Manitou Music Festival closes with Summer Singers’ performance
From staff reports
The Summer Singers, an all-volunteer group of 50 voices, punctuate the 2018 Manitou Music Festival (MMF). This traditional MMF closing concert is Tuesday, Aug. 14 at 7 p.m. The concert takes place at Glen Lake Community Reformed Church, 4902 W. MacFarlane Road, in Burdickville. The concert is free.
As the traditional closing act of the festival, the Summer Singers offer singers of any vocal ability a chance to sing in the group. For the past 16 summers, the Summer Singers have welcomed all comers to their weekly rehearsals. Concerts are a mix of upbeat popular music and American standards. This enthusiastic group of mixed voices has been singing to a packed house for many years.
The Manitou Music Festival is a project of the Glen Arbor Arts Center. For more information please visit GlenArborArt.org.
A tribute to Dana Allen
While Mimi Gass, the new director of the Glen Arbor Arts Center’s Summer Singers chorus, leads the 60-voice group at its Aug. 14 concert, she will also be paying tribute to the choir’s former director, Dana Allen.
Allen, who directed the Glen Arbor-based community choir from 2014 to 2017, will be honored for her dedication to the group even after being diagnosed with brain cancer in 2015. “Dana‘s enthusiasm and love of music has been an inspiration to the Summer Singers,” said choir member Cindy Graves. “We want to show her our appreciation by dedicating this year’s concert to her.”
The Summer Singers’ concert will also be a family affair. Allen’s stepmother, Mary Nieuwenhuis, will serve as a guest conductor for several pieces; her father Bruce Nieuwenhuis sings bass; and Mary’s sister, Liz Bert, accompanies the choir on the cello.
The Summer Singers will sing several of Allen’s favorites from past concerts including Let the River Run, Dona Nobis Pacem, I Dream a World and Seasons of Love from Rent.
