SIC choir to perform 'Broadway Voices'

Southeaster Illinois College Concert Choir will be entertaining audiences with selections from several different Broadway musicals.

Broadway Voices concert will be performed on Mar 8 at 7 p.m. in the Harry L. Crisp Conference Center Lecture Hall B126 at the college's main campus located east of Harrisburg.

The concert will consist of selections from Stephen Schwartz's Children of Eden and Wicked, Stephen Sondheim's Into the Woods, and Stephen Flaherty's Ragtime.

"The goal for this concert was to perform some modern-day musical theatre selections with a message," said SIC music instructor, Cory Garmane.

According to Garmane, each piece was selected to engage the audience in different ways.

The selections from Children of Eden were selected because they address the power of the human spirit and mind to create and change the world and because they remind us of the importance of relationships and people.

The selections from Wicked focus on the power of friendship and the ability to rise up against the challenges life throws at us.

The selections from Into the Woods provide poignant reminders that we never have to face any situation alone and that we must be careful to be the best we can be, after all, 'children will listen'.

The final selections are from the show Ragtime and address how a person's perceptions of the world differ from the youths that surround each of us and how we should always stand up for what we believe in.

"My hope is that everyone who comes to hear this concert, and the students who perform in it, can experience one of those life-changing moments," Garmane said.

Southeastern's Concert Choir currently has 10 members and is seeking more SIC students for the fall semester. The choir rehearses on Thursday's from 3-4:50 p.m.

"The students are working exceptionally hard this semester to put this concert together," said Garmane. "I am proud and thankful to have such a wonderful group of students willing to take extra time outside of rehearsal to work together to make this concert as great as it can be."