A Rock in an Odd Place

I don't know that you'll remember my lackluster response to "Broadway Rocks!" at the Minnesota Orchestra last fall (it was a really short post, so if you want to refresh your memory, it's here), but I had some vague fear that the concert Christopher and I went to on Friday night would be equally as bland. I'm happy to say that I was pleasantly surprised.

The concert in question was the season finale concert for the Valley Chamber Chorale in Stillwater, and it was called "Rock the Courthouse - A festive celebration of 35 years in song." You see, while about half of their concerts each year are held in the Trinity Lutheran Church in Stillwater, the others are held upstairs in the Historic Courthouse. The different venues lend themselves to different concert styles, but the one thing that is a constant is the level of quality of the performers. This concert was no different.

The singers worked their way through 5 sets of songs, accompanied by two pianists (one on an electric keyboard), a cellist, a guitarist with 4 different guitars and a mandolin, and a percussionist. There were what would be considered "classical" pieces, there was some jazz, and - yes - there was some rock.

What truly made the difference between this concert and the one last fall is that this one didn't really try to make us think it was something it wasn't. The Chorale stretches in some fairly odd directions at times. Sometimes they hit, sometimes they miss. But I have to say that, this time, they really put on a great concert.

My only concern is that there are fairly few people under the age of 50 in the audience for their concerts. Hopefully something with that will change in the near future, because it would be sad if the VCC didn't have a fair shot at the next 35 years.