The Lakewood Area Choral Society is pleased to announce its second performance for 2025, Great is Thy Faithfulness: A Sacred Choral Music Concert, which will be held Sunday, June 22, at 3:00 PM at the First Presbyterian Church, 125 E. Main St., Ionia, MI 48846.
This concert features many new works as well as old favorites. Now, in its 40th year of providing local audiences with high quality performances, LACS owes its existence to Dr. Robert C. Oster, who, upon hearing a request for an adult community choir in 1985, set out to do just that, and not just any community choir, but one that provided, and continues to provide, stellar performances. Ethan Holmes skillfully serves as the choir’s accompanist.
The concert opens with the theme song “Great is Thy Faithfulness,” which is a familiar hymn, but as arranged by Dan Forrest, it swells to a glorious conclusion. “All Things New” by Elaine Hagenberg follows, featuring soloists, Ronni O’Toole, Warren Bishop, Mina Postman, Scott Neeb, and Scott Taylor. “Kyrie Eleison” by Wolfgang Mozart, will feature soloists, Anna Williams, Lisa Sterkenberg, Jon Cleveland, and Larry Ott. The classic hymn “Abide with Me” is arranged by Molly Ijames. “Footsteps,” lyrics by Jonathan Cook and music by Craig Courtney, counsels us to walk in God’s footsteps, the “path of guiding light.” The first half of the concert ends with a swinging version of “When the Saints Go Marching In” arranged by Lloyd Larson.
During the freewill offering, the audience will be entertained with an instrumental trio of Carol Campbell, violin, Cathie Ott, flute, and Cindy Olson, piano, playing “On Eagles Wings/It is Well with my Soul,” arranged by John F. Wilson. Soloists Vicki Pontz and Warren Bishop will sing “In Christ Alone,” arranged by Lloyd Larson.
The second half of the concert opens with a piece for double choir, “Song of Exultation” by John Ness Beck, followed by a new song for LACS, conducted by Cindy Olson, assistant conductor, “And Can It be?” arranged by Dan Forrest. “The Battle Hymn of the Republic,” arranged by Peter Wilhousky, follows featuring LACS accompanist, Ethan Holmes. The choir will present “Make Me a Blessing,” arranged by Robert C. Oster, and the concert closes with “Sing Gently” by Eric Whitacre, who composed it as COVID-19 transformed our world by creating a kind of isolation that caused great suffering and division. Whitacre wrote this song “with the hope that it might give some small measure of comfort, and that it might suggest a way of living with one another that is compassionate, gentle, and kind.” The
premiere of this gentle song took place online on July 19, 2020, with 17,572 singers of Virtual Choir 6. The doors for the concert will open at 2:30, and in lieu of tickets, a freewill offering will be taken.