Valley Harmony’s 13th Community Concert set for June 3

“The Spice of Life” often follows the words “Variety Is.” So, Valley Harmony, a male a cappella quartet, with the intent of demonstrating that they don’t just sing barbershop, decided to title their 13th annual community concert “The Spice of Life.” The concert will take place on Saturday, June 3, at 7 p.m. at the Newark Valley United Church of Christ, located at 32 S. Main St. in Newark Valley.

Valley Harmony does not abide by simple labels. They are drawn to all sorts of music. The concert will begin with “Over the Rainbow,” a ballad from the 1939 film The Wizard of Oz. Then right off the bat comes a jump to the ever-popular doo-wop with the 1957 hit “Silhouettes.” Take doo-wop’s popularity, add the Beach Boys and you will expect to hear Valley Harmony singing “In My Room,” and, of course, they will. But then it’s time for another switch. 

So why not get serious. Kurt Bestor’s “Prayer of the Children” (1995) reveals the shared feelings of confusion and sadness felt by the innocent children of Bosnian, Serbian, and Croatian ethnic backgrounds, living in the war-torn former Yugoslavia. Valley Harmony chose it because it so moving and the harmonies are stunningly beautiful.

For this concert, Valley Harmony’s music ranges from a spiritual like “Soon Ah Will Be Done” and the Shaker hymn “’Tis a Gift to Be Simple” to the Pentatonix hit “Run to You” (2013). And the style ranges from Jamaican calypso, “The Banana Boat Song,” to James Taylor’s 1981 hit “That Lonesome Road,” to a showtune, “Till There Was You,” to Elvis Presley’s 1960 hit “Swing Down Chariot.”

But the variety does not all come from Valley Harmony. Special guest vocalist and song writer, Tracey Steinkamp Cucci, will perform one of her own songs, “It’s All in the Journey,” accompanying herself on the mandolin, while Rhonda Moulton returns for a second time to accompany woodwind-ist Laurie Holdridge and Anne Austin in addition to her own piano solo, Stephen Sondheim’s “Send in the Clown.”

Valley Harmony members include founder George Lohmann from Berkshire, Randy Kerr from Newark Valley, Mike Sheldon from Berkshire, and J. Ladd Yost from Nichols.

For a free will offering you can enjoy all sort of music, surely something to please.