MADISON — The Edgewood High School (EHS) Crusader Singers Show Choir and Jazz Ensemble Extravaganza Concert will be held on Sunday, April 29, at 7 p.m., in the Sr. Kathleen O’Connell Auditorium.
Admission is free and open to the public.
Music spans four decades
This event celebrates 40 years of joy for choir students who love joining song and dance together, and for all who have heard them over the years.
Director Dennis McKinley has guided the group, which was begun in 1972 by Sr. Rita Claire Dorner, OP, for a quarter of his 44 years at EHS.
The Singers will perform a medley of music from each of the four decades of its history, from “Life Is a Song Worth Singing” to “All that Jazz” to “Don’t Stop Believing.”
For the glory of God
McKinley always closes performances with “The Blessing of Aaron.”
“Being a Catholic school,” McKinley says, “could you leave an audience in any better way than asking God’s blessing upon them? When we have need to pray in our rehearsals, we go around the circle and ask for intentions, and then we sing ‘The Blessing.’ Lots of tears of joy, sadness, relief, and love have been shed during that song.”
McKinley also leads a spontaneous prayer, fitted to each performance, just before the students go on stage.
“I try to remind them that our talents were given to us to share with others for God’s glory, and it’s up to us to use them, to the highest level we can attain, to bring joy to our audience,” he said. “The prayer before the Extravaganza will emphasize doing our best for the seniors’ last show.”
Jazz Ensemble also featured
In addition to the Show Choir, the exciting EHS Jazz Ensemble — which is 14-years-old at EHS this year — will perform with guest artist Jeff Wohlbach, trumpet. The program includes music by Dizzy Gillespie and Duke Ellington.
Wohlbach, heard recently as the solo trumpet during the high school’s production of West Side Story, is a graduate of the Julliard School and UW-Madison. He is a member of the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater Brass Quintet, and has performed with the Dublin Philharmonic, the Super World Orchestra, and at the Spoleto Festival in Italy.