ARTS ENCORE
40 Years and Counting
Celebration concert to mark Kalamazoo Singers' anniversary OLGA BONFIGLIO
Brian Powers
by
What started out as a one-time gig with Madame Butterfly has metamorphosed into a 40-year tenure for the Kalamazoo Singers. The group celebrates its landmark anniversary with a performance at 4 p.m. May 7 at Western Michigan University’s Dalton Center Recital Hall. In 1977 a group was needed to perform the choral parts of a production of Puccini’s famous opera Madame Butterfly by the Michigan Opera Company and Kalamazoo Symphony Orchestra. Mel Ivey, then-choral director at WMU, was asked to gather a group of 40 adult male and female singers for this purpose. By the end of the production, it became apparent to Ivey that a lot of people in town liked to sing. “People had such a good time singing together that they wanted to do more,” says Tom Kasdorf, Kalamazoo Singers’ music director and conductor from 1979–2009. “The only other options for them 34 | ENCORE APRIL 2017
Above: Members of the Kalamazoo Singers practice under the direction of music director and conductor Rick Phelps. Right: Phelps with Tom Kasdorf, who was the Kalamazoo Singer’s music director and conductor for 30 years.
to sing at the time were the Bach Festival, the Oratorio Society, barbershop and church.” Thus, the Kalamazoo Singers group was formed. Now, with about as many members as years in existence, the group performs one of the summer Concerts in the Park each June and another four concerts annually. The group started out doing operatic choruses but evolved into performing an eclectic repertoire in many genres, including major classical and operatic works, Broadway tunes, folk songs, spiritual music, Renaissance music and jazz. Previous performances include Handel’s Messiah, Vivaldi’s Gloria, works by John Rutter, selections from Gilbert and Sullivan, classic and contemporary holiday songs, works by Aaron Copland, Beethoven’s Ninth Symphony, the Verdi