Lake Region Community Chorus to present ‘Over the Rainbow’ concerts

By Ed Pierce

The Lake Region Community Chorus is busy rehearsing for its 11th annual Spring Concerts which will be performed later this month at the Lake Region High School auditorium.

Lake Region Community Chorus will perform 'Over the
Rainbow' concerts at 7 p.m. Friday, May 22 and 3 p.m. 
Sunday, may 245 at the Lake Region High School 
auditorium in Naples. SUBMITTED PHOTO 

The school is at 1877 Roosevelt Trail (Route 302) in Naples and concerts are scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, May 22 and 3 p.m. Sunday, May 24. This dynamic choral group is made up of 45 singers from 12 surrounding towns in the Lakes Region of Maine.

The “Over the Rainbow” concerts will feature a joyous celebration of many musical styles that promise to offer something for everyone. Singing will be enhanced with instrumental accompaniments by Meredith Morehouse (percussion), Jeanine Loubier (fiddle), Peter Kimball, Brian Sprunger and Pam Ward (guitars), Adam Quincy (trumpet), Glen Jukkola (violin), and Charlie Oehrtmann, (bass).

The chorus is directed by Jan Jukkola and Susan Stockwell and accompanied by Patrick Speckamp.

The organization’s history is short because it’s relatively new, having held its first meeting in February 2013 to discuss the possibility of forming a choral group in the Lakes Region.

It was amazing how quickly everything seemed to come together, and with Laurie Turley as its original conductor, Lake Region Community Chorus members performed their first concert in June 2013.

Since then, the original group of singers has grown with each season, and now has members from 12 communities, including Windham, Raymond, Bridgton, Naples, Sebago, Harrison, Waterford, Stoneham, Casco, Denmark, Hiram and Fryeburg.

The Lake Region Community Chorus is a community of voices joined together in song.

Its purpose is to provide an opportunity for individuals with an interest in singing to share their love of choral music through regularly scheduled rehearsals that will culminate in community and outreach performances. It also strives to enhance each member’s ability to sing by teaching vocal exercises and techniques and to enrich their choral experience by providing a wide variety of musical selections that will increase their knowledge and appreciation of choral literature.

Lake Region Community Chorus performs two concerts each year. One falls in early December and features holiday music. The other is a springtime concert generally falling in mid-May. Rehearsals for the “Over the Rainbow” spring concerts began in January and have continued through the winter and into the spring months.

Each concert offered by the community chorus is free but donations to help cover the expense of music and operating costs will be gratefully accepted by the organization.

If interested, come and join the Lake Region Community Chorus as they lift their voices and sing, sing, sing. This year’s concerts are sure to be remembered long after the final chords are sounded.

Jukkola and Stockwell say that the community chorus would like to thank Bridgton Academy for all their help and support. They also want to thank Saphrona Stetson and Greg Watkins for all their additional help in staging the upcoming concerts at the Lakes Region High School. They said that the Lakes Region Community Chorus is grateful to the community for their continued support through the years and they greatly appreciate their enthusiastic audiences and local sponsors.

Please visit the Lake Region Community Chorus website for more details about the concerts or call 207-647-2584. <