. in Newark Valley, N.Y.  

Cohen’s enigmatic song has inspired the search for other “Hallelujahs.” With no difficulty finding enough of them, the hard task was selecting just a few for the concert. 

Randall Thompson’s “Alleluia” was an easy choice with two very new and spirited numbers, Craig Courtney’s “Ukrainian Alleluia” (2007) and Donald Moore’s “Alleluia Madrigal (2015),” filling out that portion of the program.

Rather than focusing on the “sadness” and “pain,” Valley Harmony chose to go the “glory” and “beauty” route. They call one set “Happy Together” and feature the song with the same title made famous in 1967 by the Turtles.  

Also from that same era comes “Hooked on a Feeling,” popularized by B. J. Thomas in 1968. This set is completed with two very modern songs, Jason Mraz’ “I’m Yours” (2008) and “All of Me” (2013), made popular by John Legend.

The other sets are also upbeat – joyous even. “Life Is Good” includes “You Raise Me Up” and “O-re-mi,” a Nigerian “highlife” song, while “Rejoice” includes Norwegian composer Ola Gjeilo’s “Ubi Caritas” and American composer Williametta Spencer’s “At the Round Earth’s Imagined Corner,” a setting of John Donne’s Holy Sonnet.

Of special note is “Fyrir mig, Jesú, þoldir þú” (For Me, Jesus, You Withstood) by Icelandic composer Sigurður Sævarsson. Valley Harmony founder, George Lohmann, discovered this haunting piece while visiting Reykjavik in 2014, where he met the composer. When Lohmann told Sævarsson how much he admired his work, the composer sent him the piece without cost. After Valley Harmony struggled with the Icelandic, Lohmann translated it into English so it would be ready for this concert.

Three special guest performers will join Valley Harmony for this concert. Soprano Christina Taylor (Binghamton) will add Mozart’s “Alleluja” to the mix, along with two show tunes, “If I Were a Bell” from Guys and Dolls and “You’ll Never Walk Alone” from Carousel.” Laurie Holdridge (Johnson City) will offer a variety of woodwind performances, including the “Hallelujah” chorus from the Messiah and Kenny G’s “The Champion’s Theme.” Aric Phinney (Endicott) will accompany both Taylor and Holdridge on piano, along with playing two solo performances, “Come Thou Fount” and Beethoven’s “Joyful, Joyful, We Adore Thee.”

Valley Harmony includes Mike Sheldon (Berkshire) singing tenor, George Lohmann (Berkshire) singing bass, and Randy Kerr (Newark Valley) and J. Ladd Yost (Nichols) alternating baritone and tenor. This all male quartet has done countless engagements throughout the Southern Tier since their founding in 2007, including church services and church and secular events in Newark Valley, Berkshire, Richford, Waverly, Owego, Apalachin, Endicott, Vestal, Candor, Spencer, Ithaca, Greene, Binghamton and Athens, Pa. Their repertoire consists of all sorts of a cappella music. They enjoy singing folk songs, spirituals, barbershop, pop, rock, show tunes, sacred, and even classical music.  

Concert proceeds benefit outreach programming at the Newark Valley United Church of Christ. A free will offering will be taken.