Valley Harmony Celebrates ‘Sweet 16’ Concert

— Sixteenth community concert! Sixteen songs! Sweet! —

Naturally, Valley Harmony’s sixteenth anniversary community concert, occurring on Sunday, May 17, at 2 p.m., will be called “Sweet 16.” The concert will be held at the Newark Valley Community Connection, 32 S. Main Street, Newark Valley, New York.

Founded in 2007 (two concerts missed due to the pandemic), Valley Harmony loves to perform all sorts of a cappella music—not just barbershop. With “Sweet 16” as the theme and most music being “sweet,” their options were wide open.

The concert opens with a set of Doo-Wop music, including the ever-popular “Silhouettes,” along with “Rag Doll” and “Sherry,” popularized by the Four Seasons. 

Set two takes a complete left turn with four European works, including Sergei Rachmaninov’s “Bogoroditse Devo,” plus music from Iceland, Croatia, and Norway. 

Jumping back to popular American music for set three, Valley Harmony will focus the whole set on music by the Beach Boys, including “Good Vibrations.” 

Gospel music wraps things up, with four numbers from the repertoire of the Gaither Vocal Band.

But there’s more. The concert’s guest soloist is soprano Jenny Gac. Gac was a resident artist with Tri Cities Opera and has performed roles with the Miami Music Festival, Savannah Voice Festival, Finger Lakes Opera Company, and Delaware Valley Opera Company. She will perform “Laurie’s Song” from Aaron Copland’s The Tender Land and “Some Things Are Meant to Be” from Little Women. She will also be joined by Valley Harmony’s tenor J. Ladd Yost to perform “Sixteen Going on Seventeen” from The Sound of Music. All three will be accompanied by pianist Rhonda Moulton.

But we can’t forget a certain sweet feature of Valley Harmony’s community concerts. Instrumentalists Laurie Holdridge of Johnson City and Anne Austin from Endwell play a variety of woodwind instruments and plan to perform lots of sweet music, including “Color My World,” “Let There Be Peace on Earth” and “You Raise Me Up.” Moulton will also accompany them.

Besides Yost, who hails from Nichols, Valley Harmony includes baritone Randy Kerr of Newark Valley, along with bass George Lohmann and tenor Mike Sheldon, both of Berkshire.

Join Valley Harmony and their guests as they satisfy your musical sweet tooth. Newark Valley Community Connection will provide dinner at 1 p.m., right before the concert in the chapel next door. Suggested prices for dinner are $10 adults and $6 children. A free-will offering will be accepted for the concert. All proceeds go to support Newark Valley Community Connection.